Place Name Origin

At the BC government's place names office, to ask about the origin of the name Rudlin Bay. She may have some information on computer, instantly accessible, or she may have to go back to the paper files, which would take a couple of weeks. They keep track of naming of places in B.C. Janet says the place names office is getting more and more queries from people doing their family history. She would appreciate it if people who find solid proof of place names origins in their own family research, would write and tell her about it. She needs real documentation, to justify adding data to the official files, and thinks it's a shame more people won't take the time to call her back when they do find information that could go in the permanent files.

Street Name Origin

As for the origin of the street name, the Archives of the City of Victoria MAY be able to help you there. They are online at http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca/depts/archives/� There is an email address on that page. Also, if you haven't searched their photo subject index yet, there is a listing for a photograph of Captain Rudlin there. Another way to check out Rudlin Street would be to trace the Rudlin family in the very earliest BC City Directories, (first one was 1868) and see if the family home was in that area; if so, you can be pretty sure the street was named after them. Also, I will ask my friend Jack when I see him this morning. He once worked in the place names office and seems to know a lot about street names origins too. Rudlin is not a street most people in Victoria would know. It's an odd little street, lost in time between two fairly major arteries for east-west travel, close to the downtown core. I enjoy meandering in my car through out-of-the-way little streets in Victoria, looking for such missed places. This street has many old houses,� though I doubt there is anything dating back anywhere near the time your Rudlins arrived in B.C. An early hospital was located near here, gone for about a hundred years now. 

Other Possibilities for Home Information 

If you get the address or addresses they lived at in Victoria (I see the captain died in Vancouver) there is another quite interesting source of information in the City of Victoria's archives. If the house they lived in was in the city of Victoria, and has been demolished, you can see the old lot plan, with outlines of the house, and odd bits of information such as when it was plumbed or wired. Additionally, there may be photos of the street that show the house, or, if a house they lived in is still standing, you can probably find a volunteer to take a photo for you.

Information Regarding Individuals

BC Archives has an INQUIRIES page, at http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/services/inquiry/accescom.htm and there is an electronic form for you to leave a query in, at the bottom of that page. The staff will answer quick research questions without charge, if they can expect to find the answer within their half hour time limit. You must think of one very specific question, or they just refer you to the professional researchers. Their other restriction is they will not do ANY research in the Vital Statistics microfilms. I think Captain Rudlin might be listed in the police census of Victoria, if he arrived in 1859. When the city was incorporated in 1861, the police department did a house to house survey of residents in what is now the downtown area. Not the sort of thing citizens would appreciate today! But it's there, at BC Archhives, and there were so few residents it doesn't take long to search. So that might be a way of narrowing down the date of his arrival. Of course he might have been in the area, but living on a ship, along with his wife, in those days. Some captains' wives did go along on board.

Birth Records

If you know there were births in British Columbia, but they were too early to be recorded by BC Vital Statistics Agency, (pre 1872) then you need to know the church affiliation, so you can have the records searched. If they were Church of England, any births in Victoria might be found now at the Diocesan Archives on Vancouver Street in Victoria. This archives charges for certificates, I think about fifteen Canadian dollars. They don't have an email address. 

Anglican Diocese of British Columbia Archives  
912 Vancouver Street, 
Victoria, British Columbia, 
V8V 3V7 
Contact Person: Mrs. Mary Barlow 
Phone Number: (604) 386-7781 
Fax Number: (604) 386-4013 
Hours: Monday, 9:30 - 15:00; 
Wednesday, 9:30 - 12:00; and� by appointment.

MARITIME RECORDS

You're fortunate to be researching a sea captain. They tend to leave a lot of information behind. Specifically maritime resources at BC Archives and other repositories might contain details of his life. If you have the names of his ships, from the Censuses, then it's worth looking into the history of these ships, and even perhaps the companies. The newspapers used to have columns devoted to ship movements and ship news, which were in port, or expected in port, and articles on ships encountering dangers and disasters were common. Once Captain Rudlin was living here, that is, based in BC, he would have to be licenced here, and there are records for this too, at BC Archives. There are Maritime Museums in both Victoria and Vancouver. An email to either of these might give you some quick information. BC Maritime Museum in Victoria  Vancouver Maritime Museum

VERTICAL FILES AT BC ARCHIVES

- May be Best Source for Ship Name, Arrival Date. One thing worth asking about at BC Archives is their Vertical Files, a collection of newspaper clippings and notes, now microfilmed for easy access. It takes only a moment for staff to see if there is a Captain Rudlin in the Index, and� if there is, only a few minutes to spin through the microfilm reel and photocopy what's there. You would only have to pay for the photocopied pages. You can hope to find a newspaper ran a feature article on him, as a "pioneer" or "old timer," or that it printed a long obituary. These can be GREAT for finding out the date of arrival in the country, though they sometimes round off the numbers too much ("40 years" for 43 actually) making it hard to pinpoint the time you should be searching for a ship. However, it is possible that the name of his ship would be included in an article, because he was a seafaring man. If nothing is found in the Vertical Files, it would be very worthwhile to search the Colonist for an obituary.