Noting that one of our oldest original pioneer properties was for sale, we were reminded that the pictured frame building overlooking the Sooke River still stands.
In the late 1880s, this was the pioneer home of Edward and Janet Milne, and the house site has remained in the ownership of the Milne family for almost a century and a half. While we in Sooke tend to think of the Muir houses, Woodside, Burnside, and Moss Cottage as being the oldest standing buildings, the original Milne house comes close. Our photo was taken in 1982, but sadly, the building no longer looks like this, having suffered from the ravages of time and vandalism.
Back in the early 1940s, this building meant many happy Friday afternoons for me, as I would stop on my way home from school to visit my sister, who worked there. The porch had not been closed in, and I could sit and watch the peacocks strutting on the lawn and giving their raucous cries. The peacocks were the pride of old Mr. Milne, who would sometimes hand me a pair of shears, so I could help trim the hedges of their lovely garden.
While this area was home to the Coast Salish, by the late 1880s an influx of European immigrants had arrived as well. It was through the Hudson’s Bay Company that folk had come, voyageurs from eastern Canada who’d first gone to the Columbia River, and then northward after the Oregon Treaty was signed in 1846. At the same time, Scottish folk such as the Muirs and Dunsmuirs immigrated here to mine for coal to supply HBC vessels.
While the Milnes were from Greenock, Scotland, they came as a family to make a new life. The senior Milnes had two sons: Edward, who married Janet Kerr and became a community leader, and Hugh, who married Alice Cutler and moved to Queensland, Australia, with their four daughters. Eldest son Edward, who became Milnes Landing postmaster in 1895 and served 45 years, was an entrepreneur. Besides running his general store, stagecoach and farm, he became a school trustee and a founder of Knox Presbyterian Church. It is his name that our community school bears today.
The Milne girls soon found suitors; eldest daughter Susannah married Charles Beasley, daughter Janet married William Phillips, Agnes married George Mann, and Mary became Mrs. Alexander White.
One can imagine the surprise that any of the Milne pioneers would feel if they could see how the population of this community has multiplied and how many folks enjoy sports on their farm fields today.
Elida Peers is the historian with Sooke Region Museum.
