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  1. #1
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    Default North Wales miners travelling to Cariboo

    My Great Great Grandfather Edward Parry travelled to the Cariboo gold fields in 1863. He arrived on the Rising Sun from Liverpool and arrived into Victoria on Vancouver Island but I cant find any record of his return. We think he left Canada in 1866 after working for a short while in the coal fields in Nainaimo.
    He was part of the Capt John Evans party.
    We have visited Bakerville and found his signature for his miners license so we know he made it that far and we know due to poor conditions and no luck in finding any gold he left in the second season.

  2. #2

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    Have you located him in the 1881 census in Britain?
    With the surname PARRY and in Capt Evans party, sounds like he was from Wales. With Travelling from Liverpool would suggest North Wales.

  3. #3
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default

    Are you able to give us any additional personal information?
    Approximately when was he born?
    With where in North Wales do you identify him?
    Where, when and who did he marry?
    Dates and place/s of birth of child/ren

  4. #4

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    Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Dorothy Blakey Smith

    " ... Evans personally selected 26 respectable north Welsh miners ..."

    "Captain"** John Evans was living in Tremadoc at this time. They sailed 22 Dec 1852

    ** a title given him by his men
    "dyfal donc a dyr y garreg"

  5. #5

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    Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru, Vol 19, Nos 1-4, 1 Jan 1998

    "The best known group were the Company of Welsh Adventurers led by John Evans, who went out in the 1860s. The most extensive records relating to them are in the Special Collection of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. This has John Evan's own account ... The Welsh Adventurers were not very successful and Evans gives a list of those who left the enterprise in 1864 to go to work in the coalfields at Nainamo ... to earn their fare back to Wales"
    "dyfal donc a dyr y garreg"

  6. #6

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    Welsh Journals online https://journals.library.wales

    Click on link and put "operating at lightning creek" (including the " ") in Search - should return 1 hit.
    Click on title "Cyf.10 ... 1860s"

    See from "T Gwallter Price ..." on.
    "dyfal donc a dyr y garreg"

  7. #7
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
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    Abit about 'Captain' Evans & the trip
    https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/evans_john_10E.html

    Your likely to be looking in the Tremadoc /Porthmadoc Caernafonshire area of N Wales

  8. #8
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    Default Tracking Edward Parry

    Quote Originally Posted by helachau View Post
    Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Dorothy Blakey Smith

    " ... Evans personally selected 26 respectable north Welsh miners ..."

    "Captain"** John Evans was living in Tremadoc at this time. They sailed 22 Dec 1852

    ** a title given him by his men
    Thanks for the response.
    We have traced Edward from later census's and know all about his remaining life and death in Wales. He returned to lead mining in North Wales, survived being trapped by a rockfall underground for several days but died young in an accident unloading pit props from a boat. The only missing bits are how he made his way up the gold fields and how and when he returned from Canada.
    We were able to visit Lightning Creek last year at the approximate site of their mining operations and also visited the archives in Victoria and Barkerville to try and find any information about his arrival and journey up to the Cariboo.
    We found a little more information, newspaper reports and mining maps but the best information is in the letters of captain Evans which we have not been able to access. I don't think they are available on line.
    Thanks for the pointers though.

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