Family church: Parish of Shap, Westmoreland, England
The Warm Land, by E. Blanch Norcross (1959), p 93:
CASTLEY - Henry Thomas Castley came to Cowichan from Rosgill Village, Westmorland, England, in the early spring of 1887, accompanied by his sons Thomas Steadman and Elias. He was followed later by his wife and their other children, James, John, Joeseph, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. James Campbell), Annie Eliza (Mrs. A. W. Munro), and Edith Margaret (Mrs. Charles Grassie). Henry Castley had been a farmer in England, and in Cowichan he bought property on the Cowichan Lake Road from Jim Auchinachie, property formerly owned by Charlie King. The land was all in heavy timber which had to be cleared before he could start farming. His son John, who married Esther Evans, eventually settled at Cowichan Lake and his three sons now live there.

1881 British Census:
Henry Thomas Castley and his family were living at Rosgill Street in Shap Westmorland.
Henry's occupation was given as Farmer of 63 Acres Employing one man, and his age given
as 47. 2

A Very Brief History of the Vancouver Island Branch of the Castley Family

Claude A. Green, July 1982

On July 24th, 1982 the Vancouver Island branch of the well known pioneer Castley family held a re-union at the Moose Home to celebrate the 95th Anniversary of the arrival of Henry Thomas Castley and his wife Eliza (nee Steadman) who with their eight children - Thomas, Jack, Joseph, Elias, Elizabeth, James, Annie and Edith arrived in the Cowichan Valley during the year 1887 straight from the family estate at Rosgill, in the County of Westmorland, England.

It would appear that Henry, being one of the younger sons of the family was not too happy with his lot on the family estate, decided to try his luck on Vancouver Island. At the age of 55 and with a large family it must have taken a lot of courage and many heart-aches before such a decision was decided upon to emigrate to Canada.

In the spring of 1887 Henry, with two of his older sons, Thomas and Elias, set sail from England to look over and size up the situation regarding farming on Vancouver Island. Until a suitable piece of land was found they stayed, with what must assume, an old family friend by the name of Mr. Norcross who owned and farmed the property presently owned by Mrs. R.H.M. Shaw situated at the north end of Somenos Lake.

The property Henry Castley eventually bought was on the old Cowichan Lake Road and extended from east of Castley Road westward to the boundary of the old Robinson Farm at the top of the hill west of Menzies Road. When the branch line of the Railway to Lake Cowichan was constructed in 1912 it passed right through the Castley property. Soon after the property was bought Henry then sent for the rest of his family. The second son, Jack, had been left behind to escort his mother and the remainder of the children on the journey to Vancouver Island. It was not necessary to sail around Cape Horn as earlier settlers had as the Canadian Pacific Railway had just been completed in 1885.

After years of hard work, not only in England but also establishing the farm on Vancouver Island, Henry Thomas passed away, age 92, at the home of his daughter Elizabeth, Mrs. J.M. Campbell in 1925. Diaries show he was of a bookish nature and a highly respected citizen. A true Castley.
Naturally, in order to exist on a new farm all the children had to pitch in and work and work hard, but as the years passed by it became the lot of the eldest son, Thomas, to stay on the farm and run it. In 1903, Thomas married Bessie, daughter of pioneer David Evans and from that union came forth Amy (Mrs. W. Murton), Doris (Mrs. R.K. McEwan), Kathleen and Ethel (Mrs. J. Warwick). In reading over the diaries of Thomas it is quite evident that in addition to being a good farmer he was a gifted handyman and many of the old barns around the district he helped to build. Possibly the sideline that gave him the most pleasure was the art of making ladders. He records in his diaries of making two ladders for the local Fire Department, one a 40 footer and another 35 feet long. These ladders were not of the type we see today but were made from an especially selected tall slender tree which was first barked and then rip-sawed down the center from top to bottom thus making the two sides for the ladder into which wooden rungs were inserted and held together with a number of thin iron rods and finally painted. This type of work was done when the weather was just too bad to work outside.

Thomas was a true pioneer in every sense of the word, ever ready to lend a helping hand to his neighbours. In his later years, unfortunately, he became stricken with a tubercular-hip from which he never really recovered and passed away in 1940 at his home in Duncan.

Although the younger boys made their contributions to the work on the farm in the earlier days, it was impossible for it to support them all, especially so as they were approaching the marriageable age, consequently they sought employment elsewhere. The second son, Jack, for many years worked at the Mount Sicker Mines and eventually married Esther Evans, sister of Bessie, and in the ensuing years produced six children, Allan, Kenneth, Vivian (Mrs. D. Erickson), Irene (Mrs. B.R. All), Lillian and Steadman. Jack farmed for a number of years but later on he became Manager of the Fish Hatchery at Lake Cowichan until his retirement. For many years he was an active member of the Masonic Lodge and was a highly respected citizen of the Lake area and passed away in 1956, age 88.

The third son, Joseph was unfortunate to be born blind so consequently very little is known of him. The diaries of his brothers indicate he managed to do a few chores around the home and generally help out the best way he was able to. Joseph passed away in 1915.

The fourth son, Elias, probably the entrepreneur of the family, during his short lifetime had managed a farm, a carpenter of considerable skill, owned a team and hauled lumber and freight to Lake Cowichan, telephone pole contractor, road builder - he built the Mt. Prevost Road from Somenos Road to the Mt. Sicker Mines. Contracted to construct the first telephone line from Victoria to Nanaimo - there was no road over the Malahat in those days - the line went from Victoria to Sooke up over the mountains past Sooke Lakes and thence to Shawnigan Lake and on to Duncan and Nanaimo. Laid the first underwater telephone cable to Saltspring Island from Maple Bay to Burgoyne Bay. Became lineman responsible for maintenance to telephone lines from Sooke to Chemainus. First Manager of the B.C. Telephone Company in Duncan, Director of the first Duncan Waterworks Company, School Trustee. One of the original advocates for the formation of the City of Duncan within the Municipality of North Cowichan. In the early days there was no coal dealer in Duncan so Elias would order a railway carload from the Nanaimo Mines - take off enough for his family requirements and sell the rest to whoever wanted coal. His diaries reveal he usually managed to get his own coal for free. He was always sending letters to the local Provincial M.L.A. and the Federal M.P. telling them what he considered should be done for the good of Vancouver Island in general and the Cowichan District in particular. Elias was a very active member of the local I.O.O.F. Lodge. All in all, a most enterprising man and a highly respected one.

Elias married May Robinson in 1901 and during the passage of time six girls arrived on the scene - Dorothy (Mrs. D. Macleod), Florence (Mrs. E.M. Waldie), Edna (Mrs. C.A. Green), Gladys, Ina (Mrs. L. Talbot) [and] Bertha (Mrs. W.O. Corbett). Two days before Christmas in 1909 Elias was performing a voluntary favour for the local Fire Department doing some work on the firebell when the pole gave way inflicting injuries from which he never recovered and passed away on Christmas Day at the early age of 39. Thus a man of enterprise and vision was not only lost to his family but to the community at large. A sad blow to everyone. His slogan was - "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Like so many of his forebearers Elias was of a bookish nature and an avid reader whenever he could find the time to do so.

The fifth child, Elizabeth, whom everyone knew as "Lizzie" like all girls of that period helped with the chores around the home and farm until she married a young fellow by the name of James M. Campbell who hailed from Ontario and being a carpenter by trade came West, no doubt to work at the Mt. Sicker Mines. J.M. Campbell became a local building contractor of note and quite a number of local fellows of that era learned their trade from him among them being two other well known contractors during the first half of the century - Oscar C. Brown and W. James Castley. James Campbell was one of the first Alderman in the newly formed City of Duncan. He and his wife Lizzie produced four children - Lydia (Mrs. J. McLennan), Mary (Mrs. W. McLean), James and Winnifred, better known as Winnie. Lizzie passed away in 1969.

The sixth child, William James better known as Jim, was the youngest of the five brothers and in the early days did his share of the farm work before deciding to become a carpenter as has been mentioned before he learned his trade from his brother-in-law J.M. Campbell. Later on Jim worked for a number of years on heavy construction with the Railway as a Bridge Builder. After leaving the railway he served Overseas in [the] 1st World War. After the War he started on his own as a Building Contractor and built a good many homes around the district. At a later date he worked for the Highways Department again as a Bridge Builder. In 1902 he married Bernice Dodds and from that union came forth Hazel (Mrs. A. Campbell), Helen, Clara (Mrs. J. Harris), Lorna (Mrs. J. Mainguy), Colin and Denise (Mrs. G. Naylor).

Despite Jim's prowess as a builder of houses and bridges he remained a true son of the soil and was always interested in growing things and as he neared retirement he built himself a number of greenhouses and during his full retirement he supplemented his income by selling the fine sturdy plants he produced and cultivated in his greenhouses. One would suspect perhaps these retirement years were Jim's happiest. Jim was of a quiet gentle nature, well liked and a gentleman in every respect. He passed away in 1965, age 88 years.

The seventh child, Annie, married a man by the name of Alexander William Munro from Ontario on February 1st, 1899. One would suspect that Alex Munro first came to the Cowichan area to find employment at the Mt. Sicker Mines and subsequently became a friend of the Castley family. In 1893 Alex was working at a Shingle Mill in Vancouver and learned that bids were being called for the clearing and rough grading of a street in North Vancouver. He got in touch with his future brothers-in-law, Thomas and Jim Castley and another man by the name of Bob Clow - they then looked the job over and submitted a bid which was accepted. They had to clear off all the stumps and debris and rough level a road 14 feet wide. The area had been logged off and burned over a number of years before and it is said that by the size of the stumps the trees must have been huge. One stump, a cedar, had a diameter of over 18 feet. The center of the stump had been burnt out and the road had to go right through it so it was trimmed up a bit to get the 14 foot width and there was still a couple of feet of the stump left on each side. The road today is one of the main streets in North Vancouver, Lonsdale Avenue. From all accounts they did not make very much money on the contract.

Soon after Annie and Alex were married they moved to Nelson, B.C. where their five children were born. Muriel (Mrs. R. Avis), Ellen (Mrs. C. Thurston), William - better known as Bill, Elmer, and John. Alex could turn his hand to anything and whilst at Nelson he drove one of the City's Streetcars, had logging contracts, a mail contract and was in partnership with another man by the name of Nelson in a crockery and second-hand furniture store - Alex eventually bought his partner out.

Around the twenties the Munro family moved to Vancouver where Alex was employed as a salesman in a store on Granville Street. He was an accomplished violin player and with his wife Annie, who played the autoharp, they played for many a dance. Alex passed away in 1936 and his wife Annie at the age of 82 in 1960.

The youngest child, Edith, was seven years old when her family arrived in the Cowichan area. In due course she married Charles Robert Grassie whose father was a blacksmith and who brought his family out from Ontario a number of years previous. In due course Charlie inherited the family business and married Edith in 1902 and from this union arrived Evelyn, Iris, Sydney and Vernon. Evelyn taught school, Iris became an accountant, Sidney for many years worked for Lockhead, the aircraft manufacturers. Upon his retirement he cashed in on his hobby and went into business making and repairing grandfather clocks. Vernon, who had a Phd. in Chemistry, was a brilliant research chemist and prior to his sudden death in Germany in 1969, was the co-ordinator of Chemical Research in the U.S.A., England, France, Germany and Italy. It was his duty to make three to four visits to each country each year to supervise the various projects that were being developed. The academic brilliance for which many generations of Castley's were noted appeared to surface once again through the youngest Castley child to the youngest child of the Grassie family. Edith passed away in 1958 and her husband Charles in 1966.

Written by -
CLAUDE A. GREEN
July 1982