by Sam McBride
My maternal grandfather Edgar Edwin Lawrence “Ted” Dewdney (1880-1952) died when I was a toddler so I have no memory of him. He did not write diaries or memoirs for posterity, so all the information I had on him was either from his widow (my grandmother Helen Peters) or my mother Dee Dee.
With that in mind, it was wonderful for me to find extensive coverage about him in the Rossland Miner newspaper in 1907, as he was the centre of attention at the Rossland Club and from other friends in the community who got to know him in the seven years since he arrived in Rossland as a 19-year-old Bank of Montreal clerk in 1900.
Also, the newspaper stories went a long way in explaining several artifacts that were still in our family home more than a century later. The gifts obviously meant a lot to him, as he kept them intact as he was transferred by his employer, the Bank of Montreal, to new communities eight more times before arriving in Nelson, B.C. in 1929, serving as manager of the local BMO branch until retirement in 1940.
Rossland Miner Aug. 2, 1907 report of Ted’s transfer
second part of Aug. 3, 1907 Rossland Miner report
family heirlooms, including the stylized umbrella and address presented Ted at the Rossland Club event, as well as two of his tennis trophies and a plaque presented to Ted and wife Helen in 1920 as they were leaving New Denver for the BMO manager job in Rossland
The signed scroll from the farewell night, described as an “address” in the news report
inscription on the brass handle of the umbrella with best wishes from fellow militia members of the Rocky Mountain Rangers
Rossland unit of the Rocky Mountain Rangers in family files. It appears that Ted is 10th from right, top row. They are proudly showing off their Maxim Gun. Family photo.
Rossland studio photo of Ted Dewdney, by photographer Gowman. Family photo
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