Acreman and Muir wedding
It could hardly have been more glamorous, the joining in marriage of Robert, one of the seven tall sons of Benjamin and Rebecca Jane Acreman and Florence, younger daughter of John Stephen Muir and his wife Eliza Throup. The 1929 wedding was celebrated in the original Knox Presbyterian Church with the Reverend Samuel Lundie officiating.
While Florence’s much celebrated pioneering great-grandparents were the Scottish John and Ann Muir Sr who settled at Woodside in 1851, the Acremans, from Newfoundland, lived for a period in Vancouver before their arrival in Sooke in 1915.
Florence’s cousin, Vera Mesher from Colwood, was her maid of honour, while Robert’s older brother John, who was at the time Esquimalt’s Chief of Police, served as the groom’s best man.
The demure but engaging smile of Florence Muir, as she posed in her salmon-pink scalloped dress with an armload of gorgeous blossoms and ribbons, was an introduction to her life-long role in the community, where she raised a family, taught music, and for many years served as an authority on local history and as a correspondent for the Victoria daily newspapers.
Robert Acreman, who like his brothers enjoyed sports and community activities, worked as a shipwright on the waterfront, mainly for Sooke Harbour Fishing and Packing Co. The couple made their home on the main Sooke Road, near Maple Avenue in a cottage that no longer exists. Widowed in 1971, Florence remained in her marriage home, surrounded by her historical treasures, until her passing in 1995.
The Acremans raised two children, Robert, who makes his home today on original Muir property in Sooke, and Diane (Alexander) who now lives in Sidney but frequently visits her old home town.
Elida Peers, Historian
Sooke Region Museum