W.H. Anderson, a journeyman carpenter from Yorkshire, bought land just east of Muir Creek in 1895. Short on cash, but long on determination, settling into a relatively remote area, he struggled to build a log cabin as a home for his wife Azuba and growing family.
The cabin built as their first shelter was the precursor to the beautiful farmhouse he built later, pictured here. Anderson’s daughter Margaret, who grew up to marry another Shirley district settler, Percy Clark, describes their early cabin efforts:
“My father had built the fireplace of fieldstones … and I remember this because we had to go along the beach and pick up clam shells which we burned and mixed with sand to make the mortar to put it together … it worked very well.”
The industrious Anderson established a productive farm and a small sawmill, milling his own lumber. In 1914 he completed the building of the finely crafted farmhouse shown, known as Malahat Farmhouse, so named because it was within the Malahat Land District, part of the land grant deeded to the E&N Railway. The Andersons and their many descendants became well known and respected leaders in the district.
With the passage of time, the Malahat farmstead has changed ownership several times, and when this photo was taken in the late 1980s, the owners were George and Diana Clare, who are seen seated in the back row. Summertime farm tours run by the museum were popular events, but I can recall one tour when I was terrified of a gigantic bull snorting behind a fence.
Visitors being hosted by the Clares on this summer day and perched on the front steps of Malahat Farmhouse included at left, Sally Bullen, then-president of Sooke Region Historical Society, Evelyn Stolth, a granddaughter of the Andersons, Harold Goudie, descended from Hudson’s Bay Company traders, and Lorna Ross, of the pioneer Tom Cross family of Shirley.
Seated in the centre are Don Roberts, Faith and Nils Jacobsen and on the right is Jean Robinson, longtime Shirley resident and community leader, a descendant of the Shannon family. While extensive farms are few nowadays, our district folks have not lessened their enthusiasm for “growing our own.”
Elida Peers is the historian at Sooke Region Museum.