Lindsay Christian EBY

  General Notes:

Lindsay Christian Eby (1883-1959) and Henrietta Catherine Bell (1890-1981)

Lindsay Christian Eby was born May 4, 1883 at Elsinore, a farming community, outside of Southampton, Ontario. Both his father, Christian, and his mother, Lydia were Ebys. Lydia died a few weeks after Lindsay was born, due to complications from childbirth. The Eby family spoke German at home but all the children learned English when they went to school. About 1890 the family switched from the Mennonite faith to the Methodist Church.

Lindsay left for the west, April 6, 1906 stopping first in Edmonton and working as a carpenter. In February, 1907 he left for Vancouver and that fall he went to Victoria. After a couple of years there, 1909, he moved up the island to the Duncan and Cowichan Bay area. He took a brief holiday to Seattle before returning to Ontario in 1909. He visited his brother Ed in Montreal and then returned to Edmonton in the spring of 1910. Here he went into partnership with J. "Alex" Cullins, building houses.

Henrietta was born July 21, 1890 in Stratford, Ontario. Henrietta's younger brother, Henry couldn't say Henrietta so he called her "Henrienata". This eventually was shortened to "Nate". This name stuck and she was rarely called anything else. She left home for Edmonton in 1910 where she lived with her brother John. She was a trained stenographer and bookkeeper and worked at this prior to her marriage. Even up into her fifties, she was still able to take shorthand. Henrietta met Lindsay at a skating rink in Edmonton in 1912. Without telling each other, Henrietta changed from the Presbyterian to the Methodist Church and Lindsay changed from the Methodist to the Presbyterian Church! They were married August 27, 1913 in Edmonton., the Presbyterian Church.

In 1914 they moved into one of the houses they had built but wouldn't sell. It had six bedrooms - which would have suited their family in later years when there were eight children, rather than at this point with just one! Lindsay became employed as a carpenter by the Grand Trunk Railroad (later bought by the C.N.R.). In 1917, they were transferred to Prince Rupert, all expenses paid, moving there with three young children, Winifred, Earl and Floyd. Prince Rupert was a new city at this time, having been incorporated on March 10, 1910. The site had been chosen as the western terminus of the Grand Truck Pacific Railway, and with its muskeg, rocks and rain, created a challenge for all who were the first pioneers.

Lindsay continued to work for the Grand Trunk Railway for several years, but began building houses in his spare time. Early in the 1920's he left the GTR and worked full time as Eby Construction. He and Nate and their young family lived on 5th Ave. East until October 1921 when they moved into the house that Lindsay built for them at 435 - 4th Ave. East. This house is still in the family, now being the residence of David Eby, grandson of Lindsay and Nate's, although for many years it was known as the Eby Apartments.

It was a two story building with roomy premises downstairs for the family, and two apartments upstairs. The family residence had four bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. There was a door
separating the sleeping area of the house from the rest so the whole house didn't have to be heated at the same time. Winifred and Muriel shared one bedroom, and when Winifred left to go into nursing, Marj moved in with Muriel. Earl and Bob shared another room, with Buck, Don and Brick in the third. They had a double bed with a single bunk above. The parent's bedroom had an entrance off the living room and although it had another door into the hallway where the other bedrooms were located, it was blocked off. After Muriel completed her hairdressing training in Vancouver, she opened a beauty parlour in one of the apartments upstairs. At this time she and Marj moved their bedroom upstairs and Lindsay was able to have a room for his business office. Up until this time their bedroom had also housed a desk and a crib, making it rather crowded.

The bathroom was next to the kitchen in the back of the house, overlooking the harbour. They had the luxury of running water and a toilet, unlike many of their friends who still had to go outside to the outhouse. There were stairs going up to the apartments, and occasionally someone would get caught in the bathroom by the tenants going up the stairs! Lindsay built a platform under the tub with drawers for towels and hot water bottles, etc. so Nate wouldn't have to bend over to bathe the children and to save the strain on her back.

The kitchen was on the back of the house facing the waterfront. There was a sink under the window and a wood, and later an oil burning stove, for cooking the meals for the big family. There was a large dining table in the kitchen and there were always ten at the table until Winifred left, but on Sundays she brought nurses from the hospital for dinner making an even bigger crowd. The last large dinner, for 26, was at Christmas, 1940. Mrs. Cousins (Ethel's mom) sat under the Christmas tree at one end, and Lindsay
sat in the doorway to the bedrooms at the other end.

The basement housed a wood furnace and was unfinished but served many useful purposes. There were skis and skates lined up along the wall, and on the workbench, shoe lasts of all sizes were lined up so Lindsay could resole and repair when required. There was also a room full of lovingly preserved fruit, vegetables, fish and venison. Along with all of this was a creek that ran through the basement, out of the house and down along the side of the cinder path.

The path, known to all as Eby's Trail, and which still exists today, was a shortcut route between 4th Ave. East and Cow Bay, and is an extension of Green St. On school days, 20 - 30 children, many of them of Japanese origin, who lived in Cow Bay would climb the path on the way to Booth School which was an elementary school at that time. Until 1926 the roadway in front of the house was wooden and built on trestles, and to get to the house you went off to the right and along a path that went under the road. In 1926 the road was macadamized (paved) and the level of the road increased, leaving the house a fair bit below and the apartments at road level.

Lindsay had a beautiful garden in the back with raspberries, gooseberries, black and red currants and rhubarb. He grew onions, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, lettuce, turnips and peas. Much of this was eaten fresh, of course, but lots of preserving took place for food throughout the year. Nate's responsibilities were in the front yard where she was famous for her beautiful flowers in windows boxes and the rock garden made a riotous mass of colour. The children don't remember them ever fighting but there was some dissension when Lindsay dug up some plants that Nate had just planted.

There the eight children grew up in a loving, caring, disciplined home, sharing the chores, with the older ones helping the young and all pitching in to work together. Although it seems that it was Earl's job to ensure that there was kindling and wood for the heater in the living room, all of the children were taught to do all the chores. Everyone learned to set the table, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, change the beds and collect the eggs from the chicken coop out back. Someone had to go downtown, to where the Epicurean now stands, to collect the mail from the post office. They tried to go as often as possible. Winifred, Earl, Bob and Muriel all took music lessons for varying lengths of time but Nate was not happy. She often complained - all these music lessons and not one of them can play God Save the King!
Interestingly, Buck didn't take lessons but ended up marrying Ethel who was a piano teacher.

Nate sewed the clothes for the children and could often be caught staying up 'til midnight making short pants for the boys to wear to Sunday School. They weren't allowed to wear long pants until they were twelve years old. On Mondays and Fridays she did the laundry. She had two clothes lines stretching from the house to the chicken coop and the first two kids home from school had to hang the clothes on the line. She baked eleven loaves of bread every four days to feed her growing family, using a large bread mixer. The loaves flowed out of the pans and created bread that was a strange shape.
If store bought bread was ever brought into the house, it was considered a real treat and disappeared in a hurry.

"Although Mr. and Mrs. Eby had a large family of their own, they also welcomed the neighbourhood kiddies to their home, especially if they had just made a tub of home-made ice cream in a freezer - and all the young'uns would sit in the big back yard on a set of steps or bleachers which Mr. Eby had
made, to enjoy the treat. And then to play games - hide and seek; run, sheep, run; tag; scrub or baseball; hopscotch or whatever - it was always a lot of fun there. The small Isolation Hospital was also near their home and that was one of the highlights of playing in the Eby's backyard - you could see all the sick kids with measles and mumps in bed in the little building and wave to them as you passed by" - R.L. Eby Obituary, The Daily News, Oct. 30, 1987.

In 1929, Lindsay bought the gill netter, "The Nate", with the idea of fishing during the decline of the construction industry. However, he ran on a rock, almost drowned and decided it wasn't for him. The boat was used as transportation to the Salt Lakes, where the family had a cabin. Brick remembers an incident where Lindsay went overboard and when he surfaced he was still holding his pipe in his mouth!

Lindsay owned one of the few vehicles in Prince Rupert in the early 1930s. It was a truck that he had purchased from the city which had used it to transport men around town. He bought it for his construction business but it doubled as transportation for his large family. It had two benches along the sides of the back, each with a backrest, and a cover over the top. There were canvas sides which could be rolled down in rainy weather. The cab had no doors and one day, Marjorie, being only 3 or 4 at this time, fell from the truck and it was a miracle that Lindsay didn't run over her!

At this time there was no road connecting Rupert with the outside world. The road went only as far as Prudhomme Lake which was a popular recreation area for the residents. Each time there was about to be an election another mile of road would be built! The only available transportation routes at that time were by rail or ship. The road to Terrace wasn't completed until 1944, by the US Army during W.W.II.

The family struggled during this time, with the older boys leaving school early to go to work to help support the family. When Bob and Don returned from the war, they joined their father in his business and it was then incorporated as Eby and Sons Construction (1946). That business still thrives
in Prince Rupert with Gordie and Dennis, grandsons of Lindsay, at the helm. The business has been expanded in size and scope and now involves several other partners. The children grew up and married, with some venturing out to the southern areas of the province and others establishing themselves in Prince Rupert.

Lindsay passed away quite suddenly in 1959. He had suffered a heart attack a few years earlier, but at the time of his death had been in hospital, and was planning to go home that day. Henrietta stayed in the family home for a few years but eventually moved into a suite in Bob and Gwen's house. She reasserted her independence by learning to drive at the age of 68. She managed to give the family several scares as to her ability to manage the family vehicle which she was determined to keep! She continued to keep active, and about 1965 she was featured in the popular newspaper, "The Star Weekly", as the oldest woman curler in Canada - aged 75. Although she outwardly frowned on drinking, she was known to enjoy the odd nip of apricot brandy.

When Nate was unable to live on her own, she moved for several years, to Vancouver to a rest home as there were no long term care facilities in Prince Rupert. She returned to Prince Rupert when the new Prince Rupert Regional Hospital was built in 1971. This new facility included extended care and Nate was one of the first guests of this new hospital. She lived there until her death in October, 1981.
Lindsay and Henrietta are buried side by side in Prince Rupert's Fairview Cemetery, along with two of their sons, Donald and Robert.

The family which follows in this book owe much to these two, Lindsay and Henrietta Eby. From them we all have been bestowed with a love of family, compassion for others and the drive to succeed in all that we do.

BC Death Record

Name: LINDSAY CHRISTIAN EBY
Event Date: 1959 5 8 (Yr/Mo/Day)
Age: 74
Gender: Male
Event Place: PRINCE RUPERT

Reg. Number: 1959-09-006185
B.C. Archives Microfilm Number: B13242 GSU Microfilm Number: 2033299

  Burial Notes:

Fairview Cemetery, Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada

Lindsay married Catharine Henrietta (Nate) BELL on 27 Aug 1913 in Edmonton, , Alberta, Canada. (Catharine Henrietta (Nate) BELL was born on 21 Jul 1890 in Stratford, , Ontario, Canada, died on 19 Oct 1981 in Prince Rupert, , British Columbia, Canada and was buried in Prince Rupert, , British Columbia, Canada.)