Jonathan Begg

Jonathan Begg is one of the earliest settlers on Salt Spring Island. In the period before 1871, most settlers appear in the historical record only as names in land records. We know much more about Begg for two reasons: first, some of the letters he wrote from from Salt Spring Island between 1860-62 have survived, and secondly, Begg led an active public life in the colony, leaving his name on a number of government documents and newspaper reports.

Jonathan Begg left England sometime in the mid-1850s, living in Toronto and perhaps Buffalo before moving on to stay with his sister and her husband, William and Mary Chisholm, who had taken up land in Iowa. In 1858, Begg made his way to California, where he attempted with little success to take up farming. Disliking the climate and the 'republican spirit' prevalent in America, Begg made his way north to the recently formed colony of Vancouver's Island. His first letter to William and Mary tells of his important role in improving land legislation for the benefit of honest farmers wanting to settle on agricultural lands (Begg's Letters, March 1860). We can follow the progress of Land Reform, and Begg's role in it, through newspaper coverage of Land Reform Meetings in the local papers, and through Colonial Correspondence on the matter (Pemberton to Copland Correspondence).

As the Victoria Gazette reported, on July 17, 1859, and as we know from Begg's Letters (March 1860), Begg was one of 17 people who left Victoria for Salt Spring Island and the Cowichan district in the hope of acquiring cheap farm land. As Begg's Land Records tell us, Begg pre-empted land in what would become known as Begg's Settlement, in section 12, range 1 north and south. The land, and the improvements that Begg made in terms of clearing, planting and building, are described in glowing terms in Begg's Letters, and in a more modest way in Begg's Land Records. A sketch by Edward Mallandaine gives us a better idea of Begg's Cabin (see Mallandaine's Sketches).

Begg's Land Records tell us that Begg obtained a Certificate of Improvement for the property, giving him the right to obtain a Crown Grant for the land, but we don't know the date. In 1862 he applied for a Leave of Absence, the permission needed to be off his claim for a few months in May of 1862. In December of 1862, Begg's Letters tell us about the trip he took to the Cariboo Gold Fields in these months. He must have arrived back to the coast before November 1862, because in this month he pre-empted his second piece of land, in Section 9. It is unlikely that he lived on this land; by 1864 Henry Sampson had pre-empted this section. In 1863, Begg's Land Records tell us that Begg had transferred his land in Section 12, now with a Certificate of Improvement, to Richard Brinn in December 1863. Brinn worked with Mr. Griffiths to maintain the nursery business initiated by Jonathan Begg, but the property in section 12 was pre-empted another six times before being purchased in 1879.

Although Begg does not show up on the Island after 1863, and so was present for only four years, his accomplishments were remarkable during those years. He is mentioned in passing by visitors to the Island like Bishop Hills and Ebenezer Robson. He was the election officer in the first election in 1860 (see Mallandaine's sketches), and started the first Agricultural Society in the Colony, notice of which he duly sent to the Victoria newspapers. Similarly, advertisements for his store (Begg's Store) appeared in the same. As Begg's Letters attest, he was a man of remarkable abilities -- and a firm conviction of his own value in the colony!!