Qualicum Beach Family History Society Journal

The Society’s journal is published in March, June, September and December, and is sent to members in electronic format via e-mail. It contains a wide range of articles of genealogical interest and social history as well as news about upcoming events, publications in our library, new members and member queries.  There is an ongoing series of “Successful Detective Hunts” in which members can post their successful hunts for those elusive ancestors. Members can have requests for help published in the journal.

We always need and appreciate articles for the journal and the Editor welcomes submissions from both members and non-members.

An article from a previous journal will be posted on this page and will be changed on a regular basis for your reading pleasure.  There is also an article specific to World War 2 and the Forrester Family of Qualicum Beach that you may find informative.  

We also have a Journal Exchange with other family history societies.  These journals can be very helpful as you may have current relatives or ancestors who lived in the area covered by the journal or there may be a member interest listing in one of these journals that will help you with your research.  The listing of journals we exchange with are on the Journal Exchange page.

Editor:  Kathy Jones

December 2011 Journal Excerpt

World War I Medal Comes Home to Recipient's Daughter

On October 10 2011 an e-mail request was sent to the QBFHS web site from Donna West of Shawnigan Lake, B.C. The email read as follows:

This is not a question per se but rather hoping to find a veteran’s family. This has become a trail of mystery. Back in the 1990's my husband and I purchased 20 acres of land on Palmer Road, Hilliers, Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island BC. While clearing the land I found a solid silver WW1 medal with E. A. Moore on it, regimental number 3207498. I have hung onto it in hopes of returning it to its rightful family. I am looking for living descendants to claim this medal.

The trail ended there but at our October 19th meeting our members were asked if they could help with this mystery. One of our new members, Brenda Cooper, thought of a family of long-time residents of the Hilliers/Errington area and wrote to them for help.   The family discussed the question and provided me with the name Rose Brittain and said:

“Rose Brittain's maiden name was Cooling, but, when we knew her mother, she had remarried and her name was Moore.”

On October 24th Joe telephoned Rose Brittain, explained who he was, asked if she was related to Edward Albert Moore, explaining the reason for the question. She said she was his stepdaughter and that she and her sister, Elizabeth, had just recently been talking about Edward and the fact that they didn’t know what had happened to his medals . She was overjoyed and immediately phoned her sister, who then returned Joe’s call.

They had had Rose’s father’s medals re-ribboned last year and this had led to discussion of family history. Elizabeth had been a child when Edward died and he never talked about his war service, but she knew he had at least one medal. They had lived in Hilliers for five years.

Joe immediately contacted Donna West and provided her with Elizabeth’s phone number.

Donna immediately phoned Elizabeth and told her how the medal was found. At Elizabeth`s request, Donna gave her a written account as to how they found the medal:

“My husband and I bought 19 acres in 1990 with a house on it at 3080 Palmer Road, Qualicum Beach. While clearing land for our bovines my husband hit a small pile of what appeared to be garbage with his caterpillar. The blade caused the pile to spread across the dirt. While cleaning up the glass I found a WW1 medal belonging to Pte. E.A. Moore, knowing there should be a companion medal to this I searched thoroughly where I found the silver medal. It was never found and could quite possibly still be in the ground there.

I had been told that there once was a barn on this property and knew approximately where it would have stood. The medal when found would have probably been behind either the barn or far right hand corner in the barn. I tried off and on to find the family of Edward A. Moore for over twenty years. At the time of this writing October 2011 the family has finally been found with help from the Qualicum Beach Family Historical Society. It is with great happiness I give this medal to its rightful family.”

On October 31st, 2011 the two sisters, Elizabeth Giuriato and Rose Brittain met with Donna West and received their father’s medal back into the family. Donna had spent twenty-one years searching for family members of Edward Moore and this was the culmination of her search.

Elizabeth Giuriato, Alf and Marie Randall and Brenda Cooper were present At the QBFHS November, 2011 general meeting, Alf Randall explained how he and his sister remembered the Moore connection. Elizabeth had the medal with her and retold the story of the finding of the metal.   There weren’t too many dry eyes in the room listening to the almost miraculous recovery of the medal and how much this medal meant to Elizabeth.

Edward Moore was a bachelor until he married Elizabeth’s mother, Flora, a widow with two daughters in 1955. At the time of their marriage he was 69 years old. His only child, Elizabeth, was born nine months later.   Because of her father’s age and the fact that people of his generation didn’t talk too much about their past, she knew very little about his life in general or anything of his years spent overseas in World War I.

He died in 1978 when Elizabeth was just out of her teens and still too young to appreciate her father or his past.   Having this medal and knowing some of the story of her father’s past, as Elizabeth stated, is opening a door to her father’s history.   In Elizabeth’s own words, “The fact that the Qualicum Beach Family History Society helped me connect to my father’s past with the discovery of his World War II medal is appreciated more than I can say and in the future you will see me as a member of the Society. The words ‘thank you’ are really not enough to tell you how much this means to me.”

This was a moving occasion for everyone and we all are so pleased that Qualicum Beach Family History Society had played a part in bringing some family history back home.

Contributions by

Joe Forsyth, Member #149

Elizabeth Giuriato

Donna West

Brenda Cooper, Member #239