John Joseph Enos (1893–1956)

 John Joseph Enos (1893–1956)

John Joseph Enos, my maternal grandfather, was born around 1893–1894 in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia. His heritage reflected several cultures that shaped the early history of the Pacific Northwest — Portuguese, Songhees, French, Iroquois, and Kalapuya ancestry passed down through earlier generations of the Enos and Poirier families.

His father, Joseph Enos, carried both Portuguese and Songhees roots, while his mother Mary Ann Poirier was born in Sooke, British Columbia, with Métis and Indigenous ancestry reaching back through French, Iroquois, Kalapuya, and T'Sou-ke lines. Like many families of mixed heritage at the time, parts of this identity were sometimes hidden or altered in official records because of discrimination.

In 1921, John married Anna Nancy Anderson, a young immigrant from Sweden, at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Vancouver. John was 28 years old, and Anna was 19. Their marriage brought together two very different backgrounds — John, a brown-skinned man of Indigenous and Portuguese heritage, and Anna, a fair-skinned woman newly arrived from Europe. In the Vancouver of the early 20th century, such differences were often noticed and not always accepted easily.

John worked as a machinist and marine engineer, part of the maritime world that connected Vancouver to the Pacific. At one point he served aboard the ocean liner Empress of Russia, travelling across the ocean to places such as Japan. Life at sea meant long periods away from home.

Despite the demands of his work, family memories describe John as a warm and humorous man who loved teasing his wife with playful jokes. When he was away, he sometimes wrote letters to his eldest granddaughter, who was the only one of the grandchildren old enough to know him well before he passed away. According to family stories, these letters included little drawings in place of certain words, turning them into playful messages that made children smile.

He was also known for taking his daughters berry picking, an activity deeply rooted in Indigenous traditions and seasonal life in the region. Even while living in the growing city of Vancouver, these moments kept a connection to the land.

John had a glass eye, something that fascinated his grandchildren. He kept it in a small blue glass bottle, which his daughter later kept. As children, they would sometimes hold the bottle and ask about it, though the story of how he lost the eye has been lost to time.

John and Anna eventually built their family home in South Vancouver near 51st Avenue and Ross Street, on land they purchased and developed themselves. The house began as a cinderblock structure and later became a distinctive home with stucco walls and a dark tiled roof. It was surrounded by a beautiful garden that Anna carefully tended.

Inside the house were rooms that grandchildren would remember many years later — brass beds, old wooden furniture with mirrors, and upstairs bedrooms with soft satin comforters in sage green and old rose. These memories come through the eyes of a five-year-old child, so some details may not be exact, but the warmth of the home is remembered clearly.

John Joseph Enos died on 21 April 1956 in Vancouver, just before one of his grandchildren was born. Family members later learned that he had suffered from several serious health conditions, including lupus, peritonitis, bowel obstruction, and diverticulitis. Medical treatment was very different in those days, and it is hard not to wonder whether he received the care he truly deserved.

Even so, the memories that remain describe him not through illness, but through humor, family outings, letters with drawings, and a life built through hard work and perseverance.