What Can a Diary from 1881 Tell Us About British Columbia?

 What Can a Diary from 1881 Tell Us About British Columbia?

Sometimes history is hiding in the smallest sentences.

Not in a government report.
Not in a scientific paper.
Not in a history textbook.

Sometimes it is written in cursive, in a diary, by someone simply recording what he did that day.

My Great-Grandfather Joseph Enos kept a diary while living on Notch Hill in Nanoose Bay, British Columbia. I have been working through his handwritten pages, transcribing them so that his words from more than 140 years ago can be read again.

And the more I read, the more I think these pages deserve to be seen by more than just our family.

They may be interesting to teachers, historians, scientists, marine biologists, ecologists, fisheries researchers, Indigenous knowledge keepers and environmental researchers.

Because Joseph wasn't trying to write history.

He was simply living it.

“Herring came in the bay the second time.”

One of the entries from March 1881 says:

“Herring came in the bay the second time.”

It is only one sentence.

Joseph probably didn't imagine that someone in 2026 might read those words and wonder what they could tell us about the marine environment of Nanoose Bay more than a century earlier.

But that is exactly what makes historical diaries fascinating.

He wasn't conducting a scientific survey. He wasn't measuring fish populations or recording water temperatures.

He was observing the world around him.

And herring were part of that world.

Today, we know how important Pacific herring are to the coastal ecosystem and how significant their history is to British Columbia's Indigenous peoples, fisheries and marine environment. We have also experienced serious concerns about herring populations over the decades.

So when I come across a sentence like this in an 1881 diary, I can't help wondering:

What other information is sitting inside old family diaries that nobody has thought to look for?

A diary can become an environmental time capsule

Joseph's March entries contain observations that might seem completely ordinary:

• Herring arriving in the bay
• Dogfish
• Fishing lines
• Bringing dogfish scraps home for the garden
• Blue grouse
• Oxen
• Apple trees and fruit trees
• Planting gardens
• Weather
• Rain
• Clear days
• Working at the beach
• Repairing fences
• Travelling by boat

He wasn't thinking, I am documenting biodiversity.

He was thinking about what needed to be done that day.

But that is precisely why I find it so valuable.

Ordinary observations can become extraordinary historical records when enough time passes.

What did BC look like before our modern records?

I would like to issue a little challenge to teachers across British Columbia and Canada.

Don't only teach history through famous names, dates and political events.

Find the diaries.

Find the letters.

Find the photographs.

Find the old maps.

Find the family records.

Find the Indigenous histories and knowledge that have been passed down through generations.

Ask students what they can learn from the seemingly mundane details.

What did people eat?

What animals were present?

What fish were coming into the bays?

What plants were being grown?

How did people travel?

What did the weather feel like?

What did people consider normal?

And perhaps most importantly:

What has changed?

A diary entry can become the starting point for an entire research project.

And scientists should be looking too

I especially wonder what researchers could discover if historical diaries were systematically examined alongside scientific records.

Imagine combining old observations with modern fisheries data, archaeological evidence, Indigenous knowledge, historical maps and environmental records.

A single diary obviously cannot tell us how many herring were present in Nanoose Bay in 1881.

We shouldn't pretend that it can.

But it can tell us that someone living there noticed herring arriving in the bay — and noticed it enough to write it down.

That is a clue.

And clues matter.

Perhaps there are thousands of other clues sitting in attics, archives, museums and family collections across British Columbia.

My family's connection to this history

There is another reason these pages are particularly meaningful to me.

My Great-Great-Grandfather came from the Azores to Victoria in 1862. He later married my Songhees Great-Great-Grandmother in 1876, the same year the federal Indian Act was enacted.

My Great-Grandfather Joseph later lived in Nanoose Bay and kept these diaries.

My Great-Aunt Mary eventually donated the diary to the Royal BC Museum.

I have been able to have the diary scanned into a PDF, and I am working from the handwritten cursive to create a hand-printed transcription.

I'm doing this because handwriting from 1881 can be difficult to read — and I want these observations to be accessible to people who don't have the opportunity to sit with the original pages.

There is so much more in these pages

Joseph's diary isn't a complete record of British Columbia.

It is one person's perspective.

But perhaps that's the point.

History isn't one giant story.

It is made from millions of small observations.

A person plants an apple tree.

Someone repairs a fishing line.

A boat goes to the point.

Dogfish scraps go into the garden.

Herring come into the bay.

Someone writes it down.

And then 145 years later, another generation reads it and asks:

What was this place like?

What lived here?

What did people notice?

What have we changed?

And perhaps:

What can we learn before those observations disappear?

To the teachers, scientists, historians and researchers of BC:

I hope you'll look at these pages not simply as an old family diary, but as one small window into the living landscape and waters of British Columbia in 1881.

Maybe somewhere in these ordinary sentences is information that can help us understand an extraordinary amount about the past.

Because sometimes, the people who were keeping the records didn't know they were recording history.

They were just writing down what they saw.

And sometimes, 145 years later, we finally understand why it mattered. 🌊🐟📖

More excerpts from Joseph Enos's diary will be posted as I continue working through the pages.