Two Old Timers of the Blaeberry District

This story came directly from the book 2000 Golden Memories published by the Golden Museum in 2000 using stories that had been submitted.

William Arthur and Sarah Deakin who passed away several years ago. William Arthur Deakin was born in Worcester, England, December 10th, 1873, and died in Golden Hospital, March 30th, 1958. Sarah Deakin was born in Worcester, England, June 4th, 1874 and died in the Golden Hospital, November 17th, 1958.

Mr. and Mrs. Deakin were married in England on May 12th, 1894. After several years of married life in England, Arthur Deakin decided to come to Canada and find some new surroundings, such as a home and job in another country. Canada sounded like an interesting country, so his plan was to find a job and later a home for his family. Their plan was that his wife would join him later once he found what he was looking for and a place he could call home.

Mr. Deakin, leaving England and saying goodbye to his wife and children, started out and landed first in Toronto. He spent some time there, then moved on to Manitoba. He worked there for a while as a bricklayer. He then decided to come to British Columbia, and so he came to Golden and settled on a farm in the Blaeberry District.

His wife, Sarah Deakin, came to Canada and joined her husband on the farm, which in those days was called a homestead. Mr. Deakin was noted for his skill as a bricklayer, an art which he had learned in England. Besides his bricklaying job, Mr. Deakin did quite a bit of farming. Started raising sheep in 1934, besides having a few cows and chickens. Also had a team of horses which he used to work his farm, clearing land, plowing and harrowing, and then planting a crop of Oats and Timothy hay to feed all the animals through the winters.

In the summer the Deakins were always busy. There was the hay to cut and hauling it into the barn, which was all done with his team of horses and the help of his wife and his grandsons.

The Deakins enjoyed their farm life raising sheep and watching all the little lambs being born. It was also interesting to see how the lambs grew so fast. Mr. Deakin found it a busy time in the spring when it was sheep shearing time. They also had a good-sized garden which kept them both very busy. Besides gardening they had their daily farm chores to do besides the sheep, they had cows to milk and the chickens to attend.

Even though there was lots to do on a farm, they quite often made a trip to town, in those days with the team of horses. Later in their life, they bought themselves a car to travel in to make their weekly trip to town and do their shopping. Mr. and Mrs. Deakin have two children, a son Ted Deakin now lives in Thunder Bay, and a daughter, Ethel, who married a fellow by the name of Rodney Drown. Mrs. R. Drown lived in Golden, and her parents, the Deakins, always found time to stop in and visit with their daughter, her husband and their grandchildren.

The Deakins had six grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. Drowns and the deacons spent many Sundays together on the farm having picnics, etc. The Deakins enjoyed having their grandchildren come and visit them on the farm. Many times some of the grandchildren stayed overnight to help their grandmother and grandfather with different farm chores. The children enjoyed the farm as it was a change from living in town. The Deakin farm is now owned by one of Mr. Deakins grandsons who is Donald Drown of the Blaeberry. He used to spend many of his childhood days on his grandfather’s farm, and as he grew older and was out of school, he spent a good part of his teenage life helping his grandfather on the farm. And so Donald Drown is now the owner of that farm. The Holmes and Deakin Road that takes you down to the Drown farm was named after Mr. Deakin and Mr. Holmes, as they were the first two men that put a road in by hand with pick, shovel, and axes. They spent several months on it to make it suitable for traveling with horse and buggy. Before that, it had only been a footpath through the Blaeberry valley.

Don Drown was killed on Sunday, August twenty-second, 1982 when he was pinned beneath a tractor on the Holmes Deakin Road. Don moved to the farm when he was 15 years of age and with the exception of the war years, spent most of his time helping his grandparents, Mr. and Missus Deakin, in the Blaeberry.

Mr. Holmes was a neighbor of the Deakins, who also arrived in the Blaeberry in the very early years and took up a homestead near the Deakins. Mr. Holmes was the brother-in-law of Mr. Algae Bunting who also took up homestead in the Blaeberry in the very early years.