THOMAS JOSEPH SUMMERS, SR.
1883-1944
ELIZABETH AGNES FORAN
1882-1968
Thomas is an Aramaic
expression meaning "Twin"
Elizabeth is the Hebrew name "Elisheva" meaning "God's promise"
Source Babynamer.com
Tom was born 16 April 1883 in Placentia, Newfoundland, the son of Philip Summers and
Mary Margaret Power. He was baptized on 19 April 1883 by Fr. Michael Clancy at Sacred Heart Parish in
Placentia. Sponsors were Peter Griffin & Margaret Bird.
His marriage to Elizabeth Agnes Foran, the daughter of William Foran and Mary Sinnott/Sennott of Placentia
took place at St. Peter's Parish in Moyie, British Columbia in 1906. Witnesses
were N.J. Williamson & Annie King. Five children were born to Tom and Elizabeth. Mary Margaret; William John;
(both died as youngsters); Thomas Joseph 1909-1985 (did not marry); Lorne Edward 1912-1979 married Inez Mae Schoupe
and Isabel 1918-2007, married Joseph Provenzano.
Tom was Chairman of the Kimberley School Board for a number of years. He was responsible for organizing the educational system in Kimberley. His work did not stop there, for he aided in the establishment of the first Roman Catholic Church in Kimberley. Mass was held in his living room every two weeks by the Priest until the church was built on land that Tom had donated. The church was named Sacred Heart and he was a very active parishoner in that parish. Tom was a successful merchant and the first postmaster in Kimberley, British Columbia. A mine accident blast caused him to be nearly blind. He was quite a busy man in his lifetime.
Tom passed away in 1944, wife Elizabeth in 1968. They are buried in Plot G74, Kimberley Municipal Cemetery, Kimberley, British Columbia.
"Mr. Summers' Report"
1932 Kimberley Elementary School First Annual
It is a very great pleasure for me as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, of the Kimberley Schools to be given the honor of writing a few words in the first of the Elementary School Annuals.
Looking back over the years that have elapsed since I first wrote to the Department of Education in an effort to have a school established in the little Hamlet of Kimberley and now viewing the present huge structure with its nearly 675 pupils, I am tempted to write a few words concerning the early days of the Kimberley Schools.
It was in 1911 that I first became interested in school problems. At that time there were about 125 people in Kimberley and no school. A few children were given instructions by a teacher who came to Kimberley and taught lessons in the North Star Hotel.
I wrote to the Department of Education requesting that a school be established. They sent an inspector to see what was to be done. However, notwithstanding our pleadings he refused to recommend that a school be established. Not daunted by this report, I again wrote to the Sperintendent of Education and again the same inspector was sent to investigate. He was
again determined to make a similar report, but after I guaranteed that at least eight pupils
would be enrolled he consented to permit a teacher to be sent here.
So it was in 1911 that a one-room school was opened in Kimberley. It was located on the grounds where the present C. M. & S. offices are situated.
The school was the only public building in town and was used as a church and lodge room.
Between 1911 and 1916 practically all the pupils who attended school walked down from the Sullivan Hill.
That single one-room school building is now working under a new name, it is still part of our school building. It is now the "Music Room", the building in the corner. This property was purchased by the C. M. & S. Co., and later donated to the School Board.
It was in those early days that if a person in Kimberley wanted a postage stamp he had to journey to the thriving village of Marysville. There too one could obtain a meal. Three times a week the train brought in supplies.
However, the town prospered and it was not too long before a second room was needed. It was a room in the former Ontario Hotel where O'Neill's Drug Store now stands.
In 1920 the first of the present school buildings was constructed. It was a two-room building and since that time the Board has been busy making additions and building new buildings to house the ever-increasing number of children who come to school.
In 1911 we had one teacher, today in Elementary Schools there are eighteen teachers and a supervising principal. We have a high school of four teachers and nearly one hundred pupils. A marvelous growth in the space of 21 years.
For almost 21 years I have been on the School Board and I hope in years to come the graduates of the Kimberley Elementary School will look back with pride to their school, for the people of Kimberley have thought that the Board of Trustees tried to give you all of the advantages of good schooling, that you might start life determined to be a good Canadian citizen.
Thomas Summers
Chairman of the Kimberley School Board
"The Summers Family"
As told in 1980 by son Thomas Joseph Summers, Jr.
Typed exactly as written, no corrections have been made.
Tommy passed away 22 April 1985 in Kimberley
He is buried in Plot G74, Kimberley Municipal Cemetery
Tom Summers came from Placentia, Newfoundland at a time when a lot of Newfoundlanders were moving west. The train stopped at Winnipeg for several hours where the group caused such a commotion that all were ordered out of the city for good. Tom eventually arrived at Moyie and went to work in the mine.
The young woman that was to become Tom's wife, Elizabeth Foran, was from Glace Bay, N.S. She came to Rossland to visit relatives and they were married in Moyie. Young Tommy was born there.
They moved to Kimberley in 1910, first living in a small dwelling near the railway tracks back of the present post office. Mr. Summers became the Post Master but unfortunately, the building burned and all their possesions were lost. They barely escaped with their lives. They lived in a tent for a time and then moved to the Ontario Hotel where they stayed for a year. In those days postmasters were determined by what political pary was in power, so when the vote swung the other way, Mr. Summers was replaced by Jack Fisher.
Their first store was where Fields is now and they sold groceries, hay and feed for stock, etc. Later they bought the L.W.W. Hall that was situated where Oakley's Service Station stands. It was moved the half block up Spokane Street a foot at a time by way of winch and skids. John Anderson was the driver of the horse that did the hauling. From there they operated a general store, getting orders and delivering them to the families at the Top Mine. The upstairs was used as a hall by the Moose Lodge for years and many dances were held there. It was used as a school room for part of one year, while the Central school was being enlarged. They closed the store in 1931 when the depression was so bad.
They owned property on Howard Street behind the store and lived there in one of the three houses next door to the old liquor vendors. The first Sacred Heart Church was built on the corner but this later became the Presbyterian Church. The property was donated to the church by Mr. Summers.
Mr. and Mrs. Summers had two more children born in Kimberley; a son, Lorne and a daughter Isabel.
Mr. Summers was the first chairman of the School Board and remained an active member for over twenty years. Miss Jessie Kennedy was young Tom's first teacher. She married Bill Lindsay, the Mine Superintendent.
When the school was where the Company offices are now located proved too small to accomodate all the children, a class room was equipped in the Ontario Hotel and Tommy attended there when Miss Diebolt and Miss Fox were two of the teachers. When Mrs. Summers was very ill and had to spend time in Vancouver, Tom attended a Catholic school there for two years.
During the contruction of the Concentrator in 1922 and 1923, Tommy can recall seven rooming houses in the downtown area. Many bunkhouses were erected at the same time on both Chapman Camp and McDougall townsite. Other memories of those early days were Emil Louis, who lived in the same block and worked at Wycliffe for the Otis Stapes sawmill. He used to bicycle to and from work. He remembers Alex Gough was a real estate and insurance agent that owned several shacks along the creek. He rented these shacks.
Tommy worked in the Mine for a while but after prohibition, when the liquor laws were changed, many hotels opened bars and he remembers the Kimberley Hotel being built. Tom began working as a clerk for the Government Liquor Vendor where he remained until his retirement.
Sports have always been a great part of Kimberley. Hockey was the main one. Every boy played for one or the other of the many leagues. In season, it was soccer, baseball or softball. Tommy remembers the celebration that took place July 1st with games of all kinds, hose reel contests and tug-o-war, greasy pole climb and numerous others.
In the days before the Catholic church was built, Father Bessette held Mass in the Summers home every two weeks. Father Bessette was a baseball enthusiast. Father Ehmann who came later was a hockey fan and a player. It was Father Hartman who saw the new church built on the hill overlooking the business section of Kimberley.
Another memory was the grizzly cub that Harry Drew, the proprietor of the North Star Hotel, kept in a cage in the yard. As it grew older it became dangerous and had to be shot. Goldie Hodgson of Marysville attended to the job. The hotel had three stories and boasted an elevator which some of the boys delighted in operating until they were thrown out.
Many of the boys got together and sandbagged the creek above the dairy and this made a nice swimming pool. Tommy almost drowned in it one day and two weeks later he broke an arm.
Lorne operated the Globe Hotel in Kimberley for a number of years. He married Inez Schoupe and they operated a grocery store in Marysville until 1972 when they moved to Vancouver and managed two apartment houses until his recent retirement. They had one son Patrick, now a lawyer in Fernie and married to a nurse.
Isabel married Joe Provenzano of Cranbrook. He was in partnership with Tony Muraca in Kimberley for a number of years. Joe is now a real estate agent in Cranbrook and they have two daughters; Marian and Joan.
Marian married Jim Corrigan, a metallurgic engineer who worked for the company for a time. They are now living in the Dominican Republicin in Central America and they have four children.
Joan trained as a nurse and married John Poweska, an electical contractor in Cranbrook. They have two children.
Tommy is retired now and living in Pioneer Lodge, which is situated on the hill overlooking the old Taylor Mill site.
Click on photo to enlarge
St Peter's Parish, Moyie, BC and Sacred Heart Parish, Kimberley, BC
Photos taken 2006 by Fr. Jim Mason
*Notes/Comments
Elizabeth's death certificate states that she was born in St. John's Newfoundland, her son Lorne's death certificate states her birth place as Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, her son Thomas' family story states Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. The public marriage register at Moyie, British Columbia, states she was born in Placentia, Newfoundland, which is no doubt the correct information as it was given by Elizabeth at the time of marriage and signed by the Fr. Louis Choinel (sic), Parish Priest of St. Peter's, who performed the ceremony.
There were Foran & Sinnot/Sennot families living in Placentia:
Foran & Sinnott/Sennott Families found in Placentia area:
1864-65 Directory
Great Placentia
Sennott, John, stipendiary constable
Sennott,Michael, mail courier & trader
1871 Directory
Placentia
Sinnott, Elijah, fisherman
Sinnott, John, fisherman
Sinnott, Patrick, fisherman
1892 Business Directory
Placentia
Foran, John W., owner Silver Cliff Mine
From "Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland"
John W. Foran, born at Placentia 1841
1894-97 Directory
Placentia
Sinnott, E., customs
Sinnott, Michael, fisherman
Sinnott, William, fisherman
Sinnott, Patrick, fisherman
(Philip Summers, father of Thomas, also living here at this time)
1904 Directory
Placentia
Sinnott, William, lineman
Sinnott, Edward, collector H.M. Customs
Sinnott, Helen, widow of Patrick
Sinnott, Michael, general dealer
Sinnott, Charles, clerk
1921 Census
Argentia:
Foran, Francis, born Argentia 1865, wife Catherine
Placentia:
Foran, Georgianna, widow, born Placentia 1857
If anyone knows of any facts to prove or disprove my theory, please write.
I would appreciate any help you can give.
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