John Edward Collishaw (1859 - abt. 1921)

Born 1859 in Wales, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Jones) Collishaw — married 5 Jan 1893 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Descendants

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Biography

1892 Nov. 14 John Collishaw's home, Five Acres, burned to ground.

GRAD: ABT 1880 Manchester, England Note: Jack was educated at Manchester University, Oxford, where it seems that several family members attended. He studied music, and was very talented. After leaving school, he was urged to help with the family inn, and even inherited the property upon his father's death. Instead, he decided to spend his inheritance on travel. His first stop was western Australia.

Jack then came to America (San Francisco) to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California in the 1880's. When that search proved fruitless, he moved up the Pacific coast to Nanaimo where he became a coal miner. Discouraged by the poor wages ($500/year in 1901), he headed further up the coast to the Yukon, prospecting in the summers, and back to the coal mines in the winters. In the summer of 1909 he abandoned his family, and was heard occasionally thereafter, the last occasion being in 1923. His family assumed he had returned to Australia to search for gold there, but no proof or record has ever been found of that.

Another family theory was that he may have gone to Montana. No record of that has been located either. What is known for sure is that in 1912 Jack was prospecting in the Yukon, and was credited with discovering gold on 30 Apr 1912 on Cabin Creek, a tributary of Nansen Creek, and on Pony Creek, a tributary of Rack Creek. Placer mining applications were registered to him at Carmacks on 08 Mar 1912, 26 Mar 1912, 18 Jun 1912, 19 Oct 1912, and 04 Dec 1912. No further applications were registered in the Yukon, and he does not appear on the 1917 Yukon voters list.

Research Notes

From the 1911 census, if correct, John was born in Wales in December 1858. Appears to have been living with his family in 1911, which is in contradiction to the information in the biography.

Sources

• "Canada Census, 1891," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWK3-KPS : 13 November 2014), John Collishaw, Nanaimo City Middle Ward, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario; Library and Archives Canada film number 30953_148093.
• "Canada Census, 1901," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHVK-SC1 : 27 April 2017), J Edward Collishaw, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; citing p. 5, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
• "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9P-B6GK : 2 March 2015), John Gollishaw, 1911; citing Census, Nanaimo Sub-Districts 1-28, British Columbia, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,417,660.