| Note to readers: because of the amount of information I've moved everthing that isn't about the Lawless Ranch, including the Eek Ranch, to a separate page on Charlton's & other ranches and Bridesville |
A 1995 watercolour showing the ranchhouse out in the middle of a vast grassland with, in the distance, the dramatic peaks of Cathedral Ridge.
Year 2002, in the sketchbook, a closer view.
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Written 2001: The ranch just to the west of Anarchist Summit is known locally as the Lawless place. I was told by Fred Lawless of Cawston that it was built of squared and dovetailed tamarack timbers that have been sheathed with horizontal drop siding. It actually looks like a typical frame house, perhaps balloon-framed. The interesting point is the clear span across the living-dining room, supported by a major beam parallel to the side walls; that open room, together with the large kitchen and pantry (it must be a pantry as it's windowless) supports the notion of many ranchhands being fed, with the family's own quarters somewhat separate at the front and upstairs, where there are probably three bedrooms (it is only about 600 square feet). The living-dining area is currently used to store some kind of rock or gravel, with the left of the house empty, very rickety and unsafe; ergo, I didn't enter it or climb the stairs to inspect the room layout on the second floor. 2018: Photo from documentary filmmaker Andrew Muir.
Note from Kathy Horrocks, 2010: My Mom was born in the farmhouse. Her maiden name was Bernadine Cecilia Lawless. She married and became Mrs. Bernadine Horrocks. Note from Noelle Nicole, 2010: I am a daughter of Bernadine Horrocks who grew up in the yellow farmhouse near Bridesville. I saw your watercolour online and it spoke to me in a way that I can not properly express. As a little girl I spent my summers in the Okanagen camping with my parents and we always stopped and went through the house to visit it. At that time it was rundown and seemed somewhat abandoned – it was very haunting with dusty jigsaw puzzles left incompleted and dishes and pots and pans out as if people had just got up and walked out and never returned. Note from Melanie Sawyer, 2010: Your site features my Great Grandmother's (Minnie May Lawless's) homestead in Bridesville. I have been to the homestead and have been able to take many pictures of it in its current state. I know that Minnie May was buried on the property beside her husband William Lawless somewhere under a tree? My Aunts and Uncle know where it is. In addition, I believe that Minnie has two surviving daughters who are my great Aunts, Mercedes and Bernadine. I have old pictures of people that I believe are the Tedrows, and I have the original marriage license for Sarah Hopkins and Lucien Tedrow. I am related to Minnie, because her youngest daughter Margaret (Skippy) Lawless married Reginald Rumley. They gave birth to my mother, Carole May Rumley. I am also second cousins to Josephine Lawless and Fred Lawless of Cawston. Note from Josephine Lawless,
2008: My father and his brothers and sisters were
born on the ranch. My father John Lawless and my mother and my
5 brothers and I lived in our house there until 1966, six
years after my father sold it to the Lehmans. Note from Jill Kellerman, 2008: I am working on a project through the Bridesville Community Club and the Legion. We were wondering if any of the Tedrow or Lawless family members who are buried at the Sidley/Lawless cemetary were enlisted? The Legion will financially help restore graves and replace headstones (if needed) if the person was ever enlisted. This includes peacetime soldiers as well as people who fought in the wars. If you have any information it would be appreciated. (Contact me to get in touch with her.) Note from Cheri Astrahan,
amateur genealogist, 2008: Is the John Wilson Tedrow
on your webpage the same one that married Mary A. Truelove and
had five children, four living in the 1900 census where she is
a widow? IF yes, I have a lot on this family even though
I am not directly related. (Contact me
to get in touch with her.)
Correspondence from Bill
McFall: Our family has been researching Tedrow for
about a year now. We find that Lucien Tedrow was married to
Sarah Hopkins in Colfax, Whitman County, Washington Territory
in 1885. The couple lived in or near LaCrosse, Whitman County,
Washington Territory. Lucien and Thomas (sometimes James)
Tedrow went over The Brigade Trail in 1891 and lived in
British Columbia Canada. He is listed in the 1901 Census as 43
years old and Widdowed. All, he and his seven children,
were listed as Canadian Citizens and His brother George is
living with him. His wife died after 1900 and sometime later
the children were sent to an orphanage. |
From the 1901
Census
for British Colombia
SURNAME
GIVEN
BIRTH DATE
SEX
Race
OCC
BIRTH
Mar
TEDROW
Lucian
29
Apr 1857
M
W
F
US
W
TEDROW Minie
M
05 Nov 1885
F
W
US
S
TEDROW George
E
08 Nov 1887
M
W
US
S
TEDROW Jessie
G
16 Mar 1891
M
W
US
S
TEDROW
Mabel
01
Apr 1893
F
W
BC
S
TEDROW
Floied
21
Jan 1895
M
W
BC
S
TEDROW Clarence
E
28 Oct 1898
M
W
BC
S
TEDROW
Fredrick
27
Jun 1900
M
W
BC
S
TEDROW George
W 01
Nov 1846
M
W
US
S
|
In this 1901 BC Census, Lucian is about 43 years old and
Widowed. All of them, him and the children, were listed as
Canadian Citizens and his brother George is living with him *** Postscript: in 2008,
Josephine Lawless contacted Bill McFall. She wrote to me: "It
turns out that his wife is a Tedrow, her great grandfather was
my great grandfather, Lucien Tedrow's brother." So some
parts of this history have been sorted out.
A photograph marked "Larry Lehman Ranch," showing the property as it was in the 1960s or 1970s. It was submitted by Kathy Horrocks. *** Note
from Connie Kempter, 2006: I am originally from
Berlin and bred Trakehner horses first in Hesse and Bavaria
States, then in Echunga in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia
(1980 - 1984) and since 1986 on the western outskirts of
Montreal at Rappenhof,
a 40-acre breeding farm and boarding barn/equestrian
centre. This September my boyfriend Steven
Watson and I went on a roundtrip by rental car through Alberta,
BC and Washington. Unexpectedly we fell madly in love with a
loghome on 6 acres, right on the corner of Crowsnest Hwy (# 3)
and Sidley Mountain Rd., a few hundred meters from Anarchist
Mountain and purchased it to be our home as soon as we can sell
here. We will still keep a stallion and three of our mares
there, but run it a private stable. Apart from the
360-degree view of Mt. Baldy/Mt.McKinney, the Cascade Range and
the Bridesville valley, the main attraction for me was that it
reminded me so much of Australia! And I was always somewhat
homesick for Australia ever since I left that beloved continent
after a divorce.... I studied History at Freie
Universitaet Berlin, but I was always more interested in the
individual fate of the 'little' people, especially in the
hardships endured by the early settlers of the North American
West. (Karl May influence?)
I will try to learn as much as possible about the local history of the Osoyoos to Rock Creek area and the lives of the people buried at our place. We will for sure look well after our little burial ground in honor of the pioneers. There is a Bridesville Society and I met already the Harfmans, our direct neighbours. I would really love to contribute in the effort to keep the past of the area alive. I do hope there is a way to keep the Lawless homestead around and maybe restored and used one day, ideally for a local museum. But that is for the private owners to decide.... *** Thanks to Penny Dell and Arthur Harfman for the original contact information, and to Kathy Horrocks, a cousin of Josephine Lawless. |
