A number of family bibles seem to have been circulating in the Flewin family of British Columbia. Here can be found extracts from two of them, one still in the possession of a descendent of Thomas and Jane, their great, great grandson, Alastair Bradley, who lives in Victoria. The second was probably in the possession of another branch of the family when pages from it were donated to the Archives of British Columbia, probably in the 1970s. There was mention of at least one other Flewin family bible in a press cutting from Port Simpson in the 1960s.

Thomas and Jane's wedding

This page from what is believed to be Thomas' own family bible details the couple's wedding at the parish church at Wilmington, Kent, England, on July 12th 1852, just three weeks before they set sail for Vancouver Island.
The page, in the style of a certificate, gives the name of the wedding witnesses, Margaret and John Williams, and of the "vicer" (sic), Frederick Heberden.
The page is unlikely to have been completed by Thomas and Jane, as on their actual British marriage certificate they were unable to place a signature, rather left their "mark," which indicates the signing of the document by an illiterate person.
At the base of the page, a small note says the details are "entered according to act of congress, Washington DC, 1882."

Births in Thomas Line

This page from the same family bible lists the immediate births in Thomas' family, including those of some children who did not survive beyond childhood. The first birth listed, that of George, in April 1853, just two months after Thomas and Jane arrived in Vancouver, shows that at the end of the five month emigration voyage Jane was clearly very pregnant with a baby conceived within a month of her marriage to Jane, possibly in the first week of the sea journey.
Further pages from the family bible (see below) show that ,sadly, George only lived for two years. Another child, named Thomas after his father, born in 1860, also died in childhood.

Marriages in Thomas Line

Thomas and Janes' first daughter, Rosina Jane, was the first Flewin married in North America. Her marriage, to Christopher West, was recorded first on this page in November 1877 and was nearly four years before the wedding of her elder brother, John. Rosina would have been just eighteen years old on her wedding day.
The page also shows that John Flewin, whose first wife, Helen Copeland, died in 1925, remarried later in life, but no date or location is given.
The marriage of John's son, Walter Ross, in 1918 is listed, but there is no mention of the fact that the marriage was in his grandparents' home county of Kent at the end of the First World War.

Deaths of Thomas and Jane and other

A page headed "deaths" lists Thomas and Jane's own deaths as well as those of most of their children. The last death, chronologically speaking, to be entered was that of John Flewin, who died in 1942 and although this is on the second line, with earlier deaths after it, is in totally different writing. In fact, there are at least three different forms of handwriting on the page.
There are a number of Flewin deaths in the period missing from the page.

Memorandum

A page for "Memoranda" gives the basic facts about Thomas and Jane's emigration voyage, leaving England on August 16, 1852, and arriving at Victoria, January 16th, 1853. It also is probably the only real source for their actual birth dates -- Thomas, October 13 1832, and Jan, May 12th the following year.
A second memorandum on the page gives details of Jarvis Longhurst, who became Thomas' business partner. It gives his place of birth as Hartley, Kent, which is a village in the same vicinity as Thomas' English home village of Wilmington. It gives information about Longhurst's emigration, on board the Sailing Ship Tory, arriving in Victoria in May 1851.

Family Record left by John Flewin

A family record page thought to be authored by John Flewin and found in the Archives of British Columbia in Victoria, give different birth dates for Thomas and Jane. Although the month and day are the same, here they are recorded as both being born in 1830.
This page gives details also of John Flewin's wife, Helen Copeland, and her parents together with their Scottish origins and emigration.
At the bottom of the page, there are brief details about the war record John Flewin's son, Walter Ross Flewin, including his receipt of a Military Cross, and the fact he was present at the signing of the Armistice in Europe at the end of the First World War.

Births, Deaths & Marriages by John Flewin

On another page by John left in the Archives of British Columbia, the births, deaths and marriages of himself and his children are listed. Some grandchildren are listed too.
The last dates given are deaths in 1960 and 1973. John himself died in 1942. It is thought the records were donated to the Archive by Walter Ross, who died three years later in 1976.

CREDITS:
Alasdair Ross MacLennan Bradley, of Vancouver, BC. : Email: alasdairr@yahoo.com
Archives of British Columbia : Web site: http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca