William Pinchbeck

Infobox Person
name = William Pinchbeck


image_size = 200px
caption = William Pinchbeck (1880)
birth_date = 1831
birth_place = Yorkshire, England
death_date = July, 1893
death_place = British Columbia
education =
occupation = Provincial Police Constable, entrepreneur
spouse = Chulminick (1863-1881) Alice Kilham (1884-1893)
parents =
children = William (1867), James (1872), Robert (1885), Fredrick (1887), Cyril (1889),

William Pinchbeck was one of the original settlers in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. He was a member of the British Columbia Provincial Police and owned a roadhouse and many other properties in Williams Lake, British Columbia.

Early years

Pinchbeck was born in Yorkshire, England in 1831 and at the age of 18, he moved to San Francisco, USA where he operated a roadhouse during the California Gold Rush. He would later travel north to Victoria, British Columbia,Canada where he joined the British Columbia Provincial Police. [ [http://www.rootsweb.com/~bccaribo/pinchbeck.html The Pinchbeck Family ] ]

Williams Lake

In 1860, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, Pinchbeck accompanied Gold Commissioner Philip Nind to Williams Lake to create a local government and bring law and order to the area. Philip Nind had originally considered Fort Alexandria for this purpose but chose Williams Lake instead as it was at a junction of two main pack trails: one from the Douglas Road and another through the Fraser Canyon. [cite book |last=Stangoe |first=Irene |title=Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places|year=1994|publisher=Heritage House|isbn=1-895811-12-0|pages=10-11]

Like many provincial policemen of the era, Pinchbeck had to fulfill a variety of duties including Justice of the Peace, lawyer, judge, and jailer.

Throughout 1861-1863, Pincheck, in partnership with Thomas Meldrum and William Lyne, formed Pinchbeck and Company and built a roadhouse, a general store, a sawmill a flour mill, a distillery and a horse racing track. The horse races often drew large crowds of spectators and on some of the biggest races the stakes could be as high as $100,000. [cite book |last=Stangoe |first=Irene |title=Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places|year=1994|publisher=Heritage House|isbn=1-895811-12-0|pages=16-18]

Although the Cariboo Road would bypass Williams Lake in 1863, Pinchbeck stayed on in the area and continued to prosper and his roadhouse suffered no lack of business, particularly in the winter when it catered to local miners who stayed there until they could return to the goldfields in the spring.

Pinchbeck's company would eventually own most of the Williams Lake Valley and his roadhouse prospered and became famous for its "White Wheat Whiskey" which came from Pinchbeck's own distillery and sold for 25 cents a shot.

Domestic life

In 1863, Pinchbeck would begin a common-law marriage with Chulminick, a local First Nations Shuswap woman, who may have been the daughter of Chief William, for whom Williams Lake is named. [cite book |last=Stangoe |first=Irene |title=Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places|year=1994|publisher=Heritage House|isbn=1-895811-12-0|pages=15] Their home was located where the Wiliams Lake Stampede Grounds are today. They had two sons, William, born in 1867 and James, born in 1872. In 1884, after returning to England, Pinchbeck married Alice Elizabeth Kilham and returned to Williams Lake where he built his new bride a ranch house on the lake, which they called the "Lake House" and was one of the finest homes in the Cariboo.

The couple would have three sons, Robert in 1885, Fredrick in 1887, and Cyril in 1889.

By the late 1880s both William Lyne and Thomas Meldrum had left the partnership and Pinchbeck had sole ownership of the entire valley. However, the Cariboo region's economy was by then beginning to decline. The initial excitement over the gold rush was long past and with no major roads running near Williams Lake, Pinchbeck's ranch and businesses were no longer profitable.

Pinchbeck died on July 30th [ [http://www.rootsweb.com/~bccaribo/pinchbeck.html The Pinchbeck Family ] ] or 31st, [cite book |last=Stangoe |first=Irene |title=Cariboo Chilcotin Pioneer People and Places|year=1994|publisher=Heritage House|isbn=1-895811-12-0|pages=19] 1893, and was buried in a plot overlooking Williams Lake. [ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10754 William Pinchbeck (1831 - 1893) - Find A Grave Memorial ] ]

Notes

Further reading

* "Cariboo Chilcotin People and Places" Irene Stangoe ISBN 1-895811-12-0

External links

* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~bccaribo/pinchbeck.html William Pinchbeck Family Biography]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~bccaribo/williams.html Chronology of Williams Lake]
* [http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/upperfraserbasin/cariboo/colonial.html History of Colonial Ranches in British Columbia]