Neiland, Lizzie

Person

Neiland, Lizzie

• Jardine, Lizzie (previous married name)
• Laidlaw, Lizzie (maiden name)

24 Feb 1882 - 9 Dec 1984

Born in Selkirkshire, Scotland. Lizzie married John Alexander Jardine on 14 Nov 1911 in Vernon, BC. They had three children together. John died 18 Aug 1918 in Squamish, BC, and was buried in Lynn Valley Cemetary, North Vancouver.¹

Lizzie was living in Squamish when she found herself widowed and eight months pregnant with her third child. Her husband, John had been killed in a speeder accident while working on the Squamish rail line for the PGE Railway. She packed up the house in Squamish and made the long journey to Kelowna to live with her parents.

She and her young family: Jenny the oldest, Jack, and soon the new baby Robert, stayed in Kelowna until Lizzie found work keeping house for her husband’s old friend, Tom Neiland, in North Vancouver.

Tom worked for the PGE railway as a conductor, but he had always had dreams of working for himself. He bought some land and in May 1921 moved the whole family up to Alta Lake to start his own logging camp.

Lizzie and Tom were married in 2 May 1922³ This marriage was of huge financial significance to the Jardine family as Lizzie lost her widow’s pension of $35 a month -- a significant sum at the time.

At first the family lived in the Alta Lake townsite, but in Jan 1922 they moved down to Thomas Neiland’s first venture at Alpha Lake; logging cedar logs to be exported to Japan. In July 1922 the export log prices of cedar logs collapsed and so did Thomas Neiland’s business and he had to file for bankruptcy. The family pulled up stakes and went back to North Vancouver. Later that month, Lizzie gave birth to their son, Thomas Neiland Jr. at the age of 40. For three months, Thomas looked for work in Vancouver. Eventually persuaded by both a lack of employment and his wife’s desire to return to Alta Lake, he gained financing under her name.

The family returned to their Alpha Lake cabin, and in 1923 they moved into an old loggers cabin at 34½ mile (present day Function Junction area) that was being sold by the crown, and this became their home for the next 20 or more years.

Tom Neiland Senior lived at 34½ Mile until his death in 1949, Lizzie stayed on in Alta Lake for a few more years until it became too much for her and she sold the property and moved on. She lived to be 102, passing away in 1984.²

Lizzie is her legal name. Lizzie insisted her name was not the common nickname for Elizabeth.¹

Neiland, Thomas (Snr) ([1870] - 1 Mar 1949²)

Jardine, John Alexander (Jack) (27 Jul 1914¹ - Spring 1999²)

Jardine, Robert Laidlaw (26 Sep 1918 - 27 Mar 2008¹)

Neiland, Thomas Warren (Jnr) (29 Jul 1922-1995 ¹)

Rutherford, Mary Jane (14 Sep 1889-27 Feb 1976)

Betts, "Jenny" Janet (December 7, 1912 - Aug 1, 2003)

¹ Family tree by Louise Smith
²First Tracks, Florence Petersen
³ BC Births, Marriages and Deaths index