WOO HOO - VERNEEEEYYYYYYYYY text

Here we go guys, page number 4 ready to go - THE CAPTAIN!

THE CAPTAIN:
Lieutenant Edmund Hope Verney, RN

Edmund Verney was born into privilege in 1838. His family's grand estate at Claydon House [LINK TO CLAYDON HOUSE MATERIALS], which was to be his one day, was a typical English aristocratic country home at the time, encompassing villages and farms from whose rents the family gained their comfortable income. Edmund's father Sir Harry Verney was, however, a staunch Liberal, sitting in the House of Commons for that party for 52 years, from 1832 to 1885. As such, he dedicated himself to many of the progressive reforms which are now seen as the benchmarks of Britain's development into a modern society in the Victorian period: combating slave trading, extending the franchise, and improving conditions in the country's booming industrial towns and factories.1 It is due to regular correspondence between Edmund and Sir Harry [LINK TO TEXT ON PRITCHARD] that today we enjoy such highly detailed knowledge about Verney's time on the coast and the goings-on of the colonies here.
When Edmund Verney came to Vancouver Island to command HMS Grappler [LINK TO GRAPPLER PIC AND INFO], he was to display the same tendencies as his father, involving himself heavily in organizations and causes which he believed to be progressive enough to be worthy of his attention. No doubt this great activity was responsible for the many friends he made in and around Victoria and Esquimalt, of whom the McKenzies of Craigflower are especially notable.
The Royal Navy had used Esquimalt as a base since 1848, but only in the four years before Verney's arrival in 1862 had it developed into a key base [LINK TO INFO ON ESQUIMALT] with a complete naval infrastructure. The Grappler's duties during its assignment to the twin colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were certainly what we might expect from Imperial duty of a small ship at a far-flung post: assisting and ferrying settlers, patrolling for smugglers, and participating in police actions, especially against First Nations peoples suspected of crimes or harassment of European settlers.2
Verney's liberal sentiments do seem to have influenced him while carrying out these tasks. Despite a somewhat incongruous distaste for the local First Nations (an attitude which seems to have waned during his time on the coast, even leading him to criticize the government for failing to honour promises to them), he does not seem to have ever fired his ship's guns in action and indeed was thankful to have missed the bombardment of a First Nations village on Kuper Island in the Gulf Islands, which was carried out by the Grappler's sister ship, HMS Forward.3 Later in life, he became critical of aspects of the British imperial project and apparently attended an anti-flogging meeting in Portsmouth in 1879, an activity over which the Admiralty was most displeased.4
In Victoria, Verney was involved with organizations as diverse as the Immigration Board (and particularly the Female Immigration Committee, an enterprise in which capacity he was assisted by his father), the Lighthouse Board, and the Vancouver Island Bible Society. He was also appointed as a magistrate and was a key force in the establishment of Mechanics Literary Institute, Victoria's first public library. Verney gave speeches at many events, presumably seen as an appropriate representative of imperial sentiments in Britain.5 When Verney departed Victoria in 1865, a farewell dinner was thrown at the French Hotel and included an address signed by 75 of the city's (admittedly self-described) "most respectable citizens."6
Verney was warned by his father not to be too engaged in activities which might be seen as improperly political for a naval officer - and which might endanger his future as a country gentleman and political figure once he was home in England.7 Presumably for this reason, Verney kept quiet - except to his father - about his strong belief that Governor James Douglas, the old HBC man whose circle of family and friends had a tight grip on the colony's administration, had to be removed as soon as possible and replaced by a leader who could better bring English civilization to the colony.8
It seems that Verney's first encounter with the McKenzie family was when Kenneth rented Verney his first cottage at Esquimalt at a rate of 25 pounds per year. Verney's first Christmas (1862) at Craigflower was particularly memorable for him, and during that evening "the cement of friendship was run in." [LINK TO LONGER DESCRIPTION] In February 1863, he noted that he had spent every Sunday with the McKenzies since his arrival the previous May, with the exception of days when the Grappler was not in port. The young officer apparently took an interest, not surprising given his many connections in the community, in helping his farming friends increase their station in colonial life - Verney wrote that he was delighted to see, at a picnic one afternoon, McKenzie engaged in a long conversation with the governor.9
Verney's close relationship with the McKenzies continued after he left the colony, and in November 1865, soon after arriving at his family home, he sent a package and letter back to Craigflower. The affection between the two parties is clear in the jocular and comfortable tone of the letter. [LINK TO VERNEY LETTER] Finally, in 1909, 44 years after he left Victoria and one year before his death, Verney received a postcard from 'Goodie' McKenzie, showing Esquimalt Harbour as it then looked.10 Verney's relationship with the McKenzies of Craigflower indicates that they were considered respectable by the Imperial establishment.
Thus it is clear that Edmund Verney was in many ways a model Victorian officer and aristocrat - concerned with bringing the English values of order and enlightenment to the farthest reaches of the British Empire, and doing so by involving himself heavily in a community which he believed needed his help in this regard; his activities aboard Grappler were calculated to achieve similar ends. In this way, we can see that the Royal Navy was an important element of the British Empire in Victoria.

1 Allan Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 1862-65 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996), 9.
2 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 23-24.
3 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 38-39, 43, and 132
4 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 43 and Peter Davis, "Lieutenant Edmund Hope Verney RN," William Loney RN - Victorian Naval Surgeon .
5 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 28-31.
6 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 32.
7 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 31.
8 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 34-35.
9 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 202.
10 Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 52.

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Verney right window links

Image in right window when page opens: verney.gif

#1:
image - claydonhouse.jpg
text - Claydon House as it appears today, preserved by Britain's National Trust. Verney is partly responsible for their statement that the house has "Fascinating associations with...the Crimean War." Florence Nightingale, whose sister was Verney's stepmother, would no doubt also be responsible for some of these fascinations.

Source: The National Trust, Claydon House (2007).

#2:
text - The authors wish to include a special thanks to Allan Pritchard, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Toronto (now living in British Columbia), who unearthed and discovered Verney's British Columbia letters to his father in the archives at Claydon House and published them in 1996 along with a most helpful, thorough and concise introduction. Without Pritchard's work, Verney would likely have remained too inaccessible to us to include in this site, despite his representation of a most interesting Imperial relationship.

#3:
image - grapplerpainting.jpg
Source: National Maritime Museum, "HMS Grappler," Prints and Drawings

text - Verney's Grappler. The ship had both sail and steam power and was about 160 feet in length with a 22-foot beam.
Source: Allan Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 1862-65 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996), 22.

#4:
image - esquimalt1858.gif
image - esquimalt1870.gif
text - Esquimalt in 1858 and 1870, showing the development from a somewhat jumbled mass of small buildings to a cluster of solid-looking permanent naval establishments. Note also the large fleet at anchor in 1870 - this might be a 'flying squadron' which visited on a Pacific tour in May of that year. Verney arrived at a particularly crucial time in the Esquimalt bases's history. Between 1858 and 1862, a barracks, a coal depot, a magazine, and the Fisgard lighthouse were all added, creating a permanent base for the British Empire's key instrument. With this work complete, the headquarters of the Navy's Pacific Squadron was moved to Esquimalt from far-off Valparaiso, Chile in 1862, the same year that Verney arrived to assume his new command.

Source: Government of Canada, "The Royal Navy Patrols the West Coast," Canadian Military Heritage <http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_475.asp> (20 June 2004).

#5:
text - From Verney's letter of December 26, 1862: "At 5 P.M. I went up to dine with the McKenzies of Craig Flower: here was assembled a large party; dinner was followed by toasts, not forgetting 'absent friends', toasts were followed by songs, songs by tea, tea by charades, charades, by dancing, dancing by blind-man's-bluff, and blind-man's-bluff was the entertainment followed by all. The amusements of the evening were sprinkled with negus, and the crannies were stopped with Scotch cake and bun: then being warmed with hospitality and genial heartiness, a cement of friendship was run in, which at once took a natural polish. The first yawn was observed on the countenance of the smallest child at about 12.25., and at 1.15. I was in bed on board the 'Grappler': there were no signs of breaking up when I left, and for all I know, the may be dancing yet."

Source: Pritchard, Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 110-111.

#6:
image - verneyletterfront.jpg
image - verneyletterback.jpg
text - The first paragraph of Verney's letter to the McKenzies, preserved in the BC Archives, reads: "Herewith I send numerous little Christmas and New Year remembrances to some of my friends. If any of them feel offended or insulted at my sending such trumpery things from England, as I am too far off to be kicked, ask them to do it by proxy: Kenneth will act for me."

Robert Melrose - long post

Here's my second article. I'm not 100% happy with it by any means, and will definitely be making changes in the near future. However, if you'd like to post it so we've got more up, that's fine and I'll post additions and whatnot later this week. Footnotes to follow.

Robert Melrose was born into a labouring family in around 1828 in Garvald, East Lothian, Scotland. He was the eldest son of George and Isabella Melrose and followed in his father’s footsteps, as in 1851, he was working as a labourer. On May 24, 1852, the twenty-four year old Robert Melrose inked his name to a contract [LINK TO IMAGES AND TRANSCRIPTION….text at the end of this post as it is quite long] with Kenneth McKenzie, the agent of the Company of Adventurers of England. He agreed to work in the capacity of labourer for five years, and to defend “with courage and fidelity in his said station, in the said Service…the property of the said Company and their Factories & Territories.” 1 Further to the official contract, Melrose agreed to a receive “a premium of twenty five pounds, over and above his wages of Seventeen Pounds p [sic] Annum”. 2 After five years and upon renewal of his engagement with the Company for an additional five years, he would be entitled to another twenty five pounds. So it was that Robert Melrose boarded the Trident at Granton Pier on August 11, 1852 and shipped to London, where he boarded the Norman Morison [Link to Norman Morison passenger list (included in the Bartleman post)- even though this will be a repeat of the Bartleman page, people may only be looking at this page] with other prospective employees and their families of Kenneth McKenzie.

The voyage was arduous, and the ship took six months to reach the colony of Vancouver’s Island. During this time, a number of passengers died, and the survivors endured a four day hurricane off of Cape Horn in November 1852. Melrose and his new wife eventually made land and arrived at their new home on January 22, 1853. Although he came from a family of labourers, Robert Melrose had received some education and was able to write, keeping a diary from August 1852 until July 1857.

Like some of the other Craigflower labourers, he appears to have had a relatively decent education, for on March 15, 1854, he gave a lecture “on the discoveries of Optical science” and two weeks later, a fellow labourer, James Deans, gave a “lecture on the Nobility of man.” 3 In June of the same year, Melrose turned his attentions away from science and delivered a lecture “on the wonders of civilization.” 4 Such lectures seem to have been a regular feature of life on the farm in 1854, and a number of different labourers tried their hand at teaching their fellow workers about subjects ranging from science to religion, and those who could not lecture often appear to have recited literature, some of which they may have penned themselves. [LINK TO JAMES DEANS RUSTIC RHYMES…caption “Pages from the book of labourer James Deans, entitled (Dan, do you have the title? I can't find it in my notes.). Comprising two exercise books, the poetry of James Deans ranges from his thoughts on his new home in British Columbia to odes to friends and those who died when the Point Ellice Bridge collapsed in May 1896.]

Although life at Craigflower was at times difficult, and other employees, such as Peter Bartleman [LINK TO PETER BARTLEMAN PAGE – up to you Dan] appear to have had strained relationships with Kenneth McKenzie, Melrose appears to have done relatively well for himself as a labourer. He was given a clock soon after arriving, and in the summer of 1853, he received both a gun and a cow. He made careful note of any matter relating to food or drink, and notes that on July 22, 1853 “fresh salmon [was] served out”.5 Such rations were likely to have been better than what he would have received as a labourer in Scotland, and Melrose appears to have lived well in Canada.

Melrose’s duties at Craigflower were quite varied, and included everything from cutting and thrashing, to digging turnips and cleaning potatoes. In his diary, he notes that he ploughed “a piece of ground for potatoes” and made bricks, as well as ground “wheat all night”. 6 He worked six days a week, and only had Sundays and holidays such as Christmas Day off, and for his trouble earned ₤4/5/- per quarter in 1853. In 1853, he agreed to accept money in lieu of rations, and was paid an additional ₤2/16/- per month. [LINK TO TEXT ABOUT LABOURING DUTIES IN SCOTLAND - not yet written, will follow] Unlike other of Craigflower’s workers, Melrose does not appear to have tried to escape to Sooke, although his diary reveals some discontent with McKenzie. On February 25, 1854, he notes that “monthly Ration pay due, not settled, want of money.”7 However, he doesn’t seem to have been terribly troubled, for he goes on to write, “J. Wilson ¾ d[runk]. The Author ¾ d[runk].”8

Thus, despite Melrose’s hard schedule, he and the other labourers still found ways of amusing themselves asides from delivering lectures and literature recitals, and his diary reveals that he seems to have taken great pleasure in getting drunk. He makes careful distinctions between being ½, ¾ or ‘full’ drunk.

Robert Melrose enjoyed a long life on Vancouver Island, and died, aged 70, on July 26, 1898 at Royal Jubilee Hospital of pneumonia, which he had suffered from for three days. Although labourers have a tendency to be the silent workers and builders of Empire, being largely overshadowed by the upper classes who engineered colonization schemes, the experience of Robert Melrose appears to be fairly typical of workers at Craigflower. Arriving in the mid-nineteenth century and living out the rest of his life in British Columbia, it is likely, that he, like so many others after him, saw the young colony as a way to escape a stagnating economy back at home, and concomitantly, to experience adventure.

Images:

Official Robert Melrose agreement

Second Page of Melrose Agreement:

James Deans' Rustic Rhymes Pages:

Third Page

Transcription of Page 1 of Melrose Labour Agreement

An Agreement, made this twenty fourth day of May, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and fifty two years BETWEEN Robert Melrose in the parish of Garvald in the County of Haddington in Scotland of the one Part, and The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, Trading into Hudson's Bay, by Kenneth McKenzie, their Agent, of the other Part, as follows,
The said Robert Melrose, hereby contracts and agrees to enter into the Service and Employment of the said Company in North America in the capacity of Labourer and that he will embark when thereunto required on board such Ship or Vessel as shall by appointed by or on behalf of the said Company and proceed to North America and for the Term of five years to be computed from the said Embarkation and for such further time as hereinafter mentioned and faithfully serve the said Company as their hired Servant in the capacity of Labourer and devote the whole of his time and labour for their sole benefit, and that he will do his duty as such and perform all such work and service by day or by night for the said Company as he shall be required to do and obey all the orders which he shall receive from the Governor of the Company in North America or other their Officers or Agents for the time being. And that he will with courage and fidelty in his said station in the said Service, defend the property of the said Company and their Factories & Territories, and will not absent himself from the said Service nor engage or be concerned in any Trade or Employment whatsoever except for the benefit of the said Company and according to their Orders. And that all Goods obtained by Barter with the Indians or otherwise which shall come to the hands or possession of the said Robert Melrose shall be held by him for the said Company only, and shall be duly delievered up to the said Governors or other Officers at their Factory or Trading Post without any waste, spoil or injury thereto. And in case of any wilful neglect or default herein he shall be make good to the said Company all such loss or damage as they shall sustain thereby to be deducted out of his Wages And that the said Robert Melrose will faithfully obey all laws, orders and regulations, established or made by the said Company for the good government of their Settlements and Territories And at all times during the residence of the said Robert Melrose in North America he will defend the rights and privileges of the said Company and aid and support their Officers and Agents to the utmost of his power. And the said Robert Melrose further engages and agrees that in case he shall omit to give notice to the Governor or Officers of the said Company in North America one year or upwards before the expiration of the said Term of five Years of his intention to quit their Service and return then that he hereby promises and engages to remain one Year longer and also until the next Ship in the Service of the Said Company shall sail from thence to Europe as their hired Servant in North America upon the terms as are contained in this Contract And the said Robert Melrose also engages and agrees that in [illegible] the said Company shall not [illegible] ship which will sail from North America for Europe immediately after the suspension of the said five years or of such further term as herein before mentioned then he hereby promises and engages to remain in the Service as a hired Servant of the said Company in North America until the next ship of the said Company or some ship provided by them shall sail from thence to Europe upon the like terms as are contained in this Contract. Provided always that the said Robert Melrose always further agrees to keep watch and ward and perform such other work in the Navigation of the Ship of the said Company on which he shall be embarked on the outward and homeward Voyages as he shall be required to perform by the Commanding Officer of the said vessel. And the said Kenneth McKenzie on behalf of the said Company hereby engages that upon condition of the [illegible] and faithful service of the said Robert Melrose in like manner as aforesaid but not otherwise the said Robert Melrose shall receive from the said Company after the rate of Seventeen Pounds per annum to commence on the day of his embarkation for North America as aforesaid and up to the day of his embarkation from thence for Europe in one of the ships of the said Company's Service [illegible] any Ship provided by them Provided always and it is hereby [remainder of document largely illegible]

If the Deans stuff is hard to read, I'd be happy to provide a transcription of that as well.

Long Peter Bartleman Post

Hey guys

Here's a copy of the Peter Bartleman stuff. I've tried to lay it out in a similar fashion to Scott's Irvine post. I'd eventually like to perhaps link to something about the situation in Scotland in the 1850s, but I haven't had a chance to write it. I'll also do the footnotes shortly, but have just left bolded numbers where they should be. I was working all day on stuff and can't bring myself to touch footnotes at the moment. I also need to go copy something else, which I will do this coming week, but I've left in a square bracket, so you can see where it should go.

Peter Bartleman was born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, around 1823. In 1851, he was living with his mother, Janet, an agricultural labourer, and working as a blacksmith at Gifford Gate, Haddington, the birthplace of John Knox. Despite the fact that Haddington had once been the fourth largest town in Scotland and was once larger than Glasgow, it numbered a mere 5,496 residents in 1851.1 Although his reasons for leaving Scotland and joining Kenneth McKenzie [LINK TO KENNETH MCKENZIE’S PAGE - up to you Dan] on Vancouver Island are unclear, it is likely that it was due to the poor economic situation in Scotland at the time. The size of Haddington had dwindled significantly since its glory days a few hundred years before, and as the agricultural situation in Scotland had always been poorer than that in England, it is likely that Bartleman felt he would do better in Canada [possibly a future link to the Scottish situation, not yet written]. However, he was soon to discover that life in the small colony of Vancouver’s Island was not as rosy as he may have imagined.

After embarking on the Norman Morison on August 14, 1852 Bartleman and his new wife endured a difficult crossing, during which they survived a four day hurricane with snow off of Cape Horn in November, and a number of adults and children died in the crossing.[LINK TO PASSENGER LIST OF Norman Morison with text “Part of the passenger list showing those “men, women and children engaged to go to Vancouver’s Isld with Mr K McKenzie, August 1852”]. They arrived in the harbour on January 21, 1853 and finally made their way to Craigflower Farm on Monday, 24 January, 1852. A temporary blacksmith’s shop was erected on March 4, 1852. 2

However, life at the new farm did not run smoothly, and McKenzie notes that Bartleman was “left off work in consequence of refusing to do my orders” on June 24, 1853.3 The diary of another labourer, Robert Melrose [LINK TO MELROSE PAGE - up to you Dan] notes on a number of occasions “Peter Bartleman stricken work.” 4 Three days later, Mr. Thomas Hall, the Victoria constable was summoned, and McKenzie paid $5.00 for 5 warrants to apprehend five escaped labourers, Bartleman included. 5 While at least two farm workers, William and John Weir made good their escapes for a short time before ending up in prison, neither Bartleman nor John Russel, the other blacksmith, were as fortunate, and both were immediately brought back to the farm. Two days later, Bartleman was once again hard at work [LINK TO BLURB ABOUT Peter Bartleman's work with text: Bartleman’s duties appear to have been somewhat varied, given the fact that his official position on the farm was blacksmith. He made padlocks for Craigflower, as well as shoes (presumably horseshoes) for Mssrs Skinner, McAuby, Greib and McKenzie. On June 28, 1853, he received an order from Mr. McDonald for 2 soap plates, 2 cups and saucers, 2 knives and forks, 2 spoons, one tin teapot, one tin pan and one pitcher. In October of the same year, he received an order from Mrs. McKenzie for one tin pitcher. However, he was also recorded as having packed and carted biscuits. It is possible that he was needed for other tasks around the farm due to the difficulties incurred in retaining reliable labour. For his services, Bartleman received ₤7/10/- quarterly in 1853, and sometimes also accepted money in lieu of rations. At such times, he seems to have received an additional sum of ₤2/16/- per month.6]

Almost a year and a half after arriving on the farm, Bartleman moved into Fort Victoria, for reasons which are also unclear. However, it may have been due to a personality conflict with Kenneth McKenzie, the bailiff of Craigflower. Bartleman seems to have frequently quarreled with the bailiff, having tried to escape to Sooke, in addition to setting up his own shop on Craigflower property and using McKenzie’s coal to fuel it. This resulted in McKenzie “attacking and destroying” the shop and taking him to court. 7 However, due to a number of technicalities in the case, McKenzie’s attempts to exert control over his worker were thwarted, and the end result was that Bartlemanm “set up on his own account upon Captain Cooper’s claim, laughing at us, our ‘contracts’ and the ‘Court of Justice.’” 8 Labour records [LINK TO IMAGE OF LABOUR BOOKS: Caption: “The page from Kenneth McKenzie’s labour books for the week of September 16-21 1861. Note the number of absences attributed to Peter Bartleman.”] reveal that Bartleman had a number of conspicuous absences during his time at Craigflower which went unexcused, and between the period 1852 and 1857, a fellow labourer frequently recorded in his diary “P. Bartleman, ¾ d[runk].” 9 It was not just McKenzie with whom Bartleman quarreled, but also with his fellow blacksmith, for on March 21, 1854, it is recorded that “John Russel & Peter Bartleman fought a battle. J. Russel ½ d[runk].” 10

The situation between Bartleman and the rest did not seem to have improved, and appears to have reached new heights on April 12, 1855, when he was sentenced to be sent home. 11 This, however, never came to pass, for a year later, Bartleman addressed a letter to Mr. Margery from Esquimalt, stating that “at the time [he] left Mr. McKenzie, there was a balance in my favour of ₤2/9/10, which you say is forfeited. I beg to say that I never received any money from Mrs. McKenzie and from what transpired, I do not see that I am liable for passage money. I am, sir, your ob[edient] servant, Peter Bartleman.” [LINK TO IMAGE OF LETTER - still need to get this] 12 Bartleman must have succeeded in thwarting all attempts at curbing his behaviour and sending him home, for he can be found living in Saanich with his children in 1891 at the age of 65, still working as a blacksmith. He appears to have died at the respectable age of 82 in 1907 in Kamloops.

Like others on this site, Peter Bartleman represents the ordinary working man who helped to build the colony of Vancouver Island into what we know it today. Those who arrived on the Norman Morison with Kenneth McKenzie in 1852 represent a small but vital cross-section of settlers who were cogs in the machine of Empire during the nineteenth-century.

IMAGES: (I hope these are ok, I noticed that the ones I posted earlier didn't seem to be any bigger than the thumbnail in the post, which is not how they originally scanned. If you can't get a larger version, email me and I'll send it to you as an attachment)

Passenger list:

Labour Book:

I'm hoping my stuff will be 90% final tonight, but yeah I do think I'll make a few additions over the next two weeks as well.

Do we have any word from Dr. L on the image mark-up?

I'm going to post below my photoshopped versions of the PSAC land sale maps etc. before I forget in case we want to use those on the 'farm' page.

For the home page...maybe we could each write a blurb about ourselves to start the ball rolling? We should see about writing a microhistory blurb as well...let's see if anyone has time later tonight.

SM





I don't think this one is Craigflower, but just in case...



I think this is Craigflower...



And finally the cover of one of the contracts...

Whoa there...

Don't kill yourselves trying to get that stuff done too soon. I'm at the library right now working on my other paper, and I plan to get home at about 5:30-ish, leaving the rest of the evening/night/morning for the site. I'll need to do some coding stuff first too, so I won't be getting things up right away.

But that being said, we don't really need the absolute finished products right away either, unless you guys feel like you're in a position to finalize things. We should also think about what we want to put on the home page--which isn't necessarily crucial for getting up for tomorrow--and whether or not we need the individual page for the farm... a lot of that stuff I think could be used to describe McKenzie.

-d

PS -- I might need some help with the proper means of citing the archival sources

You guys work fast, this all looks great.

Unfortunately for me however, the stress of the last couple of weeks has caught up with me and I was left with a nasty cold and a migraine for most of the afternoon. I did manage to get a lot done on the site though, but also ran into some unforeseen technical difficulties in the right-left split. I'm quite certain they can be worked out, but I want to find the solution before I create all the pages and have to finish them all. So once I get one the rest should come pretty easy.

I didn't upload any changes to the online version, as many of the changes weren't visible. I'll let you know as soon as I do.

-d

Hey Dan, just wanted to let you know I don't think I'll have the Verney stuff up tonight...but hopefully tomorrow by noon.

SM