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TERRACE - An English settler and a Kitselas princess were honoured in a ceremony
July 30.
The ceremony featured the dedication of a monument to Tom and Eliza Thornhill
located just off Queensway near the old bridge.
It's close to the location where the couple built a cabin in 1892.
Tom Thornhill met Eliza Wright, sister to Kiselas chief Walter Wright, in the
Fraser Valley. They married and soon after came north..
Eliza trapped while Tom played host to the Skeena River steamship trade that
existed before the railway.
Eliza died in 1907 and Tom in 1910.
Present at the dedication was Ralph Wright, a grandson to Walter Wright who
was Eliza's brother.
Also present was Floyd Frank whose father first met Tom Thornhill in 1893.
Regional District Director Les Watmough who was instrumental in organizing the
monument, thanked all those who helped make it possible.
He said it was unfortunate that the spirit of the marriage between Tom Thornhill
and Eliza Wright was not continued in the larger context of relations between
the native and settler cultures.
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| Les Watmough | Stewart McNaughton and Les and Floyd | |
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| Diane | Floyd and Aileen | Mamie, Floyd, Ailene, Les, and Stewart |
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| Debbie Toovey | Belle, Floyd and Dorothy |