written by Maureen Duffus.
Mary Yates
Mary Yates, daughter of a Welsh
architect and bride of shipwright James Yates, arrived May 31, 1849,
on the Harpooner.
Her first daughter, born early
in 1850 in the fort, was baptized March 31 by Chaplain Staines. She
was
named Emma Frances after Mrs. Staines.
Three more daughters and two
sons were born after the family moved out of the fort to a house next to
James' profitable business venture, the Ship Inn on Wharf Street, then eventually
to their 400-acre
property along the Gorge.
In 1860 Annie Deans wrote about
James and Mary: " There is one Mr. Yates here I suppose he is the
wealthiest man in Victoria... Neither Mr. or Mrs. Yates has got any nasty
pride with them. Mrs. Yates is
a women of this sort that if she sees a person anxious to get on she will
strive to do all in her power for
them they were very good to Mrs. Anderson and I the time that our men was
put in Chokie. They got
plenty of work for us and stuck alway up for a good price for us."
Mary and James left the colony in the 1860's, but their sons returned to Victoria in the early 1880's.