Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Galbraith, David
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
March 16, 1861
History
David Galbraith was born in St. Mary's, Ontario (1858). He married Laurie Green (born in 1868) and arrived in Gastown on December 1884. Their first daughter Doris was born in Agassiz on September 5, 1895. In 1896 they moved to Harrison River. He built a store and boarding house.
His second daughter, Jean, was born at Harrison Mills in 1897. In 1901 he sold the store and boarding house to Mr Kilby.
In 1902, he came to Squamish to build the first hotel. He bought a store from Mashiter. The family arrived in Squamish in 1906. That year he also built the Cheakamus House, a hunter's lodge by the Cheakumus River (across from the present location of Fergie's), with Dutch Charlie ("Cheakamus Charlie") who operated it. His third daughter, Isobel (Widge) was born in this hotel (she would be Mrs Stan Blake). The Cheakamus House was destroyed by a flood in 1940.
In 1912, he built a store called Squamish Interiors (north of Shell Station) that would later be the Adams & Adams store.
Doris married Frank Buckley on October 11, 1914. They were the first couple married in a church in Squamish.
Mrs Galbraith died in March 1944. There was a memorial of Brass Vases and Collection Plate in the Anglican Church.
Jean (Mrs Angus McRae) won the Good Citizenship Medal in 1950 for her work as a nurse. The same year the Galbraith Hotel was sold to Empire Mills for $14,000 and used as a bunkhouse. The hotel was used to film the movie "Presbyterian Church Wager". In the early 1970's, the hotel was used to film the movie "McCade and Mrs Miller". It was demolished in 1973.
David died at age 89 on February 26, 1951. Jean's husband died in 1964. Jean Galbraith McRae died in Burnaby on January 25, 1976. Doris Galbraith Buckley died on January 7, 1978.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
David was a school board trustee from 1909 to 1911.
In in 1910, the PGE wanted to build terminals at the site of the hotel. They offered David $90,000 but he held out for $96,000. The PGE built the rail terminal in an alternate location.
Mrs Galbraith was a sideswoman for the Church of St. John the Divine from 1913 to 1922. She would also take over as a doctor when Dr. Paul was away at war. Mrs Galbraith was the President of St. John's Ladies Guild in 1924 and 1925.
Mandates/sources of authority
Squamish Public Library, Squamish Files: Prominent Names.