Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Trutch family fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
40 cm of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joseph William Trutch was born in England in 1826, the son of William Trutch and Charlotte Hannah (Barnes). He was one of five children. The other children were Caroline Agnes (Trutch) OReilly, John Trutch, Charlotte Barnes (Trutch) Davey and Emily (Trutch) Pinder White. After apprenticing as an engineer, he traveled to the United States in 1849, going first to California and then to Oregon where he was the assistant to John Preston, Oregons first Surveyor General. He married Prestons sister in law, Julia Hyde, in 1855 and they settled in Illinois. Following the discovery of gold in British Columbia, Trutch decided to move to that colony, where his brother John, also an engineer, had already settled. Trutch arrived in British Columbia in June 1859. He was awarded contracts to survey rural lands and for the construction of sections of the Harrison Lillooet road and, in 1862, for the construction of the section of the Cariboo Road between Chapmans Bar and Boston Bar. That contract included the construction of the Alexandra Suspension Bridge. Trutch was elected a member of the Vancouver Island House of Assembly in 1861. In 1864, he was named Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia. He was made an appointed member of the Legislative Council of the United Colony and advised Governor Seymour on Indian matters, accompanying him on the trip to Metlakatla in 1869 on which Seymour died. He was appointed a member of the delegation sent from British Columbia to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of confederation. When British Columbia joined Canada on July 20, 1871, Trutch was appointed the provinces first Lieutenant Governor (1871-1876). In 1880, Trutch was appointed dominion agent in British Columbia with responsibility for railway matters and for providing advice on Indian matters to the federal government. In 1889, he retired to England and was knighted. Julia (Hyde) and Joseph Trutch were members of the Victorias social elite and were connected through family ties and friendship with other members of that group. Trutchs sister, Caroline Agnes Trutch, married Peter OReilly in 1863. His brother John, a civil engineer and surveyor who had followed Trutch to North America, married Governor Anthony Musgraves sister, Zoe, in 1870. Trutch had also been at school in England with H.P.P. Crease. Lady Trutch died in Victoria on July 16th, 1895 and Sir Joseph Trutch died in Somerset, England, on March 4, 1904.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of a family history, correspondence, the legal documents of Sir Joseph Trutch, diaries and financial reports of John Trutch and transcripts from Charlotte Morgan-Kelly. The fonds deals with personal matters, the career of Sir Joseph Trutch as civil engineer and public official and the engineering career of John Trutch.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The Trutch papers were donated to the University of British Columbia Library by Mrs. Charlotte E.C . Morgan-Kelly, the daughter of John Trutch, in 1958.
Arrangement
Arrangement of the fonds has followed the series order created in the 1970s.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
No restrictions on access.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Inventory available.
Finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Trutch, Joseph William, Sir (Subject)
- Trutch, John (Subject)
- Morgan-Kelly, Charlotte (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Finding aid converted by Jacky Lai, June 2015.
Finding aid revised by Melanie Hardbattle, Sep 2002.