b. 1833-09-28
d. 1916
Reverend John Booth Good was born on
28 September 1833 in Wrawby, Lincolnshire. From early in his career Good was a missionary for the S.P.G
-- the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts -- continuing this
line of work in
British Columbia, specifically in
Nanaimo,
Yale, and
Lytton. Good was first educated at Lincolnshire and then later at St. Augustine's College,
Canterbury where he studied medicine, mathematics, science, and theology. Along with his education at St. Augustine's, he was likewise educated at a diocesan
teacher's training college at Lincoln; and by
1850, at the age of 17, Good was offered a teaching position at Halton-Holgate, Lincolnshire. In
1854, after his graduation at St. Augustine's, he accepted a position with the S.P.G to
do missionary service in
British Columbia.
By the time of Good's leave to
British Columbia, the
BC diocese was in the process of formation; temporarily sending Good to
Nova Scotia -- he left England on
25 January 1857. During his time in
Nova Scotia, Good was ordained by Bishop Burney and spent the next three years doing missionary
service. In
January of 1860, Good returned to England where he married Sarah Ann Watson; later traveling together
to
British Columbia, landing in
Victoria in
April 1861. In
September 1862,
Vicar George Hills appointed Good to
Nanaimo, here he helped in the construction of what would become a chapel and school for
Indigneous peoples; the first task that Good oversaw was to convince the pupils' need
for
cleanliness.
Good later moved from
Nanaimo to
Yale, and then to
Lytton in
1866 where he was charged with the “care” of 8000 Indigenous people from 72 different
villages, while simultaneously becoming fluent in Indigenous language, which led to transcription
and transliteration of liturgy. Good spent 16 years laboring in
Lytton until he was appointed in
1882 as
priest-in-charge
of his former parish in
Nanaimo. For another 17 years, Good worked in
Nanaimo until he was forced from his position in
1899 due to the development of parish life and Good's inability to comply with the new
style and subside with his traditional view of conducting parish life. In his entire missionary career, Good spent nearly 40 years in the service of the
Anglican church in
British Columbia until his death in
1916.
- 1. Good to Fortescue, 4 December 1861, 11327, CO 60/9, 342.
- 2. J. B. Kerr, Biographical Dictionary of well-known British Columbians: with a historical sketch, (1890), 254.
- 3. F. A. Peake, John Booth Good in British Columbia: The Trials and Tribulations of the Church, 1861-99, The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 2 (April 1984): 71.
- 4. Ibid., 72.
- 5. Ibid.
- 6. Ibid.
- 7. Ibid.
- 8. Ibid., 73.
- 9. Kerr, Biographical Dictionary, 254.
- 10. Peake, John booth Good in British Columbia, 74.
- 11. Ibid., 77.
- 12. Ibid.
- 13. Ibid., 70.