Colonial Despatches

John Carmichael Haynes was born 6 July 1831 in County Cork, in what is now known as the Republic of Ireland. At age twenty-seven, Haynes immigrated to Victoria to become a special constable under Chartres Brew (a family friend). Haynes took various assignments around interior BC - usually as law enforcement around gold mines or to oversee trails. For a time, he acted as customs agent at Osoyoos. By 1864, Haynes transferred to Kootenay as a justice of the peace and assistant gold commissioner.1

Haynes skillfully maintained order in the chaotic Kootenay region. He did such an impressive job that Frederick Seymour appointed Haynes to the Legislative Council in 1865.2 His knowledge of new mining projects was especially valued. During his time on the council, Haynes spoke on behalf of miners from the Rocky Mountains to the Cascade Range and kept an eye on the American frontier. He attended sessions until 1866.3

In the 1870s, Haynes established himself as the Cattle King of South Okanagan. He lived comfortably with an abundance of land and a herd of 4000 heads.4 Haynes married three times: first to an Indigenous woman named Julia, who he later left; second to the much younger Charlotte Moresby, who died in childbirth; and finally to Emily Pittendrigh. After his second marriage, Haynes treated his Indigenous children as waiters and housemaids when visitors arrived.5 Haynes died 6 July 1888 in Princeton after he drank snow water on the Hope Trail and developed inflamed bowels.6

• 1. Margaret A. Ormsby, Haynes, John Carmichael, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.
• 5. Jo Fraser Jones, Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures: The Diaries of Alice Barrett Parke, 1891-1900 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2001), 306.
• 6. Margaret A. Ormsby, Haynes, John Carmichael, Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Jo Fraser Jones, Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures: The Diaries of Alice Barrett Parke, 1891-1900 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2001), 306.