Henry Lineker

Henry Lineker appeared on Salt Spring Island in 1859 and was listed as one of the first 29 settlers to apply to take up land there (Pemberton to Copland, 1859). He apparently arrived with his wife and young child. The child, records suggest, was Elizabeth Lineker, who went on to marry Mr. Griffiths in the early 1870s. (Griffiths took over Jonathan Begg's nursery and grocery business, but died sometime in the 1870s. His widow, Elizabeth, then married Mr. Booth, MLA for the Island.)

Lineker took up 200 acres in Ganges Harbour, section 3, range 2 and 3 east, which he registered in 1866. In 1861, Lineker and his wife witnessed the Ganges Harbour Massacre, in which their land provided the location of a battle between two Aboriginal groups. Lineker described the incident in a letter to The Victoria Colonist, and the incident was also recorded by Bishop Hills, who visited Ganges shortly after the incident. Ebenezer Robson, a Methodist preacher who visited the Island in the early 1860s, also visited the Linekers and was impressed by them.

Lineker made considerable improvements; he surveyed the land at his own cost and obtained a certificate of improvement as required by the 1861 Proclamation. After that, he mortgaged the land. He left British Columbia in 1862, and returned in 1863 to find his land had been pre-empted by a man named Harrison. When the certificate of improvement was produced, Harrison was removed from the land. In 1865 Lineker leased his land and returned to find that the land "stands in the name of Antoine Manuel [Bittancourt?]". This matter was referred to the Attorney General in 1866. Thos. Wood, acting Attorney General, returned Lineker's land to him. At another time (no date), a letter is sent by Lineker to the Surveyor General disputing that Henry Manson is owner of Lot 3, range 2 and 3 east. Lineker shows up in 1866 owning land on SSI, but living in Victoria. This land was pre-empted by J.P. Booth sometime between 1866 and 1884; as noted previously, Booth married Linneker's daughter, Elizabeth Griffiths, in the 1880s. The last we see of Mr. Lineker is in the Directory of 1874, at which point he is still living in Victoria, with no land on Salt Spring Island.