Widow Smith of Spence's Bridge

by Jessie Ann Smith as told to J. Meryl Campbell & Audrey Ward

Widow Smith of Spence's Bridge is a love story with an historical twist. It begins with Jessie Ann Smith's childhood in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It goes on to become the award-winning story of a British Columbia pioneer woman who, with the aid of her children, produces internationally reknown apples from the semi-desert soil of the Thompson Valley at Spences Bridge.

"Some pioneering stories, like good wine, get more valuable with age. Passed through three generations, Widow Smith of Spence's Bridge qualifies as vintage British Columbia."
    B.C. Bookworld - Winter 1989.

Summer Sizzler Special $6.95

128 pages, a map and 26 photos. Includes a bibliography and index. 5.5" x 8.5" laminated paperback binding.
ISBN 0-929069-00-5 $12.95 Convert!

This handsome soft-cover book, the first book published by Sonotek® Publishing Ltd., has been well-received throughout British Columbia as an important and touching story of pioneering from a woman's perspective.

Newly-wed Jessie Ann Smith left Scotland in February, 1884, and traveled with her orchardist husband, John, to the south western British Columbia community of Spence's Bridge. Thirty-year-old Jessie Ann's strict Presbyterian upbringing and her training as a teacher, musician and banker did little to prepare her for the exciting life she was about to lead as a pioneer in British Columbia's fledgling ranching and fruit industry.

Her story, a love story with an historical twist, begins with her childhood in Scotland and follows her by ship across the Atlantic and by rail across the U.S.A. to the west coast of British Columbia. Her introduction to Canada includes a work train trip through the Fraser Canyon on the then under construction Canadian Pacific Railway. The young couple initially settled at Spence's Bridge where John Smith worked for orchardist, John Murray. However, after an attempt at her husband's life, they left "The Bridge" for a harsh decade of homesteading in an upland valley south of Merritt. In 1897, after the death of John Smith's former employer, the family returned to purchase and rebuild the ailing Spence's Bridge orchard.

John Smith died in 1905, partly as the result of an earlier Granite Creek mining accident. Jessie Ann Smith and her children continued working the Spence's Bridge orchard. For nearly a decade their Grimes Golden apples won top honors in shows in Canada, the U.S.A. and England. King Edward VII sought the apples of the "Widow Smith of Spence's Bridge" at a London Horticultural Show in 1909.

The King? Ay, ay - no less than he,
None other than His Majesty;
His car already comes to stand
At Islington's exhibit grand,
Ingenuous to a high degree -
"I've come," he says most graciously,
"Those luscious Golden Grimes to see
Of Widow Smith's from fair B.C."
With dainty taste and polished mien
He deems them fitting for the Queen.
Forthwith he executes command
That they be sent to Buckingham.

With the aid of three of her granddaughters, Jessie Ann Smith began writing her life story in the mid-1930s. Half a century later, Murphy Shewchuk was approached by granddaughter Audrey Ward to help complete the book and it was first published in 1989. It has now been reprinted twice. The latest reprint, in July, 1998, includes corrections on an addendum on the inside back cover.

Although not originally written for young readers, Widow Smith of Spence's Bridge won a British Columbia Historical Federation award as the "Best History for Junior Readers" published in 1989. The book sold out first printing of 3,000 copies, however recent references to Widow Smith and her Grimes Golden apples in Canadian Geographic and Reader's Digest magazines have prompted Sonotek® Publishing Ltd. to bring Widow Smith (the book, that is) out of semi-retirement.

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"Widow Smith Of Spence's Bridge was a prize winner in the seventh annual Competition for Writers of B.C. History.

"This book, telling the story of Jessie Ann Smith, 1853-1946, was prepared by Audrey Ward and J. Meryl Campbell who put their grandmother's story into print. The narrative will appeal to readers of all ages, as it weaves the recounting of pioneer life with numerous episodes in B.C. history.

"It is a book recommended for use in school classrooms, thereby earning the award for "Best History for Junior Readers".

"Widow Smith was published by Murphy Shewchuk of Sonotek Publishing. The co-authors of Widow Smith were honored at the B.C. Historical Federation Annual Conference in Grand Forks May 10-12,1990."

-Mrs. Naomi Miller, British Columbia Historical Federation

"In a letter written by the author [Jessie Ann Smith] in 1945 when she was celebrating her 92nd birthday, and reproduced on the last page of this book (it would have been more effective in the beginning), she says "Allow me now to present my autobiography for your approval, and I hope, pleasure." Her story merits approval and gives pleasure.

"Just over five feet tall and weighing only 95 pounds, this little Scottish school teacher left her comfortable Victorian home to settle with her orchardist husband in Spence's Bridge. Her story reads like fiction (as in truth is stranger than) and has the makings of a good movie. But this is HISTORY, writ large, which vividly recreates early pioneer days in this province, and brings it to life with engaging details.

"Describing the Journey to Canada, she admits she was sea sick most of the fourteen days it took to cross the Atlantic. She shares her naive fear that the train would overturn whilst passing Niagara Falls, for all the passengers moved to one side for a better view. The rest of the trip was by steamer, work train, horse-drawn wagon and cable bucket across the Fraser River, landing in a pile of hay. She dusted the hay off her clothing "at the end of the briefest but most thrilling part" of her journey..."

-E. Rita Ourom in BCTLA Reviews

When she was eighteen years old she was appointed to teach in the school with her father. She married her childhood friend, John Smith, on the 5th of February, 1884. Four days later, the Smiths and young James Teit left Liverpool for New York and a cross-country trip to Spence's Bridge, British Columbia, Canada.

Jessie Ann Smith lived a full and challenging life and began writing her memoirs in the 1930s. She died on the 7th of February, 1946.

J. MERYL CAMPBELL was born in Kamloops, B.C. in 1914. When she was five, the family moved to Vancouver where she attended school and graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia.

Campbell then studied accounting and obtained employment in private industry before joining the B.C. Public Service Commission in 1948. She later became Director of Staff Training and Development. In 1973, she was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, the first woman to be so appointed. J. Meryl Campbell retired in 1980 and is living in Victoria, B.C. where she is active in community affairs in View Royal.

AUDREY I. WARD was born in Kamloops, B.C. in 1916 and received her education in Vancouver where she studied elementary school teaching and public health nursing.

After graduating, Ward obtained employment in various Interior B.C. communities. Her greatest interest was in teaching young children the joy of reading. While engaged in setting up smaller school libraries in the West Kootenays, she was disturbed to note the lack of material about the every-day lives of early B.C. settlers -- their struggle just to exist and make a living for their families.

This apparent lack has been the persistent force behind Audrey Ward's efforts to get her grandmother's story published. Audrey Ward is now retired and living in Penticton, B.C.

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