Annacis Island’s namesake
October 20th, 2016
The oldest French place name in British Columbia that’s still in use is likely Annacis Island, located southwest of New Westminster. It’s an Anglicized version of Annance’s Island, named after Noel Annance in 1827. Later that same year the exemplary Abenaki First Nation employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company oversaw Fort Langley’s official opening. HBC boss George Simpson described him as “Active determined fellow well adapted for a new country being a good hunter.” With his Flathead wife, Annance had two sons in B.C. when he was the right hand man of Archie McDonald at Thompson River in the Okanogan [sic]. Unusually literate and vastly travelled, he’s the subject of Jean Barman’s new biography, Abenaki Daring: The Life and Writings of Noel Annance, 1792-1869 (McGill-Queen’s $39.95). 978-0-7735-4792-6
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