Dear Sir,

I am a member of the Jacombs family, most of whom originate from a common ancestry in England.

I know of least two of my ancestors who came from England to BC in the early 20th century (Cyril John Thatcher JACOMBS and Marcus Hanbury Lisle JACOMBS). Neither appears to have been a significant member of the local society, but I may yet be surprised

However, I am trying to ascertain the history behind the naming of Jacombs Rd, which I find crops up in all my online searches of the family name.

Can you help by letting me know:

When the road was named?
After whom the road was named?
The reason for naming the road after this person?

Many thanks for your consideration of this request.

Phil Jacombs
Sydney, Australia

Mr. Jacombs: Your request for information about Jacombs Road was passed along to me for response.

There is not a lot of information about the naming of this road. A bylaw was passed in 1921 to establish a few roads in Richmond and Jacombs Road was one of them. It was common in those days to build roads in response to requests from farmers requiring better access to their property. Most often the roads were named after the farmer making the request.

It is highly likely that this is how Jacombs Road got its name. I am pretty confident about this speculations as the City Council Minutes in 1923 refer to a Mr. Jacombs requesting "water supply" to his property which was in the neighbourhood of the road named after him. The bill for the water connection went through the City accounts late in 1923.

That is the extent of what I have been able to find so far. No first name is mentioned in the records or any other details of how Mr. Jacombs got here. I will keep on file here the first names you provide.

Have you tried a search of the Province of British Columbia web pages devoted to vital statistics? You may be able to find details about births and deaths of members of your family in this way. The web address is:
www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca then click on Vital Events.

I hope this is helpful. Good luck with your search.

Lynne Waller, Archivist
City of Richmond Archives

Dear Lynne,

thanks for this information, and for replying so quickly.

I suspect, from the information you supplied, that Jacombs Rd is named after Cyril John Thatcher Jacombs.

The reason for my suspicion, is that, in 1923, he was a party to a civil action (with approx 41 others) against the Cedar Creek Mining Company in Williams Lake County, BC.
Source: GR-2389 British Columbia County Court (Williams Lake) Civil case files Originals 1921-1947.

Though I do not have details of the case, I would surmise that it involved the interests of the Mining Company being in conflict with the landowners of the region.

Is Jacombs Rd in what would have been Williams Lake County in 1923?

Cyril died in 1950 in Bralorne.

If you think my suspicions make sense, or even if you think I am off the mark, I would very much like to hear from you.

Regards,

Phil Jacombs

Hello Mr. Jacombs:

Williams Lake County is about 400 miles north and east of Richmond. It is in the north Cariboo area closer to Prince George. Near to Williams Lake are Barkerville and Wells which were the centre of a gold rush in 1858, and another, smaller, gold boom in the late 1930's. During the 1930's, this area was one of the few in the country where there was work available.

This puts Cyril John Thatcher Jacombs quite far away from Richmond. Travel between Williams Lake and the Lower Mainland (where Richmond is situated) was not something one would undertake lightly in the 1920's.

I have a 1924 Directory that shows Marcus Jacombs in Eburne with the following brief entry: "farming RR1." While Richmond was incorporated as a Township in 1879 it was often described as Lulu Island for the name of the Island on which it is situated; or as Steveston and Eburne, for the two most populous neighbourhoods.

Lynne Waller, Archivist
City of Richmond Archives

Lynne,

thanks for this additional information.

I suspect you are correct, and that Marcus is the one after whom the road is named. Marcus' death certificate has him listed as a farmer at the time of death, in 1958. He died in Vancouver.

Do you know to what the "RR1" refers in the 1924 directory entry? And what is the name of the directory (I would like to make an entry for it in the family history database)?

Many thanks again for your help.

Regards,

Phil

Phil Jacombs:

RR1 stands for Rural Route Number One - it is a postal address.

Directory information: "Wrigley-Henderson Amalgamated British Columbia Directory 1924" published by Wrigley Directories, Limited, 1924, Vancouver, British Columbia.

As I mentioned to you in an earlier message, we have very little information on this family in our community records. I would very much appreciate hearing from you if you uncover any more material about Marcus Jacombs and his family related to their time in Richmond.

Good luck with your research.

Lynne Waller, Archivist
City of Richmond Archives