Peter Alexander Auchinachie
1868 - 1953

Peter Alexander Auchinachie was born May 1, 1868 in Boharm, Cotterton, Scotland. He was the youngest of 9 children of Alexander R. Auchinachie and Margaret Taylor.

Peter emigrated with his family to Binghamton, NY in about 1874 when he would have been about six years old. His father, Alexander, was a blacksmith. Shortly after the family arrived in New York, his older brother, James Taylor Auchinachie, moved again to the Cowichan Valley of British Columbia to settle. One of the papers of John Newell Evans (Pioneer Women of the Cowichan Valley) refers to "Mrs. James Auchanichie (sic)"as being a resident of the valley.

James became ill (perhaps with Tuberculosis) and his doctor advised him to move to a drier climate. He decided to move to California and wrote to his family back in Binghamton to tell them that he was moving. Alexander decided to visit James before he left Cowichan and came out from Binghamton with Peter in about 1884 when Peter was about 16. Peter's mother had died in 1876 and his older brother and sisters were established in their own lives by 1884 so they all remained in New York.

By the time Peter and his father arrived in Duncan in 1884, James had already left. He had moved with his family to Victorville, California where he lived to be an old man.

Alexander loved the Cowichan Valley when he saw it and decided to stay. He set up a blacksmithing operation and eventually died in Duncan on April 29, 1892. At the time of his father's death, Peter was just a young man of 24 and on his own. From time to time, the native indians of the area brought him food and sort of looked out for him.

On November 13, 1895, Peter married Ella Estelle Evans, daughter of the well known Cowichan pioneers, John Newell Evans and Mary Jane Davies. They had 9 children: 7 daughters and 2 sons. Ella died July 15, 1949 and Peter died a few years later on August 12, 1953.

© 2003 Bruce L. Pollock, all rights reserved.
All text, photographs, graphics and HTML code on this site are protected by international copyright law and may not be copied, reprinted, published, hosted or otherwise distributed without the express permission of the owner.