Robert Cunningham (entrepreneur) facts for kids
Robert Cunningham (1837–1905) was an important person in British Columbia, Canada. He started as a missionary and later became a successful businessman. He is best known for founding the town of Port Essington, British Columbia.
He was born on January 1, 1837, in Dungannon, Ireland. In 1862, when he was 25, he traveled to Canada. He came with the Anglican Church Missionary Society to help missionary William Duncan. They worked in the Tsimshian community of Metlakatla, B.C..
Early Missionary Work
Soon after arriving in Metlakatla, Robert Cunningham was asked to help another missionary, R. Arthur Doolan. Their job was to start a new mission among the Nisga'a people. In July 1864, they opened a mission on the lower Nass River. Cunningham's time with the Church Missionary Society ended after this.
Becoming a Trader
Cunningham then started working for the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Simpson. This trading fort was later known as Port Simpson and Lax Kw'alaams. He worked with Charles F. Morison. Morison later married Odille Quintal, a Tsimshian language expert. Cunningham eventually became the chief trader at the fort.
In 1870, Cunningham left the Hudson's Bay Company and Port Simpson. He then began working with Thomas Hankin. In 1871, the Omineca Gold Rush started. Cunningham and Hankin became traders in Hazelton, in Gitxsan territory. They later set up a supply spot at Woodcock's Landing. This was downriver at the Skeena River estuary. It later became the site of the Inverness cannery.
Founding Port Essington
Cunningham and Hankin looked for an even better location. They found a piece of land that the Tsimshian people called Spaksuut. This was a fall camping-place. It was located where the Skeena and Ecstall rivers meet. In 1872, they built a store there. Over time, more Kitselas and Kitsumkalum Tsimshian people from upriver settled there.
By the 1890s, Spaksuut was known as Port Essington. It grew into a small town. Soon, it became the largest settlement and the main business center in the region. Cunningham bought out Hankin's share of the business. He made salmon packing the town's main industry. The Cunningham Cannery produced "Diamond A" brand canned salmon. Even though other canneries operated there, Port Essington was often called "Cunningham's town."
Family Life
Several of Cunningham's family members from Ireland moved to Port Essington. Charles and Odille Morison also moved there. In 1888, Cunningham's wife, Elizabeth, drowned. This happened when her canoe overturned near Port Lambert, close to Port Essington. Of their five children, only two, George and John, lived past early childhood. John was killed at age seventeen when a trading ship was wrecked near the Queen Charlotte Islands.
In 1893, Cunningham married again to Flora Bicknell from Coventry, England. They had two children, Hazel and Harold. A third child, Edith, was born shortly after Robert's death. Robert Cunningham passed away in April 1905, in Victoria, B.C., at 69 years old. He is buried in Metlakatla.
See also
- Monte Cristo (sternwheeler)
- Steamboats of the Skeena River
