08 November 2011

BC digitized newspapers free online: Marcus Jacombs

The University of British Columbia has an array of newspaper from across the province, with outside dates 1865 and 1930, now available online.



Looking for a sample search, and considering the time of year, I checked for the word Ypres and came across a letter written by M Jacombs about his experiences published in the Headley Gazette - http://goo.gl/xURBz. Searching that paper finds other information about him.

Marcus H L Jacombs was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in Dec 1883.  It appears he first went to the US and took out US citizenship in 1905 renouncing allegiance to the British Crown. He moved to British Columbia, attested in Victoria in December 1914 and served in the trenches attaining the rank of Sgt.

He survived the war and died in Vancouver on 3 March 1958 having never married. A Google search finds a website on the Jacombs family.

1 comment:

CMA said...

Thank you for this link to digitized newspapers John. My great-grandfather was a BC miner and was active in the miner's union in the early 20th century. I didn't have to look very hard to find him mentioned in the papers of the small mining towns of Phoenix and Greenwood.