Margaret Sophia Groves, a farmer's daughter, was born in the house
that sat on these foundations in 1832, in a love story that defies
words, she had four funerals, two caskets and three burials. .
Margaret Sophia married John Angus "Cariboo" Cameron, 12 yrs
older than her but who was to become a local legend and made a
fortune in the goldfields of British Columbia. The voyage to B.C.
via Panama was long and arduous and the Camerons set out with their
14 month old daughter Alice. Within a week of arriving in Victoria,
Margaret Sophia became ill and never recovered. Mrs. Cameron died
at 3 a.m. on October 23, 1862 in Richfield, B.C., on an abnormally
cold morning with temperatures in the -30 range with howling gale
force winds. Only 97 people of the 5000 at the mining town remained
for the funeral. Her body was placed in a tin casket inside a
wooden coffin and buried temporarily under an abandoned cabin in
Richfield but John Cameron vowed he would carry out her last wish;
to be buried at "home" in Cornwall.
Exactly two months later, three days before Christmas, Cameron
struck pay dirt, within a couple of months he was a wealthy but
grieving man and he decided to head for the coast. With 22 hired
men, he journeyed through a wilderness of extreme cold, snowdrifts,
dense forest and mountainous terrain, often without a trail,
dragging the coffin on an awkward toboggan heaped with blankets,
food and 50 lbs of gold. On March 7, 1863, having travelled 600
miles, they finally reached their destination. Here Sophia had a
well attended funeral, was preserved in alcohol in preparation for
the long voyage back east, and re-buried.
Cameron returned to his claim and worked it from April until
October of 1863 and left with eight horses laden with gold, the
equivalent of $5 million in today's dollars. Sophia was exhumed and
continued on her journey via boat to San Francisco, Panama and New
York city, where customs officials were dubious as to the contents
of the sealed coffin due to its massive weight. The last leg of the
journey home was by rail and Sophia was again buried, in the family
plot in Cornwall.
Cameron was generous with his money, giving two of his brothers
large sums and buying two farms for another two brothers who had
helped him in British Columbia. He built a beautiful estate on the
banks of the St Lawrence river at Summerstown and called it
Fairfield, then married Christianne Woods, the daughter of a
respectable local family.
However, rumors continued to grow. Why had John Cameron spent so
much effort bringing Sophia back? Some speculated that he had sold
her into slavery and the coffin was filled with reserve gold. It
wasn't until a New York newspaper printed a story stating that
Sophia had escaped slavery and had returned to Fairfield Estate
that he summoned her parents and the coffin was exhumed and the
alcohol drained. Sophia, preserved in the alcohol, was identified
by her parents and laid to rest for the final time in the Salem
Cemetery near Summerstown, almost next door to the Fairfield
estate.
Fairfield estate: N45.03.367 W074.34.055 Parking for this cache:
N45.01.607 W074.47.143 Parking is at what used to be called Tinkess
Crossing. Where the old Grand Trunk railway crossed Tolgate Road
before Power Dam Drive was built. One can still see the signal
pedestals laying amongst the trees. Walk west along the old
railroad grade. Raspberries now protect the site.