Virtual Tour of Ross Bay Cemetery
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13. Leon Morel

Many graves at Ross Bay Cemetery do not have markers. In the 1800s many of the graves had wooden headboards which have since rotted away. No one remembers whether Leon Morel’s grave was ever marked. Its location is known from the burial records.

1825-1877
Block: C
Plot: 22 W 24

Born in Quebec, he entered the Hudson’s Bay Company at a young age, and was sent to Fort Vancouver in 1840 and served as a middleman during his whole tenure with the company. He remained at Fort Vancouver until 1842, and then was sent to Fort Stikine where he remained until 1849.

In 1850 he was sent to Fort Victoria. Morel was one of many French Canadians who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in western Canada.

Leon Morel’s wife Adelaide was the first documented burial at Pioneer Square Feb 20, 1855, when Father Lootens interred the remains of “Adelaide femme Stekine, spouse de Leon Morel” (Adelaide, Stikine wife of Leon Morel).