Edward Seebach

Noteworthy Residents

Clara Ratke with Martha Huble in the garden.

Midwives

All of the Huble children, with the exception of Sam and Dean, were born at Giscome Portage. It was previously believed that Mrs. Clara Radke, a neighbor of the Huble family, attended the births but recent evidence suggests that other women were present.

Mrs. Minna Otto started work at Giscome Portage nine days before Al Jr’s birth in 1918; she is listed on his birth certificate. On her marriage certificate, she is listed as a midwife. Mrs. Claire Lambert arrived at Giscome Portage five days before Gladys May was born in 1916; while there are no records stating her profession, it is likely that she would have attended the birth.

Emmett (Shorty) Haynes

Emmett (Shorty) Haynes was born in Louisville, Kentucky on July 1, 1878. He held the claim next to Al Huble's, making the two men neighbours. Haynes and his partner Les Woods operated a freighting business at the Giscome Portage, in direct competition with Seebach & Huble.

According to his World War I attestation papers, Shorty was actually a tall man at 6'4. He enlisted in January of 1916 for the war, and during his absence, Al Huble maintained his land for him. Prior to that, he and Al exchanged work on each other's claims.

Father Nicolas Coccola

Father Nicolas Coccola was born on December 12, 1854 in Corsica, France. He came to Canada in 1880, and worked in British Columbia for 63 years, in different parts of the province.

Pat Huble has said Father Coccola was almost a part of the Huble family for some years. She also remembers playing with his pocket watch. He lived periodically at the homestead, in a cabin, where he worked with the Indigenous people above the ranch on the Fraser River. Father Coccola ate meals with the Huble family on numerous occasions as well. Father Coccola died in Smithers, BC on March 1, 1943.

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Pete Pierreroy

Pete Pierreroy worked for Al Huble on and off for several years; he is first mentioned in the Huble Diaries in 1912, than again between 1917 and 1919.

Pete, a Metis man, tended to Annie Huble and the kids when they had the flu right at the end of the First World War. Sam Huble stated that Pete “saved their lives” when Annie was left alone with the kids at the homestead and could not even get firewood (in the middle of the winter) or milk the cows.