Most of the Jackson ancestors rest in Bentonville Cemetery, Arkansas. Edgar Eugene (E.E.) Jackson was born in Talala, Oklahoma but his father was a prospector and eventually came west to British Columbia to Kaslo. There Edgar attended school from 1902 to 1908 with Joe Giegerich, who later became a Kimberley Mine Superintendent. Also attending that school was Mrs. Mickey Edmonds of Kimberley, resident in the 1930-40's.
Edgar began working as an accountant for the Galena Farm Mine near Silverton and married a young widow, Dorothy Pearson, who was working for Dr. Richards of Spokane, one of the owners of the Mine. Dorothy was born in Gainsborough, England and her family had come out to Spokane when she was a child. She was formerly married to Phil Rich, a young aeroplane pilot who was killed in 1912 when the wings fell off his aircraft during a power dive. She married Edgar Jackson in 1918.
When the Silverton Mine closed down, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson came to the Top Mine in Kimberley in 1918 and Edgar went to work as an accountant with Arthur Ward who was the Paymaster. They lived in a log cabin. In 1921 they moved to a small house on Second Avenue in McDougall Townsite, where their son Donald was born the same year.
Edgar had moved into the accounting department at the new Company Office downtown, under Mr. Norman Burdett. In 1925 the family moved to the house across the street from the main office. They lived next door to Dr. Hannington whose home became the first hospital in Kimberley.
By 1937, they moved into a new house in Upper Blarchmont. There were now three children in the family. Two daughters had been born, Dorothy and Janet.
Mrs. Jackson passed away in 1937 shortly after they had moved into the new home and three years later in 1940, Mr. Jackson was killed in a car accident near Golden. He had become Branch Accountant in 1938 when Mr. Burdett retired. Their son Don entered the Company Machine Shop in 1940 as an apprentice, but was transferred to the requisition office as his boss didn't think he would make a good machinist.
Don joined the Navy and trained in HMCS Discovery at Vancouver for 3 months before seeing active service in the Atlantic for three years on two Corvettes and a Frigate. He was a telegrapher on convoy duty.
On his return he went into the Concentrator Accounting Office with Bill Leaman as his boss. Later, he was moved to the General Office. In 1951 he transferred to Engineering and worked with Pete Brennan, a surveyor for the Company, spending seven years learning the trade before becoming a surveyor and later becoming a Mechanized Mining Technician.
Don was baptized in the little Methodist Church that burned down and on his birth certificate, it states Place of Birth as Sullivan Mine, not Kimberley. He received his schooling in Kimberley, although when his mother died, his two sisters were sent to the Holy Names Academy in Spokane.
Don met Lillian Heighton while he was in port in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and they were married in 1945. Navy personnel had difficulty getting married while on active duty, and permission had to be obtained from the lowest officer to senior officer, the persistency of the sailor being proof of his sincerity.
Don and Lillian returned to Kimberley in the Fall of 1945 and have five children all born and raised here. In 1978, the eldest, Judy started working on the U.B.C. Campus in the B.C. Research Institute. James (Jim) worked a short time for the Company but is now a linesman for B.C. Hydro and resides in Marysville. He married Doris Moisson whose father is Jack Moisson, also employed by the Company, and they have one son Troy.
Monica married Joe Carrier and they live in Sparwood and have two boys Terry and Marty. Rhonda and Donna are still attending school in the year of 1978.
Don's sisters, Dorothy and Janet both joined the CWAC's during the war. Dorothy married Gale Bartlett and lives in Coulee Dam, Washington. Janet married Doug Heavener and lives in Vanderhoof, B.C.
Don will soon be retiring and plans to remain here. His chief hobby for over twenty years has been prospecting and he likes fishing, skiing, snowmobiling and trapping.
