Early Pioneers

John Carmichael Haynes (1831-1888)

J.C. Haynes was born in Ireland in 1831.  He arrived in Victoria, B.C., in 1856 to join the B.C. police force.  Haynes became rightly known as the “Father of Osoyoos” and is credited with being the first settler, colonial officer, and judge in Osoyoos.

In 1861, customs transferred from Camp McKinney to “Soyoos” where Haynes was put in charge of the whole Okanagan, Similkameen, and Boundary areas.  He built a combined living quarters and customs house – the first building in Osoyoos.  In 1866 Haynes was commissioned County Court Judge.

Haynes married Charlotte Moresby in 1868.  She was the first - and for some time the only - white woman in a radius of one hundred miles of Osoyoos.  In 1872, a son, Fairfax Moresby, was born in New Westminster.  Mrs. Haynes passed away not long after childbirth.

Haynes and his partner, W. H. Lowe, in 1869, recorded the first pre-emption to be subsequently crown granted.  This was the beginning of Hayne’s vast ranch, which comprised almost 21,000 acres.

Haynes married Emily Pittendrigh in 1875, and their son Valentine C. Haynes was born on December 21, 1875.  He was the first white child to be born in the Osoyoos district.

In 1888 Haynes passed away in Princeton, B.C., while returning from Victoria with sons Fairfax and Valentine.  Mrs. Haynes passed away in 1908.

Haynes Point Provincial Park, comprising the spectacular peninsula which juts out into the lake on the west side about a kilometer south of the town, commemorates the Haynes family.