Mr. William A. Baillie-Grohman

Born in Austria to a British family, William Baillie-Grohman lived and worked in many locations across Europe and North America over the course of his life. In the 1880s, William worked in the Kootenays, where his name is attached to numerous natural resource exploitation projects. William married Florence Nickalls in 1887 and the couple had two children together. William might have dealt with Peter O’Reilly in O’Reilly’s capacity as Indian Reserve Commissioner, but the Grohmans and the O’Reillys were seemingly socially acquainted as well. By 1891, the Grohmans were living in London, and likely did not return to British Columbia. An avid writer, William published prolifically on topics including settler history of British Columbia and sport hunting. Future President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt was a friend of William’s as well as a collaborator on a book project. William died in Austria in 1921. Grohman Narrows Provincial Park in the Kootenays is named for him.

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List of Calling Cards

The Point Ellice House collection contains hundreds of calling cards left for the O’Reilly family by visitors. This initial research was conducted by Public History students at the University of Victoria, and these biographies constitute only a portion of the individuals represented by the calling cards within the collection.

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