Byrne family moccasins
These moccasins belonged to one of the five daughters of Peter Byrne and Priscilla Amelia Rowling Byrne. The family owned property on what is now Byrne Road near River Road. Peter was a former Reeve of Burnaby from 1906-1910 and the region’s Indian Agent from 1911 until his death in 1921.
These moccasins would have been only worn indoors. As non-Indigenous women, the Byrne daughters did not wear moccasins because of a cultural connection but for comfort and practical purposes in colder months.
Priscilla Amelia Rowling Byrne was born February 24, 1866 in New Westminster to Corporal William Henry and Mary Rowling. Her father owned (among other businesses) “The Retreat”, the first saloon in Sapperton, New Westminster. The family eventually relocated to South Vancouver and became one of the families to build a manor home along Marine Drive. She married Irishman Peter Byrne in 1892. The Byrnes’ relocated to take up Peter’s brother’s farm on what is now Byrne Road. This became the Byrne family farm on which they raised six children: Margaret, Mary, Norah, Ultan, Kathleen, and Elizabeth.
Full artifact record: BV994.14.93