Munsie, William
William Munsie is a representative business man of Victoria, and during the last twenty-five years his connection with a number of important enterprises has made his work effective of great results in the substantial development and business growth of Victoria. He has resided in the province of British Columbia since 1878, and his business energy and ability as an organizer and director have ever since been evidence as an aid to the welfare of the country.
Mr. Munsie is a native of Nova Scotia, was born at Pictou, January 4, 1849, and is representative of an old Canadian family of Scotch antecedents. His grandfather, William Munsie, was born in Scotland, and when a young man emigrated to Pictou, Nova Scotia. John Munsie, the father of Mr. Munsie, was born, reared and educated in Nova Scotia. He married Miss Alice Harris, whose father was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where her family were early settlers, and that city was named after the family. Her grandfather at the time of the American Revolution remained loyal to the king, and hence it became necessary for him to move to Nova Scotia, where the Loyalists from the colonies were granted lands by the Crown. The office of sheriff in Pictou county, Nova Scotia, has been held by members of the Harris family since the early settlement of the province.
Mr. Munsie received his early education in his native county, and in his early years learned the pattern-maker's trade there. He came west to San Francisco in 1874 and for the following four years worked at his trade there. In 1878 he entered into an engagement with Mr. Joseph Spratt by which he went to Victoria and assisted in the opening of a stove manufactory in that city, and for six years he was actively associated with Mr. Spratt in the manufacture of stoves. In 1884 he entered into a partnership with Mr. Fred Carne, and until 1893 they were engaged in the grocery and produce business.
In the meantime he and his partner had become interested in the sealing business, and it is to the credit of Mr. Munsie that he brought out from Nova Scotia the "Pathfinder" which was the first schooner to come around Cape Horn to engage in the sealing industry from British Columbia. They later became the owners of several schooners and carried on the enterprise in an extensive manner. Two of their schooners were seized by the Americans during the Behring sea troubles, and this was one of the acts which led to serious complications between the governments of England and the United States, and which were finally settled by arbitration by the Paris tribunal, at which time Mr. Munsie and his partner were awarded damages for the seizure of their ships. They at one time had six schooners employed in the seal fisheries. The sealing industries at Victoria are now consolidated and carried on as the Victoria Sealing Company, of which Mr. Munsie is a stockholder and director.
In 1891 he became a member of the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company, whose sawmill is situated at Shawnigan lake and their lumber yards in Victoria. He is a stockholder and the secretary of this company. He was one of the organizers of the Ladysmith Lumber Company, which has a mill at Ladysmith, and he is president of this company. Mr. Munsie in connection with Mr. C. F. Todd built the first salmon traps at or near Victoria and this is an enterprise which bids fair to become one of great importance to this city.
Mr. Munsie was married in 1870 to Miss Catherine Dunn, a native of Wallace, Nova Scotia. He is an active member of the board of trade of his city, and in countless ways identifies his efforts with the best welfare and progress of the city.
R. E. Gosnell, A History of British Columbia, (Vancouver, B. C.: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906). pp. 363-364.