I would like to respond to the article by Howard Fredeen entitled ‘George Mobley, pioneer builder of Lacombe’ dated May 8.
While the bulk of his article is generally correct, there are some errors that I wish to address.
George Gale Mobley arrived in the Lacombe/Gull lake area in approximately 1896 or 1897 and first settled at Gull Lake. I know this because he married my grandmother, Anne Laidlaw Fernie on Jan. 5, 1898 at Wood Lea - Rev. John Fernie’s home just west of town.
The marriage was performed by Rev. White who replaced Rev. Fernie when he left Lacombe. They lived at his cabin at Gull Lake where my father John Fernie Mobley was born April 14, 1900. Tax records show that George, Anne and my father were living in Lacombe by 1903.
Francis (Frank) Harry did not come to Lacombe with George Gale at that time. He remained in Fairfield, Spokane Co., Washington. George Gale had two hardware stores in Washington. One was in Cheney and one in Fairfield, Spokane Co., which Frank was operating until at least 1895.
Then he moved to Lacombe. His first son Harry Colvin Mobley was born in Fairfield March 8, 1894.
George Gale was only in Cripple Creek for a very short time but his older brother John Chester Mobley was an early pioneer rancher there. George and John, in the mid-1880s, were in the Kiowa and Castle Rock, Ebert and Douglas Co. Colorado where they were doing some land speculating amongst other things. John owned a saloon and billiard parlor in Kiowa.
George Gale and Mary Francis Reed had four sons and three daughters. The youngest son, Charles William Mobley was in Lacombe as of March 31, 1901. About 1906/07 he moved to Salmon Arm and then to Sunnybrae, B.C. preceding his father by at least seven years. Charles was an early pioneer of the Sunnybrae area.
George Gale and Anne Laidlaw Fernie had three children, John Fernie, Victor Laidlaw and Margaret Anne Elizabeth Mobley.
George Gale and family left Lacombe form the CPR station on May 27, 1913 for Salmon Arm, B.C. The reason they left, my father told me, is their home burned down and they lost almost all their personal effects and family documents.
Reportedly, Frank was going to head for the Klondike but ended up in Atlin were there was a gold rush going on. Previously to his partnership with D.G. Stewart, he was successful in the mining business in Atlin and mainly Discovey, B.C.
My family has numerous ties to the Lacombe area through the Fernie, Veach, Jackson, Bourne, McNeil, Craddock and Tweedie families.
While I appreciate writers producing bits of local history regarding my family, I would appreciate a little more research and accuracy be exercised.
Con Mobley
Armstrong, B.C.