Manoah Steves (originally Steeves) (1828-1897) was the founder of

Steveston, British Columbia Steveston, founded in the 1880s, is a neighbourhood of Richmond in Metro Vancouver. On the southwest tip of Lulu Island, the village is a historic port and salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River. The early 1900s st ...

, which is named in his honour. The village has since been amalgamated into the city of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

Family

Steves was a descendant of Heinrich Stief and Regina Stahlecker, founders of the Steeves family in North America. As a Stief descendant, Steves is a second cousin of

William Steeves William Henry Steeves (May 20, 1814 – December 9, 1873) was a merchant, lumberman, politician and Father of Canadian Confederation. Life and career Born and raised in Hillsborough, New Brunswick, William Henry Steeves was a descendant of Heinr ...

, a Father of Canadian Confederation. He is also the great-grandfather of Richmond politician Harold Steves, who as of 2021 owns the farm founded by Manoah.

Life

Born in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...

, in 1868 Steves moved to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

with his wife Martha, followed by a brief sojourn in the American state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

. In 1877, they moved to

Lulu Island Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies most ...

and purchased 400 acres in the southwest part of the island. Sometime after moving west, Steves replaced the double-e in his surname with a single "e". Upon settling on Lulu Island, Steves established a dairy farm and imported the first purebred

Holstein cattle Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-H ...

into British Columbia, Steves was one of the petitioners asking the province to incorporate the city of Richmond. After incorporation, Steves served on the first town council, in 1879.

Legacy

In addition to the village of Steveston, Steves Elementary School and Steveston Post Office are named after Manoah Steves.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steves, Manoah 1828 births 1897 deaths People from New Brunswick Settlers of British Columbia 19th-century Canadian politicians Richmond, British Columbia city councillors Canadian people of German descent