Osoyoos senior Duncan Tennant, a retired optometrist from Vancouver who has lived in Osoyoos since 1997, proudly shows off the handwritten letter from Canada’s first Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. Macdonald sent the letter back in 1887 to John F. Rolls, who is related to Tennant’s wife Dorothy, who passed away in 2013 in Osoyoos. The letter has been in the Rolls family ever since and Tennant and his wife have had personal possession for more than 30 years. (Keith Lacey photo)
During his 95 years, Duncan Tennant has many memories and keepsakes, but none that he’s more proud of than a handwritten letter from Canada’s first Prime Minister.
Members of Tennant’s extended family have kept the handwritten letter from Sir John A. Macdonald that was written 128 years ago in pristine condition.
Macdonald wrote the personal letter to James F. Rolls on March 29, 1887. Rolls was a physician who had written a letter to the Prime Minister’s office inquiring about legislation regarding insolvency, which had failed to gain approval in Parliament prior to the 1887 federal election.
James F. Rolls was the great granduncle to Tennant’s nephew Bob Rolls Sr. (from his wife’s side of the family). James F. Rolls was an assistant surgeon with the Missouri Regulars in the U.S. Civil War before eventually moving to Canada and settling in Vancouver. He later moved to Hedley and opened a pharmacy in the early 1900s. He died in Hedley in 1904 at age 66.
Bob Rolls Sr. was the man responsible for keeping most of the family’s ancestral information and keepsakes and spent years taking care of the collection, including the letter from Macdonald.
His grandson Bob Rolls, a retired deputy police chief in Vancouver, has continued the family tradition of keeping and maintaining family ancestral records for decades.
The letter from Macdonald reads: “I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th, which has just come to hand and thank you for your kind congratulations on the results of the election. With reference to your suggestions as to the enactment of the Insolvent Act, I may say that the last Parliament was strongly opposed to any such legislation. What that view with the new Parliament may take is the matter, of course, we can’t tell until they meet. It rests with them to say whether this country shall have this law or not.”
The letter is written on folding letterhead from Earnscliffe in Ottawa, which was the Prime Minister’s official residence before 24 Sussex Drive was built. Earnscliffe continues to be used today as the official residence of the British High Commissioner to Canada.
Tennant said the original letter, which he proudly displays in an enclosed glass frame complete with a small photo of Macdonald, has been in his wife’s family since it was sent and he and his late wife had personal possession of the letter for 35 years.
His wife of 54 years passed away in 2013 in Osoyoos.
The fact that a letter from Canada’s first Prime Minister would be kept in such good shape by members of his extended family is very satisfying, said Tennant.
“That letter has been in my wife’s family from the day he wrote it 128 years ago and my wife and I had it in our personal possession for the past 35 years and that’s something I’m pretty proud of,” he said. “I’ve sort of been fascinated by John A. Macdonald ever since and have read many books about him.”
Tennant said he’s “still amazed” that the leader of the country would take the time to write a personal letter to a constituent so many years ago.
“I just don’t think you would see that happen today,” he said. “Politicians were obviously much different then.”
Because his own two children don’t share his passion for history, Tennant said he would ensure the framed letter from Macdonald is handed back to the Rolls family once he’s gone.
A couple of years ago, Tennant inquired to several museums in British Columbia to see what the letter from Macdonald might be valued at and one appraisal given to him was it would be in the neighbourhood of $10,000.
“I wasn’t interested in selling it at all, but just thought it might be worth something and wanted to know what it might be worth,” he said.
Tennant’s fascination with Macdonald continues to this day as he is currently reading about him in Conrad Black’s bestseller called Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada.
“I have to admit I’ve been fascinated about him for a long time, in large part because this letter ended up in my family all those years ago.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
