Buffalo Joe's grandmother laid to rest at pioneer cemetery
Airline owner reflects on family history, burial ground
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
While the majority of those buried at Back Bay cemetery are men, there are about four women buried there, including Buffalo Joe's grandmother Mary Watt.
Nobody has been buried at Back Bay Cemetery for decades but the site continues to be maintained, today by the True North Rotary Club. Some of the first people to die in Yellowknife are buried at the small cemetery and many of the graves are unmarked. "Buffalo" Joe McBryan's grandmother is one of those buried there. - Erin Steele/NNSL photo |
According to historian Ryan Silke, the plot is a connection between the founder of Buffalo Airways - "Buffalo" Joe McBryan - and his town-founding ancestors.
 | Back Bay stories Part 2 of 3: Yellowknifer looks at the history of the city's oldest cemetery. |
Mary Watt, who came to Yellowknife with her prospector husband Claude Watt, gave birth to Bertha Watt, said Silke.
"(Bertha) married Red McBryan and they had a kid called Joe McBryan," he said.
According to her tombstone, Mary was born in 1900 and died in 1941. The Yellowknifer was unable to determine when Claude died or where he was buried.
McBryan said he never knew his grandmother but he remembers hearing stories about her from his mother who used to run a water taxi around the bay, before the bridge was built connecting Latham Island with Old Town.
"I know when my mother was around I knew all about my grandmother," he said, adding the memories have since faded.
According to McBryan, Claude and Mary followed the gold trail from Goldfields, Sask. up to Great Bear Lake.
"(They went through) all the mines that are up there and down through Gordon Lake and back through Yellowknife," said McBryan.
"There were all kinds of people at that time who were following that gold."
McBryan said he believes his grandmother's name was actually Marie Watt, and that she was originally from Fort McMurray, Alta.
His grandparents rubbed elbows with a number of other prospectors on their journey to the city, especially during time spent around Great Bear Lake, said McBryan.
"I read a book by a prospector and he mentioned them going through," he said. "I also read Memoirs Of An Arctic Arab by Peter Baker and he mentioned knowing them."
McBryan said he visited Back Bay cemetery himself about 20 years ago.
"I took my mother over," he said.
Silke said Mary had another daughter, born in October 1930, named Thelma, who married Jack Tees. McBryan said the couple's sons, John and Gary Tees, took on the responsibility of taking his relatives to visit the cemetery by boat. He said the brothers also used to tend to the graves.
"The Tees kids always took my mother across to the cemetery in a boat," he said, adding that mode of travel was preferred by his mom, who used to operate a water-taxi service around the bay.
"But I had to walk down the hill from those new apartments (now) up there. There's a road that comes right down to the graveyard," he said, adding the place looked well tended. "Somebody made a painting of it and I bought the painting for my mother. It was at that time being taken care of, I think those Tees boys took care of it."
McBryan said he is aware that a number of graves have eroded into the lake but that his grandmother's grave was not one of them.
Gary and John Tees could not be reached for comment before press time.
