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Page last updated June 28, 2010
The house from above the bell-pepper field, looking down toward the orchard, more or less in a southerly direction, back toward Spences Bridge, late on a September afternoon.
There is a map showing this area on the Pokhaist page.
Hilltop Gardens is the biggest of the surviving fruit stands along the Thompson River, across from Toketic several kilometres north of Spences Bridge on the Trans Canada highway. The quality of the produce sold there is indicative of the heat of the summer sun in the Thompson canyon and the plentiful water from the river. Most of the other fruit stands, including the one that used to be attached to the orchard south of Spences Bridge, have closed, in part due to the decline of tourist traffic through the area since the opening of the Coquihalla Highway in 1986.
The Morens house is a bit run down and has a covering of stucco but nevertheless shows its 19th century lineage--a wraparound porch with carved brackets and a very interesting sunburst in the main gable. It is very historic, situated on an 1873 preemption by Pierre Morens; he also obtained the lot on the bench below the highway (at that time the Cariboo Road) in 1880, at which time John Jane, the surveyor, noted this large house on this site. (Source: Cariboo Road Heritage Conservation and Tourism Development Study, Alan Ferguson Regional Consulting Ltd., v. 2, 1989). There is no question it is one of the oldest buildings in this part of the Interior. The Morenses were related to the Guichons [WSp71], whose cattle empire included the land around the Quilchena Hotel and the small ranchhouse on the old Aspen Grove road. (Tidbits on the Guichon ranch and family members; interview with Gerard Guichon by Imbert Orchard, 1964. There are genealogy websearches going on seeking descendants of the Guichon, Morens and Rey or Reyd families by Danielle Rivas, etc.) Pierre Morens married Françoise Rey in Victoria in 1878 – apparently both were from the Savoie.
James Teit, the pioneer anthropologist, married Leonie Morens in 1904. His first marriage, to the Nlaka'pamux woman Antko of the Cook's Ferry Indian Band, ended upon her death in the late 1890s. There is more information on Teit in my book Vanishing British Columbia and elsewhere – see the references below. There are a number of Teits buried in the tiny cemetery on the hill above this house, but apparently James Teit himself never lived here. There is a National Historic Site monument to Teit at the campground at the confluence of the Nicola and Thompson rivers on the edge of Spences Bridge.
I have more watercolours and words about this area in the travel section of this website.
James Teit and his second wife Leonie Josephine Morens, at the time of their marriage in 1904. (Photo courtesy of Wendy Wickwire via Sigurd Teit)
Note from Bev Howard, 2010: James Teit lived in a log house with his first wife Antko (Cook’s Ferry Indian Band); this home still stands in the mountains overlooking Spences Bridge. After she died he built a home in Spences Bridge, I am the owner of the home and I have the original land survey drawn by Teit himself, photos of his wife Leonie and his children on the front porch and other info. My neighbour owns the lot that his writing studio is on and this home has been kept original as well. His grandson will be able to confirm this info and the Museum in Merritt has an enormous amount of info and an entire wing in the Museum has been dedicated to the TEIT display.
The photo of his first home with Antko is on the front cover of The Thompson Indians of British Columbia Edited by Franz Boas, The Jesup North Pacific Edition. [and in Vanishing British Columbia – MK]. Photos of his second home also appear in other publications of Teit.
James Teit is buried in Merritt.
He lived in the log home in the mountains overlooking Sp.Br, the Spences Bridge home on Steelhead Place and a home in Merritt. These were his residences when he wasn’t traveling during his life in Canada.
A historic photo of James Teit's house on Steelhead Place in Spences Bridge, courtesy Bev Howard
A contemporary photo of the back (?) of the house from a recent MLS listing.
From Bev Howard, 2010: Here is a pic of the back yard, chicken coup and gardens and below it a shot of the interior hall. Note the detailed moldings, high ceilings and original fir floors.
Thanks to Steve Rice of Hilltop Gardens for the access to the Morens property. "HW" references are from "James Teit--Pioneer Anthropologist," by Don Bunyan, originally published in "Midden," republished in Heritage West, Fall 1981, pages 21-2. "WS" references are from Widow Smith of Spences Bridge, by Jessie Ann Smith, Sonotek Publishing, Merritt, 1989.
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