The Edges of Time: Cornerstones and Time Capsules of Early Victoria

Eli Harrison Sr.

Eli Harrison, Sr., posing in customary Masonic clothing as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia. Harrison was the Grand Master of the provincial Masonic fraternity at the time the cornerstone was laid for the Masonic temple in Victoria in 1878. Noted as a painter and artist in the 1891 census for Vancouver Island, Eli Harrison first came to British Columbia with his family in 1858 and settled down to raise children of some notoriety. His son, Eli Harrison, Jr., wore a variety of distinguished hats, amongst them provincial law clerk, Crown prosecutor, judge for the supreme court of British Columbia, and officer in the Masonic fraternity.