Eva

Did I tell you about Eva? She is a mysterious figure in the history of our Little Blue House. I wrote a little bit about her in an early post.

Did I tell you that the LBH was once a brothel? It became a brothel after it was moved to its present location (it was moved sometime between 1917 and 1920, probably). Eva Daniell was the madam. Here is the LBH, as it looked when we bought the house in July of this year, all overgrown. We removed the shutters, cleaned the house, and took this photo. The house, as seen from this angle, looks  much the same as it did when Eva was running the show.

I have done some preliminary research on Eva, although I feel that there is still much I have to learn about her and the house's colourful past. During these winter months, we don't plan to do much work on the house, so I may write about Eva as I learn more...

See the bay window in the picture below? Eva's shady ladies would sit in that 5-sided bay window, sewing, and gentlemen would pass by in the street to have a look. As I've said before, if they liked what they saw, then perhaps they would have "some tailoring done."

LBH

Eva was a Gold Rush madam before she moved into this house and opened it as a brothel. She apparently ran several brothels in the nearby town of Discovery, during the height of the Gold Rush, which started in 1898. Eva Lee Lambert was an American, born on 24 April, 1874. I still have not discovered where exactly she was from.

At some point, she met and fell in love with a British miner named Samuel James Daniell. They were married, although I don't know when. Was she running the brothel when she married? Mr. Daniell was born in Cornwall, England on 21 January, 1873.

Sadly, Eva's love passed away in their home town on 17 September, 1944. Eva, according to a person who was acquainted with her in the 1950s, never really stopped mourning the loss of her husband. (He was a child at the time, and commented that she always wore black and that some of the local kids thought of her as a witch.) I guess every small town needs a Boo Radley.

Eva erected a large headstone in the cemetery for Samuel, and he was buried there. She wished to be laid to rest next to him, according to local historians. However, she died elsewhere and she was never buried next to her true love.

Eva and Samuel Daniell's Grave

There are several mysteries which I should like to solve. One of them is that the headstone says, "Ena L." and not Eva. Another, and perhaps the most significant, is why was Eva not buried here?

I searched through government records and found out that she died on 11 May, 1956 (age 81) and the location says Victoria, BC. Where is she buried? It's sad to see the headstone, marked "1874-    ."

We are so intrigued by the little house, and the many stories that seem to be waiting to be told. Do you think she will let us in on her secrets?