In researching my family history, I came across Stephen Osborne’s “Stories of a Lynching” (Geist 60) about the lynching of Louis Sam, a young Sto:lo man, near Sumas Lake, B.C., in 1884. The story mentions Thomas York (Whatcom County, Washington), my great-great- grandfather, and Thomas Fraser York, my great-grandfather, but nobody in my family has ever told me about the Louis Sam incident. I remember going to visit my grandmother, Mabel Sarah (York) Frith, who was Thomas Fraser York’s daughter, but only vaguely because I was very young, and I lost all my photos several years ago upon moving.
—Dianne Dirksen, Summerland BC
Stephen Osborne replies:
I found no reference to Thomas York or Thomas Fraser York living in Whatcom County. Perhaps there is still more to the story of Louis Sam. My sources are listed here.
