Hans Lars Helgesen [SEP] position held
Hans Lars Helgesen
Hans Lars Helgesen (21 August 1831 – 1 September 1918) was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 1878 to 1886. He was a local pioneer, farmer, seafarer, prospector and Member of Parliament for Esquimalt and Cariboo.
Born in Asker, Norway in 1831, Helgesen is reckoned to be the first notable Norwegian immigrant to settle permanently in British Columbia, arriving from California to take part in the gold rush. During the 1860s he was elected to the colonial assembly
in negotiating the Babine barricade agreement of 1906. He was promoted to Fisheries Overseer for the Lower Skeena area in September 1908 and retired in his eightieth year on December 31, 1910. He died in Metchosin, British Columbia in 1918 at the age of 87.
Legacy.
Helgesen Point on Pedder Bay near Metchosin, British Columbia is named for Hans Lars Helgesen as is Hans Helgesen Elementary School, located on Rocky Point Road in Metchosin.
Hans Lars Helgesen was the great-grandfather of the late George William Morrison