Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

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Timberlake, Leonard Ernest[1]

Male 1896 - 1973  (77 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Timberlake, Leonard Ernest 
    • VARIANT NAMES: Timberlake, L.E.; Timberlake, Lee.
    Birth 3 May 1896  Basingstoke, Hampshire, Eng., UK Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    • The 1901 England and Wales census gives his age as five (birth year ca. 1896), parents are Frank and Emma Timberlake, along with a number of siblings, including his younger sister Gladys E. Timberlake with whom he immigrated to Canada in 1910. [2]
    • On his Canadian Expeditionary Force attestation document from Jan 1915 he gave his birth date as 3 May 1892 and birthplace as Basingstoke. His next of kin was his father Frank Timberlake with an address of the Armstrong Block, Edmonton, AB. This is an error as in the file itself there is a card which clearly states his next of kin as Frank Timberlake with an address of Armstrong, B.C. Can. The Armstrong Block, Edmonton, address for his next kin, however, is repeated elsewhere in the file, repeated again and corrected to Armstrong, B.C. L.E. gave his occupation as a clerk. His 1917 discharge pay was sent c/o the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company, Prince Albert, SK. His war service gratuity payment was sent in 1919 to a street address in Prince Albert, SK. On one of his discharge forms it says he intended on living in Armstrong, BC. [3]
    Gender Male 
    Business Address/Year 1913  Armstrong, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 15 Jul 1973  Riverside, CA, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Burial San Jacinto Valley Cemetery, San Jacinto, Riverside County, CA, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Person ID I1445  Camera Workers | T, vol. 2, 1901-1950
    Last Modified 5 Sep 2019 

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial.
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: While he indicated in the 1916 Prairie provinces census that he had immigrated in 1906 and gave his age as 26 (his birth year would have been 1890), according to a Canada passenger list, he, his father, mother and sister immigrated in 1910 from England. His father Frank said he had been a watch maker but was going to take up fruit farming along with his son. Their destination via the Canadian Pacific Railway was Vernon, BC.

      He worked as a photographer for at least one year in 1913 in Armstrong where his father Frank (first wife "Emmie" but her name was Emma) worked as a jeweller under the name Timberlake Son and Company.

      In the 1916 Prairie provinces census he gave his occupation as a railroad baggage master. He was single and living as a roomer.

      Following his Jan 1915 enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force he was found to be "medically unfit" due to a drug habit (morphine and cocaine) which he claimed he had had for about three years or since 1912. He also was suffering from a sextually transmitted disease. He was shipped back to Canada in Jan 1916.

      He appears to have moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1920 according to an Eastport, ID, arrival manifest. He was described as 6 feet tall (his CEF personnel file gives his height as 5 feet, 9.5 inches), fair complexion, blue eyes and dark hair, all of which match the description in his CEF file except for the right arm scar noted in the Idaho arrival manifest record.

      He became a naturalized United States in Los Angeles, CA, in 1940.

      A Wikipedia entry for L.E. Timberlake provides additional biographical information about his years in Los Angeles where he was a city councillor from 1945 to 1969. [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

  • Sources 
    1. [S973] W.A. Jeffries, JEFVERNON13, (Vernon, BC: W.A. Jeffries, 1913), 94.
      Armstrong: "Timberlake Leonard photogr"

    2. [S667] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch.org (Web site).
      "England and Wales Census, 1901"; URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSXL-7K9

    3. [S730] Personnel Records of the First World War (Web site), (Library and Archives Canada).
      Timberlake, Leonard E
      URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=269435

    4. [S832] Find a Grave (Web site).
      Leonard E Timberlake
      URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105556295/leonard-e-timberlake

    5. [S667] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch.org (Web site).
      "Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922"; URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HGR-5N8

    6. [S980] Census of Prairie Provinces 1916.
      Province of Alberta, District no. 37, Sub-district no. 2, Enumeration district no. 4 in City of Edmonton, p. 10, line 35

    7. [S667] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch.org (Web site).
      "Idaho, Eastport, Arrival Manifests, 1924-1956"; URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KF64-429

    8. [S667] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, FamilySearch.org (Web site).
      "California, Southern District Court (Central) Naturalization Index, 1915-1976"; URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KX3Y-25Y

    9. [S857] Wikipedia (Web site).
      L. E. Timberlake
      URL (accessed 4 Sep 2019): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._E._Timberlake