William Edgar Oliver was born in 1867 in Scotland. He emigrated to Vancouver Island in 1895, settled in Victoria and began practicing law. In 1896 he married Mary Eleanor Ward, daughter of William Ward, a prominent businessman and manager of the original Bank of British Columbia. Mr. Oliver travelled Vanvouver Island and was particularly drawn to Cowichan Lake. He would bring his wife and his daughter, Catherine, born in 1897, for holidays in the warmer months. He was an ardent fisherman and this area suited him perfectly. In the early 1900s land was cheap and Mr. Oliver purchased the entire Saseenos Point area, from the Canadian National Railway track west to the lake shore. It was surveyed in 1909 and entered as Lake Cowichan District Lot 32. He did not build on this land. In 1909, along with his wife's uncle, Robert Ward, and Joseph Sayward, a lumberman, he formed a syndicate to buy the Lakeside Hotel which was situated in the vicinity of Marble Bay on Cowichan Lake. The hotel's name was changed to the Cowichan Lake Hotel in 1910. It was run as a lodge for fishing enthusiasts who came from Victoria and mainland British Columbia. They owned the hotel until 1916, when it went into decline partly due to World War I. In 1910 the Oliver's, who had purchased a small amount of land on the Cowichan River, had a log cottage built, which still stands today. At about the same time, Mr. Oliver had a houseboat built for him by Dan Savoie, a French Canadian woodsman and artisan. In 1919 Mr. Oliver bought more land in the Marble Bay area, which came to be called Abernathy Farm. While the land was being cleared for pasture in 1920 William Oliver collapsed and died at the age of 53. His wife, Mary lived to be 90 and their daughter Catherine died in 1974. A granddaughter, Catriona Graeme, lives in Victoria.