Charles Edward MacBean papers

Charles Edward MacBean, one of nine children, was born in Scotland in 1899 to Charles Hammerquist and Maggie MacBean. His family emigrated to Vashon Island, Washington, in 1912.

MacBean, who changed his last name after a disagreement with his father, was educated on Vashon Island at Columbia Elementary School and Vashon High School. After graduation, he joined the Canadian military during World War One and served overseas.

When he returned, MacBean attended Reed College, graduating in 1932 with a major in Greek Literature. At the peak of the depression, he was unable to find work as a teacher. Instead, he worked as a saw filer and remained in construction and logging all his life.

In 1958, he began an English dactyllic hexameter translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, a work that earned him considerable respect at Reed. MacBean made the following comment on previous Homeric translations: “The pedants had stolen Homer from the people for whom it had been written.” He also translated German poetry and researched Scottish lore. For a time he worked as a reader for Vashon schools, reading English compositions for grading.

MacBean wrote several plays, one of which was staged in the 1960’s at the old Vashon Island Club, now Ober Park, entitled “I Love a Plumber.” For most of his life, he lived on the island in Cedarhurst Canyon in a cabin he built. But in 1976, over a disagreement with his country’s politics, he decided to move to Canada to live with his son, Arthur Frederick MacBean, rather than remain to celebrate the bicentennial.

Charles Edward MacBean died on June 28, 1984, in Vancouver, British Columbia.