The Twin Islands lie close to the south-west coast of Cortes, across from the site of John and Margaret Manson’s farm Sunny Brae. In 1911, the Rev. Harpur Nixon bought the homestead of Dan McDonald, who had lived on Twin Islands since 1889. Harpur Nixon had a home on Denman Island and was a part-time resident, but his son Capt. James Nixon and his wife Margaret lived there full time after their marriage in 1912 until about 1915.
Although the Nixons were an unconventional couple – Margaret was 25 years older than her husband – they were very happy together, as their photographs attest. Harpur and James Nixon were from a background of wealth, and enjoyed a life of hobby farming, hunting, fishing, and socializing. Margaret had been a missionary nurse in India, where her first husband and children had died. While there, she inhaled an insect which burrowed into the bone on the left side of her face. Doctors were never able to effect a cure and it eventually reached her brain. She had to undergo an operation and did not survive.
Twin Islands are now privately owned.
