From right to left
Back row: Teacher Thomas Mercer, Thomas Hodgson, Geoffrey Hodgson, Bessie Henderson, Jenny [Jane] Boyd, Kate [Katherine] McCarthy, Ella [Lilly] Owen, Gladys Fancher, and William Owen
Front row: George Owen, Constance Hodgson, Constance [Eleanora Constance] or Mona [Monica] McCarthy, Pearl Boyd, Ruth Rolley, and Maisie [Minnie] Owen 

This very early photograph survives thanks to Ruth Ferguson née Rolley. She also identified the names of the teacher and the children as shown above. 

Teacher Thomas C. Mercer was hired by the Trustees of the Whonnock school in the spring of 1898 and he tendered his resignation in August 1901. 

In April of that year the enumerator for the Canada Census 1901 who collected the information about the residents of Whonnock did not record the Fanchers, who had sold their property opposite the Whonnock cemetery to the Rolley’s, the McCarthty's or the Boyds. That suggests that the photo was taken in the summer of 1899 or 1900 before these families left Whonnock. 

The two McCarthy girls were the daughters of Michael McCarthy, “steam engineer” at the CPR, and Sarah Oliver, the oldest daughter of Noble Oliver and his wife Catherine. Noble Oliver was Whonnock’s first storekeeper and postmaster. 

Noble and Catherine Oliver

Did some work on the descendants of the first postmaster and storekeeper at Whonnock and his wife. Additions and corrections are welcome. Click on image to enlarge.
One of the problems with the McCarthy family is that I can’t find them in the Canada Census in particular I’d like to learn more about Kate McCarthy.