Who lived here 130 years ago? Here are the listings for Aldergrove, Shortreed, Otter, Langley Municipality, Langley Prairie and Mount Lehman from Wrigley's 1894 BC Directory. We have stories and family information on many of the Aldergrove area settlers, and others we're working on, as we wind our way back through history to before the settlers arrived.
Many of the settlers listed as living in Aldergrove actually lived in Matsqui, but for whatever reason, while there is a description of Matsqui in the directory, it doesn't list any people living there and instead refers to Mission City. Note that in its standalone entry, Aldergrove is one word but in the entry for Langley Municipality, it's two - Alder Grove. With the overlap of the many communities, some residents are listed twice. For example, DW Poppy is listed in both Otter and Langley Prairie.
You will also see that the majority of residents were farmers, and most if not all, provided agricultural goods - meat, dairy and produce - to the local markets for the "city dwellers" or to feed the employees of the many mills and canneries that were in operation around the Lower Mainland.
