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Book Recommendation - we are not an affiliate nor is this a paid advertisement, it's just a #localhistory #booksuggestion because #storiesmatter

Harbour Publishing is one of our favourite local book publishers, and we highly recommend Go Do Some Great Thing by Crawford Kilian for #BlackHistoryMonth. It's an incredibly informative and well-written book that has been updated as new information came available.

Go Do Some Great Thing : The Black Pioneers of British Columbia

"Living in pre-Civil War Philadelphia, young Black activist Mifflin Gibbs was feeling disheartened from fighting the overwhelming tide of White America’s legalized racism when abolitionist Julia Griffith encouraged him to “go do some great thing.” These words helped inspire him to become a successful merchant in San Francisco, and then to seek a more just society in the new colony of Vancouver Island, where he was to become a prominent citizen and elected official.

Gibbs joined a …

School Promotion Lists from all of our community districts, years are varied but still so many familiar names. If only we could see the grades and teacher comments! 😉

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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I found some late 1950s and one 1961 County Line Promotion List for the County Line Crew. I believe that the Advance stopped publishing promotion lists, but I will continue the search for more from both County Line and other Aldergrove schools.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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Who went to County Line School - let's look at the class promotions for 1932, 1942 and 1952. Many resident families over many years were sending their youngsters off to the local school for their education.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #schooldays

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I know that many of you like to look at the directories that have been posted, so here's a look way, way back before telephone directories were a thing out here.

These pages are from Williams' 1883 British Columbia Directory for all of Langley Municipality. The information for this directory would have been compiled in 1882, and the majority of settlers are located in or near Fort Langley - or perhaps due to the lack of roads, not all of the settlers were accounted for in this volume. It is interesting to note, however, that Philip Jackman Sr is not listed as being in the township. He, along with his sons Richard and Philip Jr are all listed as living in New Westminster City on Agnes Street.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Found another rabbit hole this morning, this time to do with logging and lumbering. I've been traversing it since just before 6am and will be returning to it for "just a bit longer" to see what else I can get immersed in as I hunt down tidbits relating to Aldergrove's settler and commercial history. 😉

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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COGHLAN SETTLERS – Part 2 - From The Place Between Volume 1 pages 507-508

Among a few of the earliest pioneers in the district, was G.I. Blair who came to the area in 1886 and homesteaded 160 acres. John McDonald who came after the Vancouver fire in 1887, located at the southeast corner of Coghlan & Roberts Roads. He was the Reeve of the Municipality for several years.

The City of Vancouver owned property across the road from McDonald. The land was cleared by steam donkey & the trees & roots were left in six huge piles. An offer of $600 was made by the City to anyone who could burn any of these piles. Many people tried without success until finally some Italians came, tore the pile a part in small pieces and succeeded in burning them.

Two other earlier settlers were the Coghlan brothers who came from Alwood …

COGHLAN COMMUNITY part one – The Place Between Volume 1

Coghlan, named for settlers Nathaniel & Henry Coghlan, began to emerge as a community in the early 1880s. The majority of early settlers fished the Fraser River in the summer & held jobs in New Westminster during winter. They survived on barrels of salted salmon & pork, home cured hams & bacon, wild fowl & deer, and root cellars stocked with fruits & vegetables.

Early settlers walked to Fort Langley for mail & food supplies, taking butter & produce to exchange. Travel to New Westminster was by river boat from Fort Langley.

The roads were often just trails, curving around large stumps & water holes. Settlers worked their taxes out on road work & if a new section was to be opened a contract went to the lowest bidder. Taxes were $3.75 per 160 acres in the 1890s.

After the …

Here is another of the hand-drawn-from-memory Aldergrove maps, but it's not known who drew it. Most likely drawn when research for The Place Between books began, it appears to span the 1950s-1970s, and as noted in the image, some locations aren't quite in the correct spot - the United Church and Moen's Woodworking, for example, are a bit too far north on the map. Also, the Swensson & Eve Hatchery location is a bit suspect, as it sat where the Post Office is now. Documentation to say that it moved to the side street hasn't been located, but that doesn't mean it didn't. Either way, this map does contain valuable information and is useful to our research, so we are grateful to whomever took the time to put it on paper.

#mapsarecool #storiesmatter #localhistory

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Two aerial photos that were scanned last spring (we don't always look closely at what we're scanning until later, as we have so many items to get digitized). We are not 100% sure of the source, but they may possibly be held in a collection at UBC.

For the longest time, I wasn't sure these photos were of the Aldergrove area, until I realized that I was looking at them upside down. Then they made perfect sense. I wish the photos were of higher definition, but considering the time period, they are still a great resource and truthfully, we're lucky to have them.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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The calendar says that today is #HandwritingDay, so here are some great examples from our collections of handwriting. Featured are two pages from the records of the Order of the Royal Purple Lodge 38 Aldergrove, and from our Aldergrove Agricultural Association collection is the formation of the Building Committee in 1923.

The final image is of a note page found in our files, and we have absolutely no idea what it means or from whence it came. These items also show why being able to read cursive is a necessity when dealing with handwritten records, especially when it comes to indexing and transcribing archival materials.

#storiesmatter #localhistory #canyoureadcursive

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Bradner – 1911 From The Place Between Volume 1

Grocer George Foster Pratt (1876-1967) was born in England & married Anna Maria McLean. They had 2 sons, George Foster Jr (1899-1994) & William Percival (1905-1935).

In 1911, George came to Canada & opened Bradner's 1st store & post office where the BCER crossed Bradner Rd, with Mr. J. Pennington as a partner. George later bought out his share. Maria & the boys joined George in 1912; sadly she passed away in 1913 & was buried at Aberdeen Cemetery. George Sr later married Alice Gillard (1874-1960).

In 1911 with few families in the area, the log school doubled as a church until 1913, when St. Margaret’s Anglican Church was built. George Sr led services until an Anglican priest was available.

Bradner Mill was about 1 mile east along the BCER tracks. Many of the mill workers were East Indian folks & …

Sticking with the Bradner area, here is another hand-drawn map from The Place Between Volume 1, looking at North Bradner in the 1930s.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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Another Bradner area map, this time from The Place Between Volume 1. Unfortunately we don't know who drew the map, and it still doesn't give any information for Bradner Road South.

You'll see that some of the names have a different font. That was to make them more legible and/or to correct spelling. The Krasniski family name was spelled horribly wrong.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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These two maps are from the south-eastern edge of the area covered in The Place Between Volume 2. Both maps were drawn from memory, and as you can see in Map 1, Bradner, there are some houses that don't have names of the residents. If you might know who lived in one of those houses, please let us know so it can be researched and added to the map. =)

#staywarm #localhistory #storiesmatter

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Today's charts and maps are for 264 Street south from Fraser Highway to Boundary Road, 272 Street south from Fraser Highway to Warner Road (8 Avenue) and inside Aldergrove Regional Park. The names on these maps are far from complete, but they are, as with the others, a good starting point for further research.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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Today we'll have a look at South Otter - Boundary Road up to Fraser Highway. Unfortunately they're charts and not nicely drawn maps like Mr. Hoock's, but they're still very useful. Note that many of the east-west roads that currently connect with other north-south streets did not go through during this time period.

#localhistory #storiesmatter

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Otter Road North people - today is your day. These maps are from page 92 in The Place Between Volume 2, and were drawn from the memories of Art Hoock, whose parents moved to North Otter in 1938. Mr. Hoock was extremely helpful during the compilation of Book 2; sadly, he passed away in 2021.

Image 1 is North Otter from 54th Avenue to 72nd Avenue. Image 2 is North Otter from Fraser Highway to 54th Avenue, and Image 3 is the map key as there wasn't room to put all of the names in beside the numbers. Several of the properties show progressive owners over time.

#storiesmatter #localhistory

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Some have requested information for South Coghlan. These maps/charts are from The Place Between Volume 2, page 80. We know they are not complete and lots of names are missing.

We appreciate the conversations that happen here, and we're grateful for the story bits and bobs that are shared with us by current and former area residents that can be added to Aldergrove's story.

Additionally, please keep in mind that when these maps were done in the 1980s and 1990s in preparation for Book 2, research options were not anywhere close to being comparable to what we have now, with so much material available online. These maps were done to the best of the ability of the (volunteer) book committee at the time, and were most likely based on memories, family stories and information that could have been gleaned from hard copies of materials available for access with physical trips …

We're switching neighbourhoods with today's map. This is downtown Aldergrove, and was drawn from memory by Dick Smallenberg for The Place Between Volume 2, which was published by AGHS in 2001. If you have the book, the map is on page 40.

NOTE: Something important to remember is that all of these hand drawn maps were done from a contributor's memory of areas over specific periods of time. Memory isn't always perfect, but if these maps help spur your own memories of people and places, then we consider that a win.

#mapsareawesome #localhistory #storiesmatter #puzzlepieces

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These two maps for north Coghlan and County Line were published in The Place Between Volume 2. Judging from the number of missing names on these maps, I am thinking that the map in yesterday's post was received after the books were published.

#mapsareawesome #puzzlepieces #localhistory #storiesmatter

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As promised, here is another incredible resource we knew we had, but hadn't fully familiarized ourselves with the gold mine of information it holds. Unfortunately the drawing is uncredited and undated, but perhaps we'll find more about the map's source in the written records that we've been sorting through. **Note** This is a large image, so you may want to open it in a new tab or download it to appreciate the value it holds for our research.

#mapsareawesome #localhistory #storiesmatter #puzzlepieces

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