OTHER BURIALS

The Township of Langley maintains three cemeteries: Fort Langley, Murrayville and Langley Lawn.  There are seven other known burial sites in Langley that are not maintained by the Township.  In many cases the identities of those buried there can not be confirmed.

Hudson’s Bay Company Pioneer Cemetery (at St. George’s Anglican Church)

This cemetery, located on the north-east corner of Church and Mary Streets beside St. George’s Church, was established after the Hudson’s Bay Company Fort was built to the north-east in 1839.  Approximately 30 people were buried here until the Fort Langley Cemetery was created in the 1880s.  The predominantly wood grave markers disappeared quickly.  The Fort closed in 1886 and the surrounding land, including the cemetery, was purchased by Alexander Mavis.  He sold the land to members of an Anglican congregation in 1900, and in 1901 St. George’s Anglican Church was built.  The research of Bob and Sheila Puls resulted in a list of known and presumed burials.

McQuilken Burial

The exact location of this grave has been forgotten, but it was on the John Alexander Cameron property near the southwest corner of 16th Avenue and 232nd Street.  Cameron’s aunt, Mary McQuilken, died around 1900 but seems to have expressed a wish to be buried under her favourite tree, overlooking a creek.  The family honoured her wishes.

Patricia Lutheran Churchyard

Between 1900 and 1921 the Patricia Lutheran Church was located close to the border crossing on 264th Street.  A mother and her two children were buried in the churchyard, and although their names are unknown, they might be members of the early northern European families that settled in the area.

St. Alban’s Anglican Churchyard

These two west-facing graves are located on the east side of 216th Street just north of 61st Avenue in Milner.  St. Alban’s Anglican Church stood at this location from 1890 until 1925 when it was dismantled and moved to the Otter area of Langley.  During this time the churchyard saw just two burials.  One stone marks the 1894 burial of Ellen Culbert, an ancestor of the well known Blair family.  The other grave, unmarked for many years, is assumed to be that of her daughter, Martha Culbert, who probably died soon after the church was built.  St. Andrew’s Anglican Church erected the existing wooden cross in the 1990s to mark Martha’s grave.

Walworth Cemetery

Mrs. Jane Walworth and her extended family settled in South Langley in the 1880s.  In September 1888, the smallpox epidemic resulted in the deaths of Mrs. Charles Walworth, Mrs. Van Luven and James Walworth. Because of a quarantine imposed on the area, the burials had to take place on the property; an area just to the north of Mrs. Walworth’s house on a bluff on the north side of 16th Avenue was chosen.  Other family members were later buried here, including Jane Walworth, Albert Walworth in 1897, and Mr. and Mrs. Jason Samuel Lewis in the 1920s.

8th Avenue Burials

Two burials are believed to have taken place in the 1890s on the north side of 8th Avenue west of 256th Street.  One is believed to be a young girl from the Broe family, and the other a young First Nations girl.

200th Street Burial

This burial place is located on the west side of 200th Street, south of 21st Avenue, and about 75 feet from the road.  A cherry tree that marked the spot is gone, so it is impossible to know exactly where it was – or who it was. The property was owned by the Wix family in 1908, but earlier owners are not known.  There is a possibility that it was a member of the Lewis family that died during the same epidemic that killed members of their extended family, the Walworths.