The first “white settler” of B.C., the founder of Abbotsford. John Maclure was born in Wigtownshire, Scotland in 1831. John arrived in B.C.  in 1868—the British Government wanted young men to travel to B.C. to take part in the development of the area. John was a surveyor with the Royal Engineers Corp, aiding in planning the town sites of Fort Langley and New Westminster. In 1868, he oversaw Matsqui and settled on the Matsqui Prairie on a 640-acre farmland with his wife Martha and his five children. John’s second son Charles—notably being named the first “white born” in New Westminster in 1869, and his first born, Samuel, the first “white born” in Vancouver in 1862—had been responsible for the building of Clayburn Company and organized the Kilgard Fire Clay Company of Sumas. Since Charles had owned all the land which Abbotsford was built upon, the creation of naming Abbotsford came from his friend, Henry Abbot. John Maclure passed in November 1907.

Sources Used For This Page:
The Abbotsford News- The Reach Archives: 2017 article.