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1. P1351 - John Cunningham Maclure, Royal Engineer. During the Gold Rush of 1858, 30,000 people travelled through the Fraser Valley heading up the Fraser River to the gold fields. At the request of Governor Douglas for assistance in controlling the invasion of American miners, England sent engineers and surveyors rather than soldiers. Their instructions were to survey the land, construct roads and bridges and help to keep the peace. John Cunningham Maclure volunteered and sailed with the Royal Engineers to Canada in 1858, crossing the Isthmus of Panama. He surveyed Queensborough and Sapperton (New Westminster) and was present at Fort Langley on Nov. 19, 1858 when British Columbia was officially proclaimed a colony. He first saw Matsqui while working on a survey team that was installing a telegraph cable through BC to Alaska and across to Siberia for the Collins Telegraph Co. After being joined in BC by his wife, Martha, and infant daughter, Sara, the Maclures resided for several years in New Westminster. In 1868 they boarded the steamer "Reliance" with their four children and landed at Mission. The family was assisted by two members of the Matsqui First Nations who paddled the family and their belongings across the Fraser up the Matsqui Slough to the site that was to become their home. At the bottom of a hill overlooking Matsqui Prairie, it was known as "Hazelbrae" due to the many hazel trees. They were the first settlers in the area living on an 160 acre military pre-emption which included the site of the village of Abbotsford which Maclure named for family friend, Henry Abbott, Western Superintendent of the CPR. In recognition of the honour, Abbott had the CPR line pass through Abbotsford and had a station constructed here, providing the impetus for settlement of Abbotsford but also the larger districts of Sumas and Matsqui.

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