Abbotsford Fraser Valley Regional District, British Columbia

Community - An unincorporated populated place, generally with a population of 50 or more, and having a recognized central area that might contain a post office, store and/or community hall, etc, intended for the use of the general public in the region. S side of Fraser River, between Vancouver and Chilliwack, New Westminster Land District

Mapped Location

Abbotsford: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Abbotsford

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Abbotsford

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Abbotsford Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Abbotsford

References to Abbotsford that document the origin of its place name

Abbotsford was incorporated as a Village Municipality 22 February 1924. "Abbotsford, not Abbottsford (village)" adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 May 1924. Amalgamated with Sumas District Municipality, and together re-incorporated as Abbotsford District Municipality 17 November 1972.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Labelled on John Charles Maclure's map, deposited 9 July 1891. Abbottsford [sic] Post Office was opened 1 January 1892, Frank Munro postmaster; spelling adjusted to Abbotsford Post Office 1 November 1922. Incorporated as a Village municipality 22 February 1924.

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

After Harry Braithwaite Abbott (1829-1915). Born at Abbotsford, Quebec, the son of the Rev. J and Harriet Abbott. He entered the service of the CPR in 1882, as manager of construction of the Sault Ste. Marie branch; superintendent of CPR construction westward 1884-86; general superintendent CPR Pacific Division 1886-97 (from: BC Yearbook by R.E. Gosnell, 1911, and Who's Who in Western Canada, 1911.)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office  |  Province of British Columbia

Named by J.Charles Maclure (see Clayburn) in 1889, original owner & subdivider of the property here, after the name of Sir Walter Scott's seat at Roxburgshire, Scotland: Abbotsford (July 1922 communication from the sons of J.C. Maclure, to Abbotsford & District Board of Trade, thence to Mr. Fleet Robertson, BC Representative to the Geographic Board of Canada)

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions  |  Province of British Columbia

J.C. Maclure, who chose the original townsite, is sometimes said to have named the town after Abbotsford, the baronial mansion which Sir Walter Scott built with the profits from his novels. In a letter of 1924, however, Maclure declared that when the town was laid out in 1889 he named it after Harry Abbott, General Superintendent of the Pacific Division of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Abbott, in his day a great man in the province, was a brother of Sir John Abbott, Prime Minister of Canada, 1891-92. [the text of Maclure's 4 July 1924 letter (cited above) is contained in "Place Names of the Delta of the Fraser River" by Denys Nelson, 1927 - an unpublished manuscript held in the Provincial Archives.]

B.C. Geographical Names in Province of British Columbia
Akrigg, Helen B. and Akrigg, G.P.V; British Columbia Place Names; Sono Nis Press, Victoria 1986 /or University of British Columbia Press 1997  |  Province of British Columbia

 

Fraser Valley Regional District

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2023-09-30