Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

• That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
• We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
• On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Abbotsford (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Abbotsford. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Abbotsford ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Another variation: Abbottsford.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

A Few Details for Abbotsford ...

While it's still very early in our research, we found that:

• The naming (or the toponymy) of Abbotsford: Named after Harry Braithwaite Abbott (1829-1915), the General Superintendent of CPR's Pacific Division.
• The community of Abbotsford was established in 1892.
• It was incorporated on February 22, 1924.

Newspapers Published in Abbotsford ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 58 newspapers that have been published in the area around Abbotsford.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Abbotsford, there are papers which were published within 22 miles [35.4 km]<1>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Abbotsford.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These websites either offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Abbotsford:

• Websites specific to British Columbia
  • Jump to Cyndi's List
  • Jump to Family Search

• Cemetery Information and Directories for British Columbia
  • Cemetery Junction: Cemeteries of British Columbia
  • Cyndi's List
  • Cemeteries of British Columbia
  • FamilySearch.org: Cemeteries of British Columbia
  • Find-A-Grave: Home Page
  • Interment.net
  • Cemeteries of British Columbia

Cemeteries Near Abbotsford ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Abbotsford.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Abbotsford covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Abbotsford, with the one closest to Abbotsford listed first.

• MacLure Road Mennonite Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • The MacLure Road Mennonite Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Hazelwood / McClure Road Mennonite Cemetery
  • McClure Road Mennonite Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the MacLure Road Mennonite Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2215356 <2>
• Hazelwood Cemetery
  (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • The Hazelwood Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Matsqui Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hazelwood Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2215972 <2>
• South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery is located in the vicinity of South Poplar
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
• Musselwhite Cemetery
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • To give a relative sense of its location, the Musselwhite Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the east of Abbotsford.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Musselwhite Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1995927 <2>
• Mt. Lehman Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Lehman Cemetery
• Aberdeen Cemetery
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Aberdeen Cemetery
• Indian Joe Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Indian Joe Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Indian Joe Cemetery
• Hatzic Cemetery
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hatzic Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2179229 <2>
• Nooksack Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nooksack Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nooksack Cemetery
• St. Peters Cemetery
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Peters Cemetery
• Yarrow Cemetery
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • The Yarrow Cemetery has also been known as:
  • Yarrow Mennonite Cemetery
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Yarrow Cemetery
  • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2277959 <2>
• Berthusen Memorial Park
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Berthusen Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Berthusen Memorial Park
• Continue List   (39 more) ...
  • Lynden Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lynden Cemetery
  • Monumenta Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Monumenta Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #76933 <2>
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Abbotsford. See our List of 1890's Communities around Abbotsford.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Abbotsford: www.city.abbotsford.bc.ca/

The official website for Province of British Columbia: https://www.gov.bc.ca/