Abbotsford Cemeteries

This page is optimized for desktop/laptop viewing. Viewing on a cellphone or tablet may loose some context.
​Aberdeen Cemetery
GPS 49.057227, -122.437241

This modest cemetery is located about 1.6 kilometers east of Aldergrove at 28417 Fraser Highway. Traditionally, Aberdeen served the community of Aldergrove in the Township of Langley and the District of Matsqui (City of Abbotsford since amalgamation in 1995). Hugh Currie donated 0.91 hectare (2.24 acres) of his farm for the cemetery which now has more than 1,600 burials.

It is estimated that Aberdeen was established sometime in the 1880s based on the dates of the earliest gravestones. In fact, Aberdeen may be older as Aldergrove was settled at an earlier date.

Many pioneer families are represented here, and there are many elaborate and beautiful grave markers. One notable interment is that of Charles Hill-Tout (1858-1944). Born in England and educated at Oxford University. Charles was an early Abbotsford settler, who ran a local mill and was renowned for his pioneering ethnographic and anthropological field work among the Salish people. Aberdeen Cemetery, which includes war graves, is included in the Maple Leaf Legacy Project for war graves.

Sources: City of Abbotsford website
Riggins, L. and Walker, L. The Heart of the Fraser Valley, Memories of an Era Past. Matsqui Abbotsford Community Services and Matsqui Centennial Society. Abbotsford, B.C. 1991. [A1] 

Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

Hazelwood Cemetery
GPS 49.063636, -122.281542

This is the largest civic cemetery and most centrally located at 34070 Hazelwood Avenue. Consisting of approximately 4.9 active hectares (12 acres), the total area, including undeveloped civic lands is 10.8 hectares (26.7 acres). The cemetery’s name was chosen on December 12, 1919 by the Ridgedale Women’s Institute at one of its meetings; there is no record of why the name was chosen. A joint effort between Matsqui Council and the Ridgedale Women’s Institute, the cemetery was finished around 1919-1920.

The Hazelwood Cemetery has over 8,000 occupied gravesites plus more than 600 occupied cremation plots. In 2013 a columbarium was constructed with niches that can contain one or two cremated remains. Also within the cemetery are a scatter garden and an ossuary with granite pillars for the placing of memorial plaques.

Veterans from the First and Second World Wars are honoured by the monument of two gatepost cairns constructed in 1972 at the entrance to Hazelwood Cemetery. There are two Canadian Legion areas (Old and New) and a small Legion memorial. This section of Hazelwood Cemetery is reserved for war veterans and their spouses only. Also buried here are 12 Royal Air Force members that were killed while training at Abbotsford Airport. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintain these Royal Air Force graves.

The only mausoleum in any of the civic cemeteries is located here in the older section: the Mercer Family1 vault. The vault was built between 1919 and 1924 by Benn Mercer (1850-1933), and holds the remains of six members of the Mercer family. Benn Mercer, who was from Ireland, immigrated to Canada in the early 1880s and to British Columbia in the late 1880s. The Mercers farmed land in the Matsqui/Ridgedale area before relocating to the B.C. Interior. Benn Mercer lived on Boundary Road South in Burnaby at the time of his death.

1. Information provided by Rose Deck, great-granddaughter of Benn Mercer.
Source: City of Abbotsford website

​          Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

Mount Lehman Cemetery
GPS 49.118229, -122.399516

The community of Mt. Lehman is an important farming community with strong historical roots in the Fraser Valley. The Mt. Lehman Cemetery is located at 29745 Taylor Road. This small rural cemetery appears to have been established in the 1880s (the date of the earliest visible headstones). Mt. Lehman is the smallest civic cemetery with a site area of only 0.41 hectare (one acre) with more than 675 burials.

Notable burials include the Lehman family: Katherine (1834-1884); Lucy Hannah (1861-1923); Thomas Henry (1863-1935); Thomas, son of Thomas and Lucy Lehman (1893-1894); and Carson (1873-1944). The wide range of historic markers adds to the uniqueness of this cemetery.

Source: City of Abbotsford website

​          Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

Musselwhite Cemetery 
GPS 49.042120, -122.244086

Musselwhite Cemetery is in the 35000 block of Old Yale Road at the intersection of Marshall Road. The cemetery was established in 1892. The 1.7 hectares (4.3 acres) was donated by farmer Jackson van Buren Means; his headstone transcription reads: In Loving Memory of Jackson van Buren Means Born Misery (sic) U.S.A. 1839 Died at Abbotsford, Feb. 7, 1915 Aged 76 years.

The first burial was 1892: Mrs. Annie Johnson daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Musselwhite. The Musselwhites and their other daughter are among the many local pioneers that were laid to rest in this historic cemetery. There are many beautiful headstones with decorative embellishments and funerary symbolism that contribute to the historic significance and visual charm. There are now more than 1,500 burials in Musselwhite Cemetery.

Source: City of Abbotsford website

​         Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

Maclure Road Mennonite Cemetery
GPS 49.060242, -122.283286 

This cemetery is located at 33965 Maclure Road, is 3.8 hectares (9.5 acres) and is located southwest and next to Hazelwood Cemetery. The cemetery site was acquired from the District of Matsqui in 1951 for a nominal sum. Before the founding of the cemetery, Mennonite burials were scattered among many small church grounds. Civic officials wanted to organize the practice of burying kin. They decided to acquire land for a cemetery where all the Mennonite people could be interred and certain restrictions could be enforced.

The cemetery serves a faith community consisting of 16 Mennonite and Mennonite Brethren congregations.  Since its creation, there have been more than 4,400 burials.

Source: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online

Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

Maclure Road Mennonite Cemetery Burial Index

• This is an External Link and not part of  abbygs.ca

              _______________________________________________________________

South Poplar Mennonite Cemetery
GPS 49.014619, -122.315457

The history of the South Poplar Cemetery located at 721 Gladwin Road is directly connected to the Mennonite settlers that pioneered the south Abbotsford area in the 1930s and 1940s. Construction of the South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church building on Gladwin Road began in November of 1935; a 0.8 hectares (2 acres) plot was purchased for a cemetery in 1937. 

The first funeral was conducted August 9, 1938 for Grace Buhler, who was a South Abbotsford member that died at age 25. About 12 to 15 churches of the two Mennonite conferences used this cemetery. The burials at the outset were few: an average of five per year (1938- 44). By 1950 there were 23 per year. Since South Poplar Cemetery would soon reach capacity, municipal authorities made space available by transferring a section of Hazelwood Cemetery that later became the Maclure Road Mennonite Cemetery.

 Source: City of Abbotsford website

​         Abbotsford Cemeteries Burial Index

For more information, contact the Cemetery Transcription Coordinator

​Updated: 2017/7/31