Christine Johnstone, nee McIver, oral history interview conducted by Don Waite in 1976.

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Object Description

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Object Name

Oral History

,

Recording

Object ID

SR-061

Title

Christine Johnstone, nee McIver, oral history interview conducted by Don Waite in 1976.

Extent

1 audio cassette.

Date

1976.

Description

SR-061: Tracks 1 - 3 discuss Murdoch McIver and the McIver family history.
Track 4 discusses the East Langley School and early teachers. The Harris family, the Coglin family, and Miss Yeomans are mentioned.
Tracks 5 - 6 continue to discuss Murdoch McIver as well as the Skea family.

People/Subject

East Langley School

East Langley Public School was located in the Langley School District, later School District 35 (Langley). The school opened as a one-room schoolhouse in 1923, closed in 1937, and reopened again in 1946.

Term Sources: BCAUL; item 2019.009.001.

Harris, Linton

Linton Harris was born on November 30, 1881, to Henry Frederick Harris and Martha Watkins, from Nova Scotia. He married Josephine Bertha Yeomans on October 4, 1911, and they had 2 sons and a daughter. Linton died on March 15, 1979, at Murrayville.

Johnstone, Christine (nee McIver)

Christine Johnstone was a daughter of Murdoch and Annie McIver, born in 1900. She married Charles Stokes, who died in 1969, and then James Johnstone.

McIver, Annie

Annie McIver was born in 1864. She met and married Murdoch McIver (no relation) in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1886. They had eight children together: two boys and six girls. Died in 1940 and buried in the Fort Langley Cemetery.

McIver, Murdoch

Murdoch McIver (or Murdock McIvor) was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1848. He worked in the British Navy until he was 23, at which point he jumped ship in New York Harbour. He spent several years in the New England, before moving to Quebec, and in 1876, to East Langley, where he had taken up 160 acres. He originally lived in a log cabin he built, and made yokes for oxen and cleared stumps on the land while logging and fishing to supplement his income. In 1880 he started working as a blasting foreman for the Canadian Pacific Railway, where he was a good fit due to his small frame and quick reflexes, allowing him to get behind cover quickly. Murdoch finished his career with the CPR free of serious injuries, and moved on to leasing the “Fort Hotel” in 1884, where he ran the bar for a year and a half. In 1886, Murdoch went east to Sherbrooke, Quebec. Accounts vary, with an oral history from his daughter-in-law, Ellen Isabella Mufford, stating that Murdoch met Annie McIver, his future wife, on the train out of town, as she was leaving to go to Pennsylvania with her sister, but instead the couple got married in Quebec soon after meeting. However, “The Place Between: 1860-1939” says that Murdoch had quit his business and returned to Sherbrooke to marry the eldest McIver daughter (no relation), but she had already gotten married, and instead Murdoch and Annie were married on November 4, 1886. Either way, the couple returned to Langley that year and set up in Murdoch’s cabin, before he built a new house between 1887 and 1890. The McIvers had nine children, three boys and six girls: Kenneth, John, Mary, Jessie, Christine, Mabel, Maggie, Beatrice (Bertie), and Alex. All but Alex survived to adulthood. Murdoch was involved as a municipal councilor in 1887, and was a founder and vice president of the Langley Agricultural Association. When his children went to school, he was elected as a trustee for the Langley School Board. He also was involved in the construction of the first East Langley School on the bluff above his farm in the early 1890’s, and when teachers needed boarding, they would stay with the McIvers. In 1927, Murdoch and Annie McIver sold half of their farm (80 acres) to a Mr. Kirke, and left the remaining land to their son Kenneth and his wife Ellen. Murdoch and Annie moved to a house on Francis Street in Fort Langley. In 1936 the couple celebrated their golden anniversary at the community hall in Fort Langley, with about 300 guests in attendance. Murdoch McIver passed away in 1946 at 97 years old (The Place Between: 1860-1939) or when he was 99 years old (Ellen Isabella Mufford’s Oral History). McIver died February 12, 1946 and is buried in the Fort Langley Cemetery.
Term Source: Oral history interview with Ellen Isabella Mufford.
"The Place Between: 1860-1939" by the Aldergrove Heritage Society.

Skea family

The Skea family emigrated to Langley from the Orkney Islands in May 1888. Their first son, James (Jim), was born December 28, 1889, on the family's homestead on Telegraph Trail in Coghlan.

Yeomans family

The family owned properties in North Langley. John Yeomans owned property west of 216 St. and south of 96th Ave. John and his wife Hannah (nee, Mosley) moved into a log house there in 1885 and built a newer house in 1912. Charles Yeomans moved into the area in 1887. Yeomans Crescent, which runs North of 96th Ave. off of 208 Street, is named for them.

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