Charles James Westland Graham oral history interview conducted by Warren Sommer on 29 Jan. 2003.

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Object Description

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Object Name

Oral History

,

Recording

Object ID

SR-199

Title

Charles James Westland Graham oral history interview conducted by Warren Sommer on 29 Jan. 2003.

Extent

2 audio cassettes.

Date

29 Jan. 2003.

Description

SR-199.1: Track 1 discusses the Graham family, including Graham's parents Matthew and Annie Graham. The Sampson family, related to Annie Graham, is mentioned.
Track 2 mentions the Cornock family.
Tracks 3 - 5 discuss World War I, including Matthew Graham's service in the forestry corps. The Legion is mentioned. The Graham farm, a veterans' settlement property, is described. Glen Valley is discussed. Herbie Cane, a postal delivery person, is mentioned.
Tracks 6 - 7 discuss the death of John Taylor.
Tracks 8 - 11 discuss neighbours of the Grahams and pioneers of Langley, including the Macmillan family, the Hodgeson family, and the Bodaly family. James Hossack's mill is mentioned.
Track 12 mentions the change in weather over the years.
Track 13 mentions West's sawmill.
Track 14 discusses Jubilee School in Matsqui.
Tracks 15 - 16 discuss travel around the Lower Mainland by BC Electric or CN railway. Chinese labourers on riverboats are mentioned. The Graham family's Model T Ford is described. Community dances are described.

SR-199.2: Track 1 opens the second part of the interview.
Track 2 describes the Graham house.
Track 3 discusses Dr. Marr.
Tracks 4- 5 discuss the Graham family's religious life. Annie Graham was Catholic. Margaret Graham's funeral is described.
Track 6 discusses the Depression.
Track 7 describes Graham's work for Jim McLellan. His training in diesel engineering is also described, and his work on tugboats. Graham's work redecking the bridge to McMillan Island is also discussed.
Track 8 discusses Graham's return to Langley and his parents' deaths.
Track 9 discusses Graham's family, including his wife Joan Cripps and their children.
Track 10 concludes the interview.

People/Subject

British Columbia Electric Railway Company Ltd. (BCER)

The British Columbia Electric Railway's interurban passenger service for the Fraser Valley, B.C., area came through Langley in 1910. The company was building rail lines into Langley as early as 1906, when they signed an agreement with Langley government. The company itself began as a merger of the National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company (Victoria), Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Ltd., and Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company, and was responsible for hydroelectric power generation, power transmission, and electric rail lines on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. All three companies had gone into receivership in 1895, and the BCER was met with receivership in 1896, following the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster in Victoria. The company was only able to survive through assistance from London financers, and began operations in 1897 as an English-owned company. A station built at 240 St. in the general area formerly known as Harmsworth in Langley was named after Rochfort Henry Sperling, general manager of the B.C. Electric Company, and the area subsequently came to be known as Sperling community. In 1910, a substation was built at Coghlan, and still stands (2021). The substation stepped the voltage from the power transmission lines down for use by the trains passing through. It did not provide power to the surrounding community. Interurban passenger services on the B.C.E.R's Fraser Valley Line ceased in 1950. The company ended all service in 1958, and broke up into the branches it is modernly: BC Hydro, Translink, and BC Transit.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Electric_Railway

Chinese-Canadians

Glen Valley

Graham, Annie (nee Penningrath)

Annie Penningrath was the eldest daughter of Annie Prytherch with her first husband, born in 1908. She immigrated to Canada with her mother and brother in 1910. Her mother married Peter Prytherch in 1916. She had four siblings, Ernest from her mother's first marriage, and three half siblings, Dorothy, Samuel and Olive Prytherch. Annie married Stan Graham sometime before 1941 and at least for a while, lived at 2409 Lewis Road in Langley Prairie. They later moved to Santa Barbara, California.

Graham, Charles James Westland

Charles James Westland Graham was born in Chilliwack on 30 June, 1915. His parents were Matthew and Annie Graham. His father was originally from Ireland, but moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in his teens, where he met Annie. They moved to Canada, where all five of their children were born. Charlie was the youngest of five, with 3 older sisters and one brother. Charlie worked variously in farming, construction, and shipping. He married Joan Cripps in the late 1940s and they had one daughter and one son.

Graham, Matthew Sr.

Matthew Graham Sr. was born in Ireland. He purchased his farm on LeFeuvre Road in 1911 on the Abbotsford/Langley border in Glen Valley. Graham worked for Mr. Cornock. He went overseas in 1914 and took up land as a soldiers settlement upon his return. Graham Hill on the Glen Valley escarpment was named after this family.

Marr, Benjamin Butler, Dr., 1882-1939

Benjamin Butler Marr was born on August 10, 1882. He graduated from Tuft's Medical School in Boston in 1907 and came to Vancouver. He set up his medical practice in 1910 and became Langley's first doctor. In 1913, he married Isabel Drew McIntosh (1895-1936). In 1914, Marr enlisted in the cavalry; he was transferred to the medical corps in Britain in 1916. Benjamin died on October 14, 1939.

Dr. Marr was also the Chairman of the Fort Preservation Committee during the late 1920s when the Fort was undergoing revitalization.

paddle steamer (see boats)

World War, 1914-1918

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