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The Pioneer Cemetery is located on the north-east corner of Church and Mary Streets beside St. George's Anglican Church. It was established after the Hudson's Bay Company Fort was built to the north-east in 1839. Approximately 30-35 people were buried here until the Fort Langley Cemetery was created in the 1880s. The predominantly wooden grave markers disappeared quickly. The Fort closed in 1886 and the surrounding land, including the cemetery, was purchased by Alexander Mavis. He sold the land to members of an Anglican congregation in 1900, and in 1901 St. George's Anglican Church was built. The research of Bob and Sheila Puls resulted in the following lists. Known Burials: Peopeoh (Pion Pion) (b.1798 d. after 1859), Catherine (Katrina) (wife of Peopeoh), infant son of Henry and Eliza Peers (1850),
Ovid Allard (1817-1874), Ovid Allard Jr. (1880-1884), William Henry Newton (1833-1875), Etienne Pepin (Magice or Maille) (1798-1874), William Cromarty (1815-1875), Elizabeth (Cromarty) Dawson (1847-1883),
Catherine (Falardeau) Taylor (1841-1874), and an unnamed Sapper of The Royal Engineers (18??-1859). Presumed Burials: Joseph Allard (b.1862, likely died as a child), Marie Allard - (b.185?), Matilda Allard (1851-1879), Isabelle Pepin (wife of Etienne Pepin), Ann Cromarty (b.1850 died before1875), Salum'mia (aka. Eliz, Jane, Jenny) Cromarty (1830-1869), Ten-ta-coose (d.1867 aged about 100), Katherine Morrison (1875-1876), Ovid John Morrison (1872-1876), Peter Apnaut (Ohule Ouahi, Apnath) (b.1825 d. before1867),
Aglae (Paiwa) (Peopeoh) Ohier (b.1827 d.after 1856), and Charles Ohier (d. after 1856). An additional 15 people are named in the HBC's records as having served in Fort Langley but whose burial places are presently unknown. Sarah Brousseau (1842-1889) may not be buried in the Pioneer Cemetery - she was believed to have been buried in the Company's cemetery at Derby, although her headstone was brought to St. Georges for safekeeping as the Derby cemetery eroded into the Fraser River.

(Now at 9160 Church Street). The Hudson's Bay Company sold the south-west section of their Fort Langley property to Alexander Mavis in the 1880s. The local cemetery, where many early settlers and HBC employees were laid to rest, was included in this sale. Mavis erected a fence around the cemetery to keep wandering cattle from grazing amongst the gravestones. He later subdivided his farm and sold the cemetery with adjacent land to the Anglican Parish for $50. In October 1901, St. George's Anglican, a small Carpenter Gothic Revival style church, opened on the site to serve the surrounding communities (including Milner, Glen Valley and Langley). It was built by Duncan Buie, with BC Mills providing the building supplies and the Coulter & Berry General Store supplying the hardware. The original windows were all single-hung sash with plate glass. The total cost for building St. George's, including the land and some furnishings, came to $744.40. A local craftsman by the name of Joe Sailes created the lectern and other fixtures. A striking iron cross is mounted over the front door and details the artistic aspect of the blacksmith's craft. It is thought to be a marker once gracing the grave of a Hawaiian (Kanaka) HBC employee. 1912 saw the Chancel enlarged and the installation of the stained glass window over the altar. A small bell tower was added in 1914 and rebuilt in 1982. The bell is purported to have come from the estate of Port Kells' Carl von Mackensen, a German loyalist interned during WWI. Billy Brown donated new front doors to St. George's in 1935 (after finding they were the wrong size for the church that originally commissioned them). A hall with full basement was constructed at the rear of the church in the late 1940s to facilitate growing social functions. Memorial gifts (often stained glass) add to the church's interior decoration.
See Also: Pioneer Cemetery
Term Source: Langley's Heritage