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Term Source: AABC Thesaurus

James Mackie was born August 10, 1829 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and farmed in Ireland for 10 years before coming to Canada in 1861/1862. When he first arrived, he took up land on Sea Island in a partnership he had formed with Messrs. Boyd and Kilgour, before moving to Langley, where he settled in Fort Langley along the bank of the Salmon River. He was one of the first Justices of the Peace in the district. He was one of the 29 co-signers of the petition to make Langley a municipality. He was the first Reeve of Langley in 1873 and was re-elected in 1874 and 1875. He and his wife Ann had a son, James Jr., who died at the age of 11 in 1885 and was buried with his grandfather, Robert Mackie, the first person to be buried in the Fort Langley Cemetery. (Note: James Jr. is thought to have been an illegitimate son by a Native wife (in the fashion of the country), Ann is thought to have come out from Scotland after Jamie's birth.). He had been experiencing kidney trouble and entered Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster four days before his death. James Mackie died in the hospital on January 29, 1903, and is buried in Fort Langley Cemetery with his son and father, who passed before him. His widow Ann was later buried in the same plot as his father.


Sources: "Death of a Pioneer", Daily News Advertiser, January 30, 1903, p.6