School Name History

William Archibald Fraser was born in Inverness, Scotland. He emigrated with his family to Canada at the age of seven. His early schooling took place in Lost River, Quebec. It was here that he learned English, a change from the highland Gaelic that was spoken in Lost River among the Scottish immigrants. He married Honora Gorman (1846-1870). They had three children: John, Mary Jane, and Anora. Honora died of typhoid just ten days after Anora was born. William's seventy-eight-year-old mother, Christina Fraser, who lived in Lost River, took on the job of raising the children while William worked in lumber camps on the Gatineau River. He returned to the family on the weekends. As the years passed and the children grew up, William decided in 1887 to move west. At that time, the Canadian Pacific railroad was opening up western Canada. He travelled by C.P.R. and arrived in New Westminster along with his son John and his nephew Donald. They crossed the Fraser River by boat to Wade's Landing and carried on to Abbotsford.

William Fraser homesteaded one hundred sixty acres in Abbotsford. He cleared the land and built a small log cabin. He was well known for his skill with a broad-axe, developed by his early training in the Quebec lumber camps. He earned a living making timbers for barn and house construction. He supplied the valley from Langley to Abbotsford and his fame as a workman spread throughout the Fraser Valley area. William sent for his daughter Anora, known as Annie, when she was eighteen. Anora Drive was named in her honour and her daughter, Eleanor, married someone a man from the Blatchford family, after whom Blatchford Way is named.  The McMillans, who had been William’s neighbours back east, came on the same train as Anora. They became William’s neighbours in B.C. as well. McMillan Road was named for the family. They were all Gaelic-speakers. Dan McMillan's mother, Flora, who came with him to B.C., couldn't speak English.