| Feature Type: | District Municipality (1) - A populated place with legally defined boundaries, incorporated as a district municipality under the provincial Municipal Act. |
| Status: | Not official |
| Relative Location: | S side of Fraser River, between Langley and Abbotsford, New Westminster Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 49°03'07"N, 122°19'45"W at the approximate location of the Municipal Hall. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 92G/1 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Incorporated 26 November 1892, called The Corporation of the District of Matsqui. "Matsqui (Municipal District)" adopted in the 18th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 31 March 1924, p.357. Matsqui (District Municipality) confirmed 3 May 1951 for 92G. Name rescinded when the District of Matsqui and the District of Abbotsford were amalgamated and the new entity was incorporated as the City of Abbotsford, effective 1 January 1995. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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District of Matsqui: 54,145 acres at incorporation in 1892. Original municipal hall located at 6418 Mt Lehman Rd; relocated to 32383 South Fraser Way (called then the Trans Canada Highway) in 1951; relocated to 32315 South Fraser Way in 1982. This facility was redesignated as the City of Abbotsford municipal hall, when District of Matsqui and District of Abbotsford were amalgamated into a city municipality in 1995. (February 2013 advice from GIS/Facility Planning and Heritage specialists, City of Abbotsford) Source: included with note |
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Named after a tribe of the Halkomaylem division, of the Cowichan group of the Salish stock, dwelling on the lower Fraser River and Sumas Lake. There were two villages: Ma'mak'ume on the south side of the Fraser opposite to the Matsqui reserve, and Kokoae'uk, situated on the south-west point of Sumas Lake near to the Fraser River. Population was 40 in 1911. The Matsqui Village map was deposited 26 September 1904 by John Maclure. "The name Matsqui is still pronounced by the few remaining Indians "Mats-whey". My father was the first white settler on Matsqui prairie in 1867 at a point called by the Indians "Saw-aqum" meaning "wild celery" which grew there. Later he called it Hazel Brae which sounded better in our ears and there were hazel nuts on the hill. Thomas Yorke was the first to come to Sumas, and our first and nearest neighbour, 1869-70." (4 July 1924 letter from J.C. Maclure to Nelson). Source: Nelson, Denys; Place Names of the Delta of the Fraser River; 1927, unpublished manuscript held in the Provincial Archives |
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Ma'cQui. (See: "Indian Tribes of the Lower Fraser River" by Franz Boaz, published in the 64th Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1890, pp 454-463.) Source: included with note |