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Term Source: AABC Thesaurus

John Jolly was born in about 1839 in Cornwall, England. As a young man he left England for the Unted States Familiar with the tim mining in Cornwall, Jolly found wok in the tin mines of Michigan before travelling on to the gold rush town of Grass Velley, California. Jolly left California and headed for the State of Victoria, Australia. Here Jolly met the James family, also from Cornwall. In 1866 Jolly married James James' daugter, Mary. The whole family then decided to move back to Gradd Valley, California. Unsatisfied, James James and John Jolly headed north to B.C. in 1869 and found good farm land in Langley. The family lived in the manse beside St. John the Divine in Derby before building their homes. They sent for their wives in 1871. James Kennedy met the two women at their arrival in New Westminster, and escorted them in a canoe manned by 14 First Nations paddlers to Fort Langley. For the next five years, these two women - and Mrs. James Kennedy - were the only white women in the area. John Jolly was the Reeve of the Township of Langley from 1882 - 1883. He died March 6, 1912, at the age of 72, in Vancouver.
Term Source: The Langley Story, pg. 63 (Waite)