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William Hall (1827-1913) was born in England in 1827. Hall attended medical school but left before qualifying and joined the Royal Engineers where he learned his trade as a stone mason. He married English born Ann Bucklelow (1824-1897) in 1846, prior to his 1848 posting to Gibraltar. He served in the Crimean War from 1854 to 1856. Hall, accompanied by his wife and first three children, arrived in the Crown Colony of British Columbia in 1859, as a member of the Royal Engineers. Five more children were added to the Hall family after 1858. Hall's duties included constructing parts of the Cariboo Road, through the Fraser Canyon, and the
Hope-Similkameen road.
During this initial period the family moved from Sapperton (New Westminster) to Yale where Mrs. Hall operated a boarding house.
In 1863, the Columbia detachment of the Royal Engineers disbanded. Hall chose to stay in the colony to claim a free military grant of 150 acres. Hall's original land holdings were located on Unsworth Road. By 1878, however, the Halls had moved their residence to property on the West End of Chilliwack Mountain.
Hall continued to practice his trade as a stone mason and worked on the construction of many local homes, and carved gravestones.
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