b. 1825-10
d. 1907-11-01
William Henry Ladner, businessman, was born in Cornwall, England, in October 1825.
Coming to North America in 1848, he settled in Wisconsin with his father and, later,
his younger brother. Ladner travelled to California in 1852, arriving in
British Columbia in May 1858. Sometime around 1860, he began running pack trains from the interior
to the coast, joining in a partnership with
Robert T. Smith around 1864-65.
Ladner had turned to cattle breeding by 1870, and he settled at the site of Ladner
near the mouth of
the Fraser. He became reeve of Ladner in 1880 and served as an MLA from 1885 to 1890. Ladner
died on 1 November 1907.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966-); Vol.13, British Colonist, 24 April 1861, 6 July and 14 August 1865; Mainland Guardian, 4 June 1870. See also Ronald Greene, The Demise of Macdonald's Bank, Canada West Magazine Vol. 7, No. 4 (Fall 1983): 17-27, about his partnership with Robert T. Smith.Leon
Johnson Ladner, The Ladners of Ladner: By Covered Wagon to the Welfare State (Mitchell Press: Vancouver, 1972). BCDES 6.7.