Abrahamson Family

John Abrahamson, Kootenay Mail, December 1904.

Dates:

Charles A. Abrahamson: b. Dorsland, Sweden, 1856 d. 21 December 1911

Andrew Abrahamson: b. Dorsland, Sweden, 1850 d. 5 February 1931

Otto William Abrahamson: b. Dorsland, Sweden, 1865 d. 17 March 1955

Noah Abrahamson: b. Dorsland, Sweden, 1861 d. 23 April 1942

John Abrahamson: b. Dorsland, Sweden, 1854 d. 27 September 1933

Cemetery Location:

Charles A. Abrahamson: Block C, Row 12, Plot 30

Andrew Abrahamson: Block C, Row 12, Plot 29

Otto William Abrahamson: Block F, Row 9, Plot 19

John Albert Abrahamson: Block B, Row 14, Plot 32/33

Profile:

The Abrahamson brothers were born in Dorsland, Sweden, immigrating to the United States in 1880.  Two years later, the older brothers Andrew, John and Charles –stonecutters and bridge builders by trade – followed the Canadian Pacific Railway construction westward.

In Donald, British Columbia, the brothers established a hotel business, eventually moving to Revelstoke in 1885. Unable to pack their pool table (a big money earner in the hotel business) over Rogers Pass, it was shipped by boat down the Columbia River, to what began as a 40-foot tent hotel on Front Street.  By 1908, the Central Hotel had grown into a three-storey building with accommodation for over 100 guests, and was popular with commercial travellers.

In 1888, Otto William (O.W.) and Noah Abrahamson arrived in Revelstoke via the United States to join their brothers, and together they laid out the town site of Trout Lake in 1891. Andrew and Noah remained in Trout Lake to run the Queens Hotel, while John and Charles managed the Central Hotel in Revelstoke. In 1918, the Central Hotel was purchased by Molson’s Bank, and in 1919 it was bought and demolished by A. Pradolini.

Otto Abrahamson was a contractor who built many well-known buildings in Revelstoke, including: the Queen Victoria Hospital on First Street in 1912; the Howson Block on Mackenzie Avenue in 1911; the brick high school on Third Street in 1914; the Selkirk Hotel on First and Orton Street (now part of the Regent Hotel); and the Agricultural Hall (now the Golf Club).

J.R. Hull & Co. Meat Market and Abrahamson home, c.1900

Agricultural Hall (now the Revelstoke Golf Club), 1914, built by O.W. Abrahamson.

Central Hotel, Front Street, c.1910.

Charles Abrahamson headstone