Albert & Alice Bennison

Albert & Alice Bennison, Bennison Bakery (next to City Hall), 1909.

Dates:

Albert E. Bennison: b. 2 June 1867 d. 1 April 1913

Alice M. Bennison: b. 29 December 1859 d. 25 January 1937

Cemetery Location:

Albert Bennison: Block C, Row 13, Plot 21

Alice M. Bennison: Block C, Row 13, Plot 20

Profiles:

Albert E. Bennison immigrated to Canada in 1888, purchasing the Lawson building on MacKenzie Avenue in 1903 to open the City Bakery (today the home of the Modern Bakeshop). Albert ran the City Bakery for several years, but in January 1907, he retired from the business.

In February 1907, Albert married Alice Melinda Williamson, registered as a midwife in Revelstoke. Alice was previously married to Arthur M. Williamson and had settled in Revelstoke with her husband in 1893.

According to her family, Alice and Arthur had two children who died from diphtheria at a young age and a son, John Lloyd. Williamson’s Lake Park, five kilometers south of Revelstoke, is the site of the former Williamson farm.

Not long after Albert and Alice were married, Albert worked as a jail guard, but was suspended for giving alcohol to a group of prisoners in his charge. Apparently he had been running a chain gang on a hot day, and had given the inmates beer to quench their thirst.

After Albert left the jail, he worked as a rancher and on a bridge gang, where he was in a bad accident. While being treated for his injuries, a tumour was discovered at the base of his brain and he died in April 1913, at the age of 45.

Alice Bennison died 24 years later in 1937, at the age of 78.