Turnross Family

Dates:

Claues: b. Sweden, 1853 d. 1910

Emma: b. Sweden, 1858 d. 1915

Selma: b. Sweden, 1879 d. Kamloops, 1967

Charles: b. Winnipeg, 1882 d. 1956

Francis: b. Revelstoke, 1893 d. 1980

Harry: b. Revelstoke, 1895 d. Revelstoke 1918

Gustav: b.  Revelstoke, 1896 d. Revelstoke, 1918

Cemetery Location:

Claues: Block H, Row 11, Plot 29

Emma: Block C, Row 11, Plot 22

Charles: Block B, Row 12, Plot 15

Francis: Block A, Row 8, Plot 7

Harry: Block C, Row 11, Plot 23

Gustav: Block C, Row 11, Plot 29

Profiles:

Originally from Sweden, Claues “Charles” Turnross immigrated to Canada to work with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Winnipeg in 1880. Clauses’s wife Emma and daughter Selma followed him to Winnipeg the following year, and in 1882 their son Charles was born.

The family followed the railway west, eventually purchasing 20 acres of land at Greely, near Revelstoke. Claues built a two-storey home on the hillside across the track from the end of Garden Avenue and operated a livery business – purchased from W. Fleming in 1905 – for many years. In Revelstoke, Claues and Emma had three more children: Frank, Harry and Gus.

Emma Turnross operated a confectionery store on Mackenzie Avenue and by 1908 owned the block of buildings stretching from the corner of First Street and Mackenzie Avenue, to City Hall. Son Charlie purchased the Windsor Hotel in 1919, changing the name to the Regent Hotel.

In February 1910, a building on the family ranch caught fire, killing Claues. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained, but it was speculated that a faulty stove set fire to the dry wood of the building.  Tragically, eight years later, the Turnross’s two youngest sons, Harry and Gus, died in the 1918 flu pandemic, aged just 22 and 23.