Notes:

Roberta Turner
Roberta Swazie Turner went to be with the Lord on April 14, 2003.She was born in Colorado on Jan. 18, 1912. She is survived by her son, Rob Turner of Apple Valley; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. No services are planned in the High Desert. She will be interred with her husband in Porterville. Sunset Hills Mortuary is handling arrangements.
Published in the Daily Press, Hesperia Star & Desert Dispatch on 4/15/2003

Roberta married Horace Fielding TURNER on 2 Jun 1934 in Los Angeles, California. Horace was born on 20 Nov 1907 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa; died on 9 Mar 2000 in Portersville, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Robert Edward TURNER was born on 24 May 1935 in Monteray Park, Los Angeles, California; died on 21 Jan 2017 in California.
2. Stevan Craig TURNER was born on 27 May 1938 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; died on 3 Jan 2003 in Kanab, Kane, Utah; was buried in Kanab Cemetery, South Kaneb, Kane, Utah.
3. Terrill Sue TURNER was born on 5 Apr 1940 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; died on 4 Jul 2001 in Springville, Tulare, California.

Notes:

Woodstock Sentinel Review June 13, 1911
DONE TO DEATH BY MEXICAN BANDITS
The very tragic death of Robert J. Swayze

Only brother of Benjamin E. Swayzie of Eastwood was burned to death by Mexican bandits. Victim was born near Kintore, and became a successful railwayman.

A few weeks ago the news despatches gave the story of the death of a man named Robert J. Sweasey or Swayzie, an American superintendent of the Central Railway of Michoacan, Mexico. According to the story told by a Mexican refuge, who reached San Francisco, this man was burned to death on May 16th, by Mexican bandits. The refugee, whoe name was Hansfelder ssaid that the bandits had made demands for money of every American in the district. Some complied, but Sweasey refused to pay. Hansfelder declared that he made his way to Sweasey’s house, three miles distant from his own homoe, on May 19th, and found the house burned to the ground and Sweasey’s body lased to a post in the midst of the burning timbers. Mrs. Sweasey had disappeared and it was thought at the time that she had been retained prisoner and held for ransom.

It now appears that the victim was the only brother of Mr. Benjamin E. Swayzie of Eastwood. Mr. Swayzie had received word from his brother’s wife’s sister in Colorado, confirming the report of the brother’s death. The news was conveyed to her by a letter from her sister in Mexico.

Robert James Swayzie, the man who was thus done to death in such barbarous fashion, was born at the old Swayzie settlement near Kintore, on the 14th day of June, 1861. He was the son of he late Elias Coleman Swayzie and Nancy Cameron, his wife. He was, therefore, a grandson of Lt.-Col. Robert Cameron, and a nephew of the later John Cameron of Woodstock. He received his education in the public schools and Wesleyan Institute of Winnipeg, and when but little more than a boy went to work for Contractor Ryan and placed the steel on the first hundred miles of the C.P.R. west of Winnipeg. Some years later he went south, where he was largely engaged in railway construction, being admittedly one of the best men in Mexico in handling the native workmen. Like his ancestors, who were all United Empire Loyalists, he remained up to the time of his death a British subject. He was a prominent member of the Masonic Order (Southern jurisdiction) having taken the Thirty-Second degree. He was married on the 23rd day of October, 1892 to Blanche Stella Bingham of Windor, Ohio. One brother and one sister of deceased reside at Eastwood, three sisters are at Spokane, Wash., and one in Maine.

An application is being made through M.S. Schell to have the Dominion Government take the matter up, and have the guilty parties punished.

Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
about R J Swayze
Name: R J Swayze
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Birth Year: abt 1861
Residence: Quitman, Cleburne, Arkansas
Spouse's Name: Blanch J Bingman
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Age: 21
Spouse's Residence: Quitman, Cleburne, Arkansas
Marriage Date: 23 Oct 1892
Marriage License Date: 21 Oct 1892
Marriage County: Cleburne
Event Type: Marriage
FHL Film Number: 1033446

Robert married Mary Jane MENAPACE on 25 Feb 1909 in El Paso, Texas. Mary was born on 19 Feb 1883 in Colorado; died on 11 Oct 1978 in Los Angeles, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Heritage On Main: The Former Dominion Hotel (The Blue Note Café) at 218-224 Main Street
Article by Laura McKay, on behalf of Heritage Winnipeg Corp.
Thank you to Greg Agnew, Heritage Winnipeg Board Member, for his assistance with images.

To follow up on this or any other articles on the blog, contact Heritage Winnipeg's Executive Director.

The Dominion Hotel, later known as the Blue Note Café, at 218-224 Main Street was demolished in 2011. The place where it stood remains empty, the silhouette still visible on the adjacent Winnipeg Hotel. Before it was an iconic hangout for Winnipeg musicians, the home of the Blue Note Café was everything from a hotel to a barbershop.

In 1872, the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered all but 450 acres of land to the Dominion of Canada. The remaining land was surveyed and sold off to form the town of "Selkirk" (not to be confused with the current city of Selkirk). Lot 18, where the Dominion Hotel was later built, was purchased in July of 1872 by Charles Garratt, of the Garratt House Hotel for $1250. Lots purchased along Main Street were also required to have a structure built on them worth at least $2000 within 18 months of purchase in the hope of building up the appearance of Main Street.

Garratt resold the land shortly after purchase to Elias Swayze (Swaze), who immediately began the construction of a hotel. The Dominion Hotel opened in 1873, the same year as the Garry House (Winnipeg Hotel) next door. Their locations were considered choice as the federal government had new Customs House and Land Office buildings planned for the York Avenue end of the block. At the end of the 19th century, it was also very common for people to more or less live in hotels, as immigrating populations struggled to find accommodations and traveling salesman made extended visits with their wares.

The newly built Dominion Hotel was a wooden structure with 22 rooms in addition to a large hall where 21 beds were set up. The building featured a 12 x 14ft parlour, an 18 x 20ft billiard room, and an 18 x 20ft bar room in addition to a 12 x 20ft kitchen. In the summer of 1873, Swayze briefly had a partner named Smith, but the relationship was short lived and he continued to run the business on his own.

On May 3, 1877, an arsonist set fire to the Kahler stable behind the hotel. The fire spreads and while the fire brigade does their best, the building is destroyed. Thankfully all of the patrons and their luggage made it out safely but without insurance, Swayze was unable or unwilling to rebuild. He sold the property to Joseph Kahler, owner of the stable that burned. He built a new hotel by the same name in the summer after the fire.

The new building was a 40 x 60ft, 2 1/2 storey wood frame structure with a prominent boom town front and a small porch running along a portion of the north side. A new stable was also added in 1878, presumable replacing the one that had burned the year before.

Kahler operated the hotel until 1884, when it briefly became the "Dominion Club" with the backing of a W. R. Strachan. It then once again became a hotel under J.K. Paisley (of the Paisley House Hotel) in 1886.

Hannah Kahler, Joseph's wife, then took over the hotel's management from 1887-1889. This rapid change both in use and management is likely a sign that the hotel was no longer as attractive to patrons as it once was, as more sophisticated establishments took its clientele. For the next several years, the hotel was either vacant or leased by other proprietors, although it would seem to continue to be owned by Kahler.

By 1893, the hotel had become a boarding house operated by a Joseph Keeler (possibly a misspelling of Kahler). Joseph Kahler likely passed away in 1894 and his widow, Hannah, continued to operate the boarding house until 1901, when the Montgomery brothers from the Winnipeg Hotel next door purchased the Dominion as an annex to the accommodations they provided. The intention was to either demolish the Dominion and built an addition on the property or else to renovate it to meet their purposes.

However, this plan never came to a fruition, likely due to the opening of the Commercial Hotel in 1902 in the Macdonald Block next door, as well as the Montgomery brothers' continued interests in other properties. The Dominion remained an annex to the Winnipeg Hotel until 1908, after which various people operated a rooming house in the upper floors with either a shoemaker and/or barber in the ground floor stores. It was about this name that the name "Dominion Hotel" was moved to another building at 523 Main Street, near where City Hall is now.

By the 1920s, the building was clearly deteriorating in photographs, with structural problems causing the facade to sag badly. A barber and shoe maker continued to run their businesses out of the building, along with a second hand store.

In 1934, a portion of the building was taken over by the Main Spot Café and Crystal Dyers went into the north end of the structure in 1937. Records are unclear, but it is likely that the upper floors were demolished around 1937 as well, with the length of the building also being cut in half around this time. Following the demolition, the remaining portions of the building were renovated to meet the Café and Dyers' need

In 1951, the building once again underwent renovation, this time to the exterior, in the art moderné style. It remained the Main Spot restaurant until it opened as the Blue Note Café, a popular local hangout for musicians, in March of 1983. The Blue Note Café stayed in the building until the mid-1990s when it relocated to another venue before closing down altogether. Below is a short documentary about the Blue Note Café and its contributions to the Winnipeg music scene in its heyday.

The vacant shell of the building was demolished in 2011, 134 years after it was built.
Sources & Links
'Paradise' Lost - Winnipeg Free Press 2013
Winnipeg love-hate: Bluenote Graveyard - Winnipeg Free Press 2011

http://heritagewinnipeg.blogspot.ca/2015/09/heritage-on-main-former-dominion-hotel.html viewed May 31, 2017

Elias married Nancy CAMERON on 20 Aug 1860 in Kintore, Oxford, Ontario. Nancy (daughter of Robert CAMERON and Nancy ROSS) was born on 22 Aug 1836 in East Nissouri, Oxford, Ontario; died on 12 Jan 1905 in Spokane, Spokane, Washington; was buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace, Spokane, Spokane, Washington. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s Record
about Benjamin, Sr. Swayze

Name: Benjamin, Sr. Swayze

Event: Living

Year: 1840

Province: Ontario

Place: Brock District

Source: District Marriage Registers of Upper Canada, Brock District 1839-1857, Provincial Archives of Ontario, Toronto.

Note: The province and county are associated with the location of the record source and in some cases may not be the same as the place where the event occured.

from Ancestry.ca

Benjamin married Mary PICKARD in 1806 in Beaverdams, Welland, Ontario. Mary (daughter of Benjamin PICKARD and UNKNOWN) was born on 18 Oct 1784; died on 23 Dec 1871 in Oxford County, Ontario; was buried in Kintore Methodist Cemetery, Kintore, Oxford, Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary Swayzie is listed in the 1861 Census, East Nissouri Township, Oxford County, Ontario age 73 and living with her son Elias Swayze and his wife Nancy. National Archives Microfilm #C-1060.

Notes:

Death of Robert Cameron, J.P., Esq. It is our painful duty to record the death of Robert Cameron, Esq., at his residence, Glengarry Hill, East Nissouri, on Sunday morning last, 24th inst. at 10 o'clock. He was one of the ablest settlers of this county, to which he came in 1821, and of which he has been an honored and widely respected citizen ever since. He was a man of tender sympathies and kindness of heart, mingled with great firmness and decision of character. The public spirit which he always manifested put him in active sympathy with all the improvements of this section of the country. In his own township he was Councillor and Reeve a great number of years, but owing to his old age he has for some time retired from all public life. He was one of the oldest Magistrates in the county, and always sought to conduct the responsibilities of this office with reference to securing the most lasting peace and kindly feeling amongst neighbors. Seldom did a case come before him without having it settled by bringing the parties together for mutual understanding or by arbitration. He was a Liberal Conservative in his politics, and being the son of a U.E. Loyalist, was earnestly loyal to the Government. Although a mere boy at the time, he served in the War of 1812; and although he was conscious of great wrongs that needed to be rectified, he identified himself with the Government in the Rebellion of '37, and was captain of a company for its suppression, believing that legislation is a better way to secure reforms than a resort to arms. Ever since that time, he has maintained a connection with the standing militia, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel at the time of his death. His suffering was severe during his last illness, which continued about three months. It was all borne with the patience and submission of a Christian hope, which he had obtained and confessed during the last year or more of his life. He leaves a widow of seventy-two years, and who has borne him
twelve children, nine of whom are still alive. He was followed to the grave on Wednesday last, when he was buried in the Ingersoll cemetery, by a large number of sympathizing friends. Deceased was 76 years and 7 months old.
-- from Ingersoll Chronicle January 28, 1875

Robert married Nancy ROSS about 1821 in Cornwall, Stormont, Ontario. Nancy (daughter of Donald ROSS) was born on 22 Jul 1803 in Cornwall, Stormont, Ontario; died on 18 Jan 1884 in East Nissouri, Oxford, Ontario; was buried in Ingersoll Rural Cemetery, Ingersoll, Oxford, Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

It is our painful duty to announce the death of the widow of the late Robert Cameron, J.P., at the old homestead in East Nissouri, at the extreme old age of 80 years and 6 months. Mrs. Cameron was the daughter of Mr. Donald Ross, of Cornwall, who was one of the original members of the Hudson's Bay Company. She spent her early years in the city of Quebec, where she received her education, and shortly after her return to her home, when she was scarcely 18 years old, she was married to her late husband in Cornwall. She lived with him over fifty years and about 12 years ago she celebrated her golden wedding with nearly all her children to rejoice with her. In the autumn of 1821 she came with her husband to the west and settled upon the site of the present homestead where the family has resided ever since. She entered upon the duties and hardships of her early pioneer life with a cheerfulness and courage that is not often seen in these modern days. She was a woman of many personal attractions and of admirable traits of character. She had strong common sense, a keen perception of right and wrong, great moral courage and firm integrity. She was a member of the Presbyterian church and always manifested a deep interest in its service, and a conscientious carefulness in all of her religious duties. About nine years ago her husband died, and since that time she has divided her time between her sons Mr. John Cameron, the governor of our County prison, Mr. George Cameron of Montreal, Rev. R. Cameron of Brantford, and Mr. W.W. Cameron of the old homestead, where she spent the last year of her life until she passed on to her final rest. With her demise, another of the old pioneer settlers of our County has passed from our midst and of all the number there was none of them who was more universally respected than Mrs. Cameron. On Monday last a very large number of sympathizing friends followed her remains to our cemetery and the funeral services were conducted by her pastor, the Rev. Mr. Cameron of Thamesford.

--from Ingersoll Chronicle Thurs 24 January 1884