Averill, George Warren, Dr.
(1) unknown
(2) Flora Annette (Ranghart) Averill (1861- 1941)
Son: Harold Warren Averill (1886- )
George Averill was born in Pennsylvania on June 24, 1855. He married, and after his wife and child died, he re-married. His second wife was Flora Banghart. He died of “Spanish influenza and pneumonia” on January 8, 1919, in Seattle, Washington.
The family came to came to Canada (Grand Forks, BC) from Butte, Montana, United States, in 1895. He had several mining interests and he was able to have built a lavish house known as “Golden Heights” on Rattle Snake Hill in Grand Forks. The house was completed in 1898. The Averill’s lived there until 1918.
The “Golden Heights” estate (photograph here) was built built on 26 acres of land and included a servant’s house, stable, ice house, and carriage house. A dancing hall was built over the coach house, a two-storey building 40 feet by 40 feet. In 1920, The Grand Forks Sun and Kettle Valley Orchardist described the grounds, which included “some thirty acres of excellent farm land, with about one hundred bearing fruit trees of all kind.” According to the 1901 Census of Canada, the estate employed three “domestics.” The house was sold in February 1920.
He was a business associate of John A. Manly, the first mayor of Grand Forks. The Manly’s (brothers John, Joseph, Lloyd, and Sherry) were early developers of Grand Forks and they held numerous mining interests throughout the Boundary and Similkameen country.
When Averill wasn’t investing in mining claims and real estate, he was a travelling dentist who travelled to small communities. He was a “painless dentist” and was therefore a popular dentist. He came to Princeton in May 1900 and set up “Dental Parlours” for a week. At that time, the Similkameen Star described him as a “director of, and one of the largest stock holders in the Sunset Mining Co.”
In October 1900, in an interview with the Similkameen Star, R.A. “Sunset” Brown noted that $20,000 had been paid to Dr. Averill for his interest in the Sunset mining company. The R.A. Sunset claim was located and staked by Sunset Brown in 1892. The land was Crown-granted to Brown and Averill in 1898.Averill returned to Princeton in November 1901 and again in May 1903, this time driving in from Nicola.
In 1905, he was elected to the board of directors of the Sunset Copper Company.
For more: “Grand Forks: Golden Heights” by Maisie G. Ferguson (1997)
1901 Census of Canada; Washington State Board of Health Certificate of Death; The Province, January 15, 1977, page 25 “A Tale of Two Houses”; Eagle Valley News (Sicamous), February 14, 1979, page 12; The Grand Forks Sun and Kettle Valley Orchardist, February 13, 1920, page 1; The Similkameen Star, May 19, 1900, pages 1, 4; October 20, 1900, page 1; Princeton Star, November 25, 1921, page 3; May 9, 1903, page 1; February 25, 1905, page 1; British Columbia Historical News, Volume 30, No. 2, 1997, pages 18-23