John Sewell (1880 – 1967)
John Sewell was born in Caraquet, New Brunswick. He worked on a farm in Winnipeg for a few months in 1903 and then moved on to work for a lumber company in Cranbrook, British Columbia. He worked for several lumber companies in the Kootenays before he arrived in Whitehorse in April 1904.1) Sewell worked as a woodcutter and looked after the T&D store at Little Salmon. In 1919, he took over J.D. Durie’s mercantile business on Front Street and obtained a lease on the building. He lived over the store and boarded at the Regina Hotel. Durie, a former Atlin resident, had been there for eleven years and his business included general merchandise and house furnishings. Sewell had two counters in the main part of the store, one for groceries and one for hardware. There was a counter scale for weighing bulk food items and nails. An enclosed glass case held fresh baked goods, donuts and fresh bread, that he replenished at least twice a day. Sewell was known to grubstake many miners and First Nation families.2)
John Sewell built a house in Whitehorse at Moccasin Flats around 1903, judging from newspapers found behind the wall board. The building started out as a tent frame for workers on the railway. John Sewell occupied the house until 1920, when he acquired the general store in the Regina Hotel. He rented out the old house until 1938 when it was acquired by the Slim family.3)
The Sewell House, an important heritage structure in Whitehorse, was destroyed in 2002 by city employees. An article in The Beaver magazine commented that Canadians are so disconnected from their past they didn't even recognise it.4)