James Turner (1942 - 1916)
Methodist missionary-pastor James Turner arrived in Vancouver in 1973. He set up a parsonage at the corner of Water and Abbott streets, and soon became known as the “Minister of the Interior.”1) In 1885, Rev. James Turner was holding services in Kamloops. The first Methodist church was built in the community in 1886.2) Reverend Turner was a pioneer missionary for the Canadian Methodist Church in the Cariboo and other parts of British Columbia.3)
In early 1898, Rev. Turner travelled up the Stikine River on the ice and was one of the first to reach Dawson that year via the Teslin Lake route. The three-month journey undermined his health. In Dawson, he obtained a church site from the government and held services in a large tent. Turner’s assistant and then successor, Rev. A.E. Hetherington, arrived in Dawson in August 1898. Rev. Turner performed the marriage ceremony for Albert and Alberta Hetherington before leaving Dawson with ill health in June 1899.4)
Mount James Turner is a remote mountain in Garibaldi Park, British Columbia.