Naming the West : Stories Turner Valley

Turner Valley Student Story 1:
John Blakeman Sr.

John Blakeman Sr. moved in 1911 from Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England to come to Canada. John Blakeman Sr. first lived in the Spooner house south of Black Diamond on the bend of the river and he operated his butcher shop there. Approximately in 1917 the butcher shop and pool hall burnt down and was reopened in now what is called the Blakeman's General Store. John Blakeman Sr. was the first mayor of Black Diamond from June 1929 to May 1930. He went back to England where he passed away in 1938 at the age of eighty.