Category: Skagway families

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Mystery family

 

Katherine Ann Gonzales was born on February 14, 1859 in California. She had a husband and two children but decided to abandon them and go to the Klondike in 1898. She worked as a whore in Skagway and men enjoyed her many talents. One day she was found smothered in her bed shortly after it was revealed that she was sleeping with several married men in town. It was a mystery who committed the murder – perhaps a jealous wife? Her husband John paid to have her body shipped home to San Jose. It is said that her ghost still haunts the alleys of Skagway on cold windy nights!

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Eagle Brewery

I saw that this little label sold on Ebay for $417 recently. The Eagle Brewery was run by William and Bertha Schwartzenberg who were from Germany. It ran from 1905 to 1910 here in Skagway. Cheers to Bill and Bertha!

 

1910 census;  online at gustavushistory.org

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Arthur Allen Richards

 

Arthur was the eighth child born to the Richards family in 1859 in Ohio. His older sister, Clara ran the post office in Dyea, a story which I wrote about earlier here. Apparently her two brothers were also here, Arthur and Daniel.

Arthur was appointed  by the U.S. Commissioner to be U.S. Marshal for the Dyea District. In a letter he wrote:

“I have been over the trail to the headwaters of the Yukon several times, to arrest men for getting into rows – generally for using guns…The wonder to me is not so much that men die but that any can survive the hardships. So much packing in mud and wading waist deep in ice-cold water, right from the glaciers above. A good many give up their outfits here for what they can get, and return home. ”

One descendent said that family lore has it that Arthur was responsible for laying the first telephone line from Dyea to the top of the Chilcoot Pass. That would have been during the 1897-98 time as there were several tramways built at that time also. They had better communication then than now, even cell phones don’t always work on the trail today.

He also said ” It is a pleasant trip up here from San Francisco except that accommodations are limited, and while the excitement keeps up the ships will be overcrowded. The steamer I came on, the Mexico, sank on her return trip in 200 fathoms of water and everything lost but the passengers.” this would have been in August 1897 because I found the following article:

The Alaska Searchlight of August 14, 1897 reported on the wreck of the Steamer Mexico: “near the end of Dixon Entrance. The steamer was southbound when it ran upon some hidden rocks at 4 o’clock on the morning of the 6 th . The rocks stove a big hole in the bottom of the boat, but luckily there was not freight on board and the bulkhead compartments of the boat kept it afloat for about two hours, when it finally sank in 100 fathoms of water. The shock caused confusion on board and passengers were thrown from their berths. In a few minutes, however the officers quieted down the passengers while the crew quickly launched the boats and every passenger was transferred from the sinking ship. The hand baggage belonging to passengers was taken from the ship and it is reported that the mail was taken off, although it is not definitely known. There were one hundred persons on board….”

1900 census; Daily Alaskan 3/13/1900 (in 2001 Skagway News); Skagway Museum record; CA death rec; Photo and letter courtesy of Diane Richards Design. Information and updates courtesy of Glenn McKinney – many thanks!

 

 

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Lt. Commander Jacob William Britt

William Britt came to Skagway from Norway in the gold rush and worked as a druggist and was a member of the Arctic Brotherhood and City Council by 1905. He met and married Sophia and they had a son, Jacob William Britt born here in Skagway in 1905 or 1906.

Jacob lived in Alaska until about 1930 and then joined the Navy. He married and moved to San Diego by 1940. By 1942 Lt. Commander Britt was in the South Pacific in command of the Asheville (PG-21)

(The Asheville was built in Charleston N.C. and launched on July 4, 1918. It underwent several overhauls and was known as PG-21.)

On the morning of 1 March 1942, Vice Admiral William A. Glassford, Commander, Southwest Pacific Force (formerly the U.S. Asiatic Fleet) ordered American naval vessels to retire to Australian waters. During World War 2, Lt. Jacob W. Britt was in command of the Asheville (PG-21) when he was ordered to leave Tjilatjap, Java, on 1 March 1942, bound for Fremantle. At 0615 on 2 March, Tulsa sighted a ship, and identified her as Asheville—probably the last time the latter was in sight of friendly forces. During the forenoon watch on 3 March, Asheville radioed “being attacked,” some 300 miles south of Java. The minesweeper Whippoorwill (AM-35), heard the initial distress call and turned toward the reported position some 90 miles away. When a second report specified that the ship was being attacked by a surface vessel, however, Whippoorwill‘s captain, Lt. Comdr. Charles R. Ferriter, reasoning correctly that “any surface vessel that could successfully attack the Asheville would be too much” for his own command, ordered the minesweeper to resume her voyage to Australia.

Asheville, presumed lost, was stricken from the Navy list on 8 May 1942. Not until after World War II, however, did the story of her last battle emerge, when a survivor of heavy cruiser Houston (CA-30), told of meeting, in prison camp, Fireman 1st Class Fred L. Brown, 18 years old, had been in the gunboat’s fireroom when a Japanese surface force (Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake) had overtaken the ship on 3 March 1942. Destroyers Arashi (Commander Watanabe Yasumasa) and Nowaki (Commander Koga Magatarou) overwhelmed Asheville, scoring hits on her forecastle and bridge; many men topside were dead by the time Brown arrived topside to abandon ship. All 160 men were lost.
A sailor on board one of the enemy destroyers threw out a line, which Brown grasped and was hauled on board. Sadly, Asheville‘s only known survivor perished in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on 18 March 1945.

Lt. Commander Britt born in Skagway Alaska was killed in action in the South Pacific on March 3, 1942.

http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/ashe_walter/default_ashe.html; 1910 census for Skagway; family search. The Asheville is seen above.

 

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Mary Mason

Mary was a Coastal Tlingit woman maybe born near Haines – probably Klukwan in 1874. I say maybe because her mother was living there and talked to Angela Sidney about Daisy, her granddaughter years later. They were members of the Raven Clan who bore the name Lukaax.adi.

Mary is famous because of her husband, Skookum Jim or Keish Mason. They were married around 1893, and Daisy was born June 22, 1895. Jim died in 1916 in Carcross and Mary died on this day, December 28, 1927 in Alaska, perhaps Haines or Skagway. Daisy died only a few years later in Seattle but she was also buried in Carcross with her father. I do not know where Mary’s grave is, I would assume in Carcross also, I will look for it the next time I am up there. The plaque above is in Carcross and was put in in 2000.

 

Life lived like a Story p. 101 and note #45;

1901 Canadian census in Carcross; news acct from list in NPS library

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Benny Moore

A delightful image of Benny Moore feeding his colt in front of the Moore House. Taken in 1898 when Benny was 7 years old. He later moved to Los Angeles and worked in the film industry.

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What the #*?!@% ! is he thinking?

This guy looks really familiar, I know I have seen him in other photos. But obviously a little too casual around this bear. Case & Draper photo taken in Skagway area around the turn of the century.

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Skookum Jim, Mary his wife, and Daisy 1900

Skookum Jim or Keish, Mason (1856-1916) was the brother to Kate Carmack who was married to George Carmack. Keish could carry 156 pounds of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass in one trip.  Mary (1874-1927) was his wife. Daisy, his daughter, or Saayna aat, (1895-1938) studied Drama in San Francisco but had to sell her Dad’s house to pay for his funeral.

George Carmack by Johnson; Life Lived Like a Story.

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Alpine Village in Skagway

For the last time, this year we will set up the amazing Alpine Village and Train Display at AB hall for Yuletide. The Open House here is scheduled for November 30, 2012 after the tree lighting at 5th and Broadway.

Hundreds of hours were spent designing and building these lodges, cabins and stores out of Legos. The largest and most complex structure is the Lodge, designed after the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. To build this, Arlen had to build it from the top down, but upside down, so that the roof sat on the floor as he built it from a small  photo of the OF Inn. Truly a remarkable accomplishment. For more details you can visit the sites where they are featured.

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25227

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25315

As some of you already know, we will be retiring and moving back to California this spring. I am beginning to sell off my collection of gold rush books on Ebay. I will continue to write blogs when I can until then. I’m sorry for the sporadic postings of late, as I had some medical issues due to mis- and over-prescribed drugs and medications. The experience has made me very wary of the medical field in general and certainly more conscious of my own health.