Category: Merchants

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Bernard Behrends

Happy Birthday to Bernard M. Behrends born on this day, February 6, 1862 in Bavaria, Germany and emigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1878. He came to Alaska in 1887 and worked for James Brady who would later be governor of Alaska. He married Margaret Virginia Pakle in 1889 in Sitka. She was a teacher and missionary at the Sheldon Jackson school. Sheldon Jackson performed the marriage ceremony. They moved to Juneau and opened the store in 1892 and his daughter Beatrice was also born in 1892 in Juneau. He then opened a bank about 1914. He and Margaret died within months of each other in 1936 in Juneau. Seen above is his store in Juneau. His store appeared in the 1902 and 1905 directories here in Skagway, but someone else managed it. Behrends Avenue in northwest Juneau is named for them. Seen above is the interior of the store.

Kinyradio placenames; 1902 and 1905 directories; Evergreen cemetery records.

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Another legal question


On June 6, 1900 the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Penal Code which provided for a tax to be collected on certain trades and businesses in Alaska. This tax was to fund local governments in the territory. Mr. Wynn-Johnson represented the Moore Wharf (seen above) which of course preceded the law. He decided to ignore the new law which required a license for the wharf. He was then arrested in 1902 by Marshal Shoup. Wynn-Johnson refused to post bail and instead sued the Marshal and the U.S. Government saying that his incarceration was unconstitutional based on the fact that the license and taxes were also unconstitutional. His reasoning was that the U.S. Government did not impose such taxes anywhere else and that Alaska was singled out. Further that such tax and license laws in Alaska were in place already. Section 8 article 1 of the U.S.Constitution reads:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and pay for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States.”
In 1904 the U.S. Supreme court ruled that the law was legal and that 1/2 of the money collected from licenses and taxes would go to local schools. The remainder would go into the U.S. Treasury.
Presumably Wynn-Johnson did alright because he then sold his house and moved to the Alkali Ranch in British Columbia.
The lawyer that represented him, George C. Heard, died not long after, on June 6, 1906 in Skagway. Below is the link to the legel language of the law, if anyone cares to interpret it better than I have, please be my guest!

http://books.google.com/books?id=o-IKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA630&lpg=PA630&dq=%22c.+e.+wynn-johnson%22&source=bl&ots=TFxiKyfyUP&sig=OsYthY1Ah9RaHjHkrkV0f6Wq_hA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jo8pT8WCCZTXiQKR2qXHCg&sqi=2&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22c.%20e.%20wynn-johnson%22&f=false

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John Edward Chilberg


John Chilberg was born on this day, January 19, 1867 in Wappello County Iowa.
In 1899 Chilberg was responsible for the steamship SOVEREIGN and was also Captain of the MONARCH. While living in Nome, his friend Godfrey Chealander conceived of the idea to have an exposition of Alaska in 1907 and convinced Chilberg to help him organize it.
Chilberg became President of the Board of Directors for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle in 1909. Held on the University of Washington campus this was Washington’s first world’s fair and it celebrated 12 years of prosperity — since the 1897 Alaska Gold Rush — through the display of resources, products, and advantages of Washington and the region. More than three million people visited the fair from Washington cities and counties and from the rest of the country.

In 1915 Chilberg was President of the Miner’s and Merchants Bank of Ketchikan.
By 1919 he also ran a fleet of ships in Puget Sound. In 1967 he was living in Berkeley California with his son Hugh, a real estate investor. J.E. Chilberg died in 1954 in Laguna Beach, California at the age of 87.

Chilberg is seen above addressing the AYP Exposition in 1909.

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Allen Brothers Hardware

George Griffith Allen and his brother Robert Cochran Allen opened a hardware store in Skagway in 1897. George was a widower, but Robert was married to Ida May and had 4 daughters: Dorothy and Hazel the twins, Irene, and Permelia. The Allens moved back to Snohomish or Portland around the turn of the century and Robert died in 1905 there.
George G. Allen died on April 15, 1936 in Los Angeles.
Another George Allen died on the Princess Sophia in 1918, but he was George M. Allen, an editor who ran the Daily Klondike Nugget in Dawson.
Believe it or not there were even two more George Allens, one was the son of a U.S. Senator from Washington who got into some trouble in Skagway and then went to Nome where he was in an armed robbery. The last George A. Allen was a NWMP Mountie in 1897 stationed at Log Cabin.

Seen above is the G.G. Allen hardware store in Skagway in 1897 or ’98.

Hunt, NPS p.39; 1880 Portland census; 1900 Skagway census; familysearch; Washington records; Klondike Stampeder Reg by Pennington; Cohen.

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John P. Laumister


Meet the butcher and his family who came to Skagway in the Gold Rush from Tacoma. John Laumister was born in 1850 in Germany and married Mary Ann Clark in Victoria in 1878. Their sons Charles and John Jr. were also butchers and his daughter Lillian married Mr. Black in 1930 in Alaska. Anton Laumister, probably a brother came to Skagway from San Francisco and worked as a miller and butcher also.
Mr. Laumister was in Dawson on March 8, 1917 for the big fire there:

“Fire started at 9:45 o’clock last night in the Yukonia hotel and destroyed that building and several other well known landmarks in the same block. It was 20 below zero, and the fire department made a prompt response and a fine fight was put up by the men of the brigade and by many volunteers. The fire finally was stopped after midnight and by 3 o’clock was entirely subdued. A stiff wind from the south fanned the flames from the start until the finish, and it was most fortunate that the fire was stopped as soon as it was. John Laumeister was badly burned about the head and had to have his head dressed by the surgeon at the hospital but is out and about today. James Purden was with Laumeister and his head and ears were singed. Harry Bridges, Purden and Laumeister were attempting to put out the fire in the hall with the hose when the flames drove them out and they escaped from the lobby just after the volume of heat exploded through the windows of the lobby with a great report…” from the The Daily Alaska Dispatch, Juneau on March 9, 1917.

The fire must have affected Mr. Laumister’s health because he died on this day, January 6, 1918 in St. Mary’s hospital in Whitehorse from pneumonia.

Seen above are the frozen ruins of the Yukonia Hotel following the fire.

Fairbanks news accounts; 1900 Skagway census; familysearch.

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The Aggee family


The Aggees came to Skagway from Telluride Colorado. Alonzo Aggee and his sons Roy and Harry arrived via the Chilkoot Pass on October 9, 1899 yet Alonzo, his wife Martha or Madie Crouch and their son Alonzo Jr.(Sam), daughters Helen and Ollie all show up on the Skagway census in 1900. They may have been in the process of moving to Dawson when the census took place. Oddly, despite the fact that they were one of the few African-American families in the Yukon, the Skagway census lists them as being white.

Alonzo worked for a time as a deckhand on the steamers going up and down the Yukon River. Then he settled down in Dawson City as a barber, and the rest of the family, including his wife Martha, sons Sam and Harry, and daughter Helen arrived soon after.

Harry and Roy worked as barbers with their father, but in 1901 Roy, the oldest son, died of peritonitis. The family carried on. Sam gained fame as a member of Dawson City’s 1910 championship hockey team. He died in 1925 in Tacoma. Harry died in 1917 in Seattle and Martha in 1930. Alonzo L. Aggee outlived them all and died at the age of 81 in Skagit, Washington on December 21, 1940.

-On the Trail of the Yukon’s Black Pioneers by Kilian; Washington death records; Skagway 1900 census.

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Fritz Gansneder’s Gambrinus Brewery


Fritz, or Anton Frederick Gansneder was probably born in Oberellenbach, Bavaria. His father Jacob immigrated from Germany with his 12 kids in the early 1880’s. The importance of this is that the family brought their knowledge of growing grain and producing cheese, sausage and beer to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. Following the surge of German immigration America benefited from the traditional methods of brewing good ales. Certainly Skagway benefited from Fred’s contribution: the Beer by the Quart Saloon in 1898. Fred and Frank moved to Portland around 1896 and established businesses there. Fred came to Skagway briefly to run his saloon and then probably went back to Washington. Here’s a tip of the hat and a clank of a mug to Fritz!

Gold Rush Grub: From Turpentine STew to Hoochinoo by Ann Chandonnet page 207; the Mascot Saloon by Spude p. 70 (misspelled as Gausnider).

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Lowney’s Bon Bons

A couple of years ago my son found this odd little piece of metal in the dirt in the alley. I’ve had it stuck by tape on my desk since then thinking I would research it one of these days. Anyway, this summer we finally did a search and found that it is actually the flattened bowl of a Lowney’s bon bon spoon.
Lowney’s made delicious chocolates and candy in the late 1800’s. They had their own buildings at both the Chicago (1893) and Buffalo (1901) World’s Fairs.
Some people collect their memorabilia, but I wonder what the bon bons tasted like! Did someone buy them at Mrs. Rapuzzi’s Washington fruit and candy store?