Tag: Customs

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George Edward Carson


George E. Carson was born in 1846 in Maryland. He moved to Indiana where he met and married Matilda. They had two sons and a daughter there from 1876 to 1886. In 1898 they all moved to Skagway. In February 1898, as the U.S. Customs officer, he logged in five thousand stampeders.
In Skagway and Dyea he had help from U.S. Customs officers William Denny, Lewis C. Harman, C.L. Hobart, I. Myre Hoffstad, J.W. Ivey, A.I. Jones, DeWitt P. Lea, L.S. Luke, Oliver McCulloch, Thomas G. Payne, William H. Robertson, W.H. StClair, Clarence Leroy Andrews, R.W. Bellman, and others in later years.
Georg’s son, George C. also worked for U.S. Customs in Skagway in 1906 and the family stayed until George E. died on February 20, 1931 in Skagway. He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

Seen above is City Hall in Skagway, it is perhaps where the Customs had their office, but maybe not.

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Bates Shattuck


Born on this day, December 8, 1880 in Gresham, Oregon, Bates Shattuck was one of 5 brothers: Allen, Henry, Dudley and John who came to Alaska at the turn of the century. Most settled in Juneau, but Bates was the U.S. Customs officer in Skagway in 1904. Apparently Skagway was not his cup of tea as he went back south to Oregon that same year. Seen above are the other Customs officers in 1906. Remember that Skagway has been the Port for the Yukon since the railroad was built in 1898. The U.S. Customs has kept a similar number of employees year round since then. This time of year both the U.S. and the Canadian Border and Customs offices are only open from 7 am to midnight, but in summer are open 24 hours a day.

Juneau Parks & Recreation website; familysearch; 1905 Directory

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Frederick Joseph Vandewall


Fred Vandewall was born on this day, August 16, 1879 in Wisconsin. He was the U.S. Customs Official here from early in the 1900’s to 1929 at least. He was also the Secretary for the Elks in 1915 and in 1923. His wife Florence was also from Wisconsin and they had one son Francis born here in 1908 and who moved to Grants Pass Oregon. Fred’s sister Hazel also lived here. The picture above is of the Skagway Customs Officials in 1906, so Fred may be in there somewhere, since Francis was born here shortly after. I’m not sure that they did not have more personnel working the customs station then we do now!

P.S. Happy Birthday to Buckwheat today also.

censuses; directories; 1936 newspaper article; World War One Registration;