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What Ever Happened to Uncle Frank: The Alaska Pioneer Homes

21 Oct By Dwight Leave a Comment

An interesting source for documenting a lost branch of your family is the Alaska Pioneer Home registers. A home for infirmed and destitute pioneer men was founded in 1913 in abandoned U.S. Marine barracks in Sitka. Other homes were founded much later.

Who Were the Alaska Pioneers

Who were these men? Many came to Alaska seeking their fortune in the gold rushes, only to find themselves busted and broke. They came from all over the world and when they found themselves destitute they never went home. Their families, often wives and children, never heard from them again. They came from all over Alaska to the Sitka Home where they lived their remainder of their lives.

The records are simple but provide important insights. For example, in 1914, Peter Farrell from Iditarod was admitted. He was born in Ireland on 25 April 1847 and had arrived in Alaska in 1894. In 1916, Edward J. Taylor from Ketchikan was admitted. He was born in Ireland on 8 April 1856. He had arrived in Alaska on 9 August 1897. The variety of men from around the world who can be found admitted to the Sitka Pioneer Home is enough to make any researcher pause and reflect.

The Sitka Pioneer Home Records

There are several places where the admission registers have been transcribed. An old publication is History of the Alaska Pioneer Home 1913-1962 (196?) a typescript published in the 1960s takes a history of the Sitka Home from 1913-1962). A newer more complete work is Robert N. DeArmond’s Roster of Residents. Sitka Pioneers’ Home, 1913-1993 (1994).

These sources can lead to others to supplement the information from the Sitka Home. An excellent textbook for identifying other resources is (2001), by Connie Malcolm Bradbury and David Albert Hales.

If you would like to learn more about Alaska family history or your genealogy in general check us out here

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Alaska, American Frontier, Institutions, Yukon

Lost in Alaska and the Yukon

19 May By Dwight Leave a Comment

If you lose your ancestor in the 1890s, usually a man, and he never resurfaces, then this blog is may be for you. Always check Alaska and the Yukon, even if you have no reason to do so.

The Gold Rush Era (1896-99), also dubbed the Klondike Gold Rush, Yukon Gold Rush and the Alaska Gold Rush saw some 100,000 people descend into the wilderness prospecting. Miners overlapped between the Yukon and Alaska. There were gold rushes previous and afterwards, but 1896-99 was the core period of activity.

It was common for men to go to this last frontier for any number of reasons – including mining. There were dreamers, schemers, drop outs or those abandoning their families. Many dreamers found themselves busted and embarrassed to return home. So they stayed leaving everybody back home to wonder.

So how do you document these people? When approaching them, you must think in terms of the type of men we are talking about. They were the wild branches of your family tree, and they are on the move. There has been an effort to collect, inventory and index records documenting them.

On the Yukon side, diverse records in various databases would include newspaper accounts, church records, and steamship passenger’s list from Alaska. The two largest record collections can be found in the Yukon Archives and the Dawson City Museum & Historical Society. Each has different collections and databases. However, you can access the databases for both on a joint website:  www.yukongenealogy.com

The Internet is an excellent place to learn about Alaska genealogy. The Alaska GenWeb Project has addresses, links, and databases: www.akgenweb.org The Fairbanks Genealogical Society has an incredible links section: www.fairbanksgenealogicalsociety.com The Alaska State Library has a “Finding Your Gold Rush Relative” which includes both Alaska and the Yukon: http://library.alaska.gov/hist/parham.html and the state archives has “Alaska’s Gold”:  www.eed.state.ak.us/temp_lam_pages/library/goldrush/index.htm The Anchorage Genealogical Society also has a helpful website: www.anchoragegenealogy.org 

Remember, finding these untrimmed branches of your family tree, may not be as difficult as you think. Look for compiled databases first online; then move to records still on deposit.

Filed Under: Irish Ancestry Tagged With: Alaska, American Frontier, Canada, Immigration and Emigration, Yukon

Dwight A. Radford

Dwight A. Radford is a professional family history researcher. Along with his staff they specialize in Ireland, England, Canada, African American, Native American, and United States. Connecting families together through historical documents and then creating a cherished family heirloom published book for generations to enjoy. Full bio…

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