Nome Census Area
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Eskimo heroine (1898 – post 1927). Probably born on Kodiak Island, she learned to read, write and speak English in a Christian mission at Nome, Alaska, and became an expert seamstress. At 16 she married a hunter named Blackjack, bearing him three children, one of whom, a son, Bennett, survived. She divorced Blackjack, alleging cruelty, and supported herself and son at Nome by sewing. In July, 1921, she was engaged to serve as seamstress and camp-keeper for a party of young men: Lorne E. Knight, McMinnville, Oregon; Frederick W. Maurer, New Philadelphia, Ohio; Alan Crawford, a Canadian, and Milton Galle, New Braunfels, Texas, who sought to occupy Wrangel Island (110 miles north of Siberia) at the suggestion of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, to establish British sovereignty over it. The party took a year's supplies including ammunition aboard the Silver Wave, and were landed on Wrangel Island in August. The next year's relief ship was turned back by ice. Crawford, Maurer and Galle, 16 months after reaching the island, set out over the ice for Siberia and succor but were never seen again. Knight, suffering from scurvy, was nursed by Ada but died two months after the trio left, and was left in his sleeping bag in the tent by the woman, who learned to shoot, maintained herself with game she shot and trapped, keeping a sketchy diary of her experiences. She recorded at one point: "God is the only one who will brought me home again." she was rescued by Harold Noice, commanding the Donaldson, which reached Wrangel two years after the party had landed there. Returned to Nome, Ada toured the U.S. under auspices of Stefansson, but went back to Nome in 1924; her health declined and she returned to Kodiak in 1927, ostensibly to die. Literary Digest, Dec. 24, 1927, based upon an article from Nome by Creston Carlyle in the N. Y. World.
Source: Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography by Dan L. Thrapp, page 124.
A miner who was arrested in 1898. He had a legal education and was able
to express his views cleverly and concisely. He assumed leadership of a
group of arrested miners, and acting as their spokesmen led to the
miners to elect him as the First Mayor of Nome, Alaska. He was voted in
September 13, 1899 and held office until 1901. In 1902 he was appointed
City Clerk. (He is not found in any census records as well as any birth
or death records.)
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula, History,
Description, Biographies
He is one of the earlier pioneers to the Seward Peninsula. Mr Hultberg
was sent by the Swedish Missionary Society to Golovin Bay in 1893 to
establish a school for the natives. He was born in Southern Sweden in
March 24, 1865. He left Sweden in 1887 and went to Pullman Illinois
where he was employed by the Pullman Car Company. His mechanical
knowledge induced the Swedish Missionary Society to send him to Alaska.
He established a school at Golovin.
As early as 1895 natives
brought him gold prospects from Nome River, which was known then as
Iarcharvik. He went prospecting with Lindblom and Brynteson. In August
1897 P H Anderson arrived at Golovin as a missionary to that station and
to establish an industrial school. Due to ill health he resigned and
went to the United States. He returned to Nome in the spring of 1899,
landing at Nome on 18 June. He was one of the first victims of the
typhoid fever epidemic in 1899.
Source: Nome and Seward
Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies, by E S Harrison, 1905
Dr. Kittilsen was the first recorder of the Nome Mining District until
August 1900. One of the terms of the contract to find Reindeer Herders
from Lapland to teach the native Eskimos how to take care of the
reindeer - was to have a physician who would go to Alaska and remain at
a reindeer station in case he was needed. He was of Scandinavian
ancestry and able to talk to the Laplanders. He came in 1896 and was a
physician where his services were needed. He was also the assistant
superintendent of the reindeer station. During his second year there he
was acting superintendent. The reindeer station was first started at
Port Clarence but in 1897 it was changed to Unalakleet. He was born
March 1870 - the first white child born in Christiana, Dane County,
Wisconsin. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1894. He married
Berthe Knatvold in Tacoma, Washington in 1901. They had at least one
child, Anne Clarissa.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula, History,
Description, Biographies by E S Harrison, 1905
He was one of the 67 Laplanders, Finns and Norwegians who came to Alaska to care for the reindeer in 1897. He was a foreman of the herders and at the time of his employment, 500 reindeer were purchased by the United States Government and transported to the Haines Mission. Later Mr Kjelsberg formed a partnership with Jafet Lindeberg. He was the son of a merchant in Kaafjord, Norway and was born Oct 1, 1876.
He organized the Wild Goose Mining and Trading Company with a capital of
$1,000,000. This was invested in mining properties of Seward Peninsula.
Many miles of ditches were constructed. A pumping plant to force water
from Snake River to the summit of Anvil Mountain was erected. Two
railroads were built - one from Nome to Anvil Creek and another from
Council City to #15 Ophir Creek. He was born in Palmyra, Marion County,
Missouri on Nov 15, 1840. His father was a miller. His family settled in
Stockton California and engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr Lane
began to work at gold mining at the age of 12 the first winter he was in
California. He created many valuable mining properties across the
western states. He is recognized as a founder of Nome. Charles D Lane
died 27 May 1911 in Palo Alto, California.
Source: Nome and
Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by E S Harrison,
1905
The head of a large ditch enterprise in Nome - the Flambeau Ditch and
Mining Company. A native of Rock County, Wisconsin, he was born Sept 25,
1856. He was educated in the public schools of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
When he was a young man he formed Line Construction Company with his
brother. He started over the White Pass to Klondike in 1897. He spent
two years in the Yukon, then returned home in 1899 and in the following
spring went to Nome on the Robert Dollar. During his first two years he
mined on the Hungry Creek, the Oregon Creek and the Bourbon Creek. In
1903 he organized the Flambeau Ditch and Mining Company. He was married
in 1878 in Minneapolis MN. Mrs Lang was Miss Celia Kelly. they had two
children Will and Cora, the latter being the wife of W J Heiser.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by
E S Harrison, 1905
J. D. Leedy was the first man to land in Nome from the steamer Garonne
in the spring of 1899, and the steamer was the first vessel to arrive at
Nome from the states. Mr Leedy's description of the handful of men found
in the new camp is both interesting and instructive. The inhabitants had
lived without an adequate food supply and there were a few cases of
scurvey. One of the inhabitants who had spent the winter in Nome was Mr
Leedy's brother.
The only log cabin in Nome was the one occupied
by G W Price, who was the deputy recorder of the district. A few tents
in which a few lines of business were conducted completed the total of
the town. Mr Leedy had considerable experience as a miner in the Black
Hills and in British Columbia, and immediately started to acuire mining
property by lease or appropriation. He mined with varying success. He
staked the first quartz claim ever staked on the peninsula.
J D
Leedy was born in Fredericktown, Knox County OH on Feb 4, 1865. His
father was a lumber manufacturer who moved to Trenton MO when John was
an infant. When he was 11 years old he went to the Black Hills. In
addition to his public school education, he was also a student at the
State School of Mines in Rapid City SD. He struck his first drill when
he was 14.
He married Nellie G Norton in Nome on Sept 16, 1899.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies
by E S Harrison, 1905
Capt. D. B. Libby went to Alaska in 1866 and had charge of a part of the
construction work of the Western Union Telegraph Company. They were
attempting to put up a telegraph line across Canada and Alaska to
connect with a Siberian line by cable across the Bering Strait. Captain
Libby discovered gold on Ophir Creek in 1866. He was a native of Maine
and was born Feb 3, 1844 and was a soldier in the Union Army. He married
Miss Louise Melsin of San Francisco in 1882 and had two children: Daniel
B Libby Jr and Adeline E Libby.
Source: Nome and Seward
Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by E S Harrison, 1905
LOMEN, Carl J., reindeer raiser; born Caledonia, Minn., July 13, 1880, son of Gudbrandt J. and Julie E. M. (Joys) Lomen: educated at Central High School, St. Paul, Minn.; married Laura Volstead, St. Paul, Oct. 30, 1928. Law student in father's office, St. Paul, two years; joined gold rush to Alaska, May 1900, and engaged in prospecting and mining; connected with clerk's office, U.S. District Court, Nome, Alaska, 15 years; member co-partnership of Lomen Brothers since 1908; one of organizers Lomen and Co., reindeer raisers, now president of its successor company, Northwestern Livestock Corp., and its subsidiary, Alaska Livestock & Packing Co., operating packing plants and hearding more than 250,000 reindeer in Alaska; vice consul for Norway in Northern Alaska eight years. Fellow American Geographical Society N. Y.; past pres. Pioneers of Alaska. Club: Explores, N. Y. Republican. Home: Nome, Alaska. Office: Colman Bldg., Seattle, Wash.
Contributed 2024 Mar 15 by Norma Hass, extracted from Pan-Pacific Who's Who, 1941, page 430.
LOMEN, Ralph, corporation executive, legislator; born St. Paul, Minn., March 7, 1887, son of Gudbrand J. and Julie E. M. (Joys) Lomen: educated at high school; married Vella V. Weaver, Spokane, Wash., May 8, 1919. Actively engaged in reindeer industry, commerce, shipping and mining in Alaska; member co-partnership of Lomen Brothers since 1908; one of organizers Lomen and Co., reindeer raisers, operating packing plants and owning more than 500,000 reindeer in Alaska. Member Common Council, Nome, Alaska; member Alaskan House of Representatives. Home: Nome, Alaska. Offices: Nome, Alaska; Colman Bldg., Seattle, Wash.
Contributed 2024 Mar 15 by Norma Hass, extracted from Pan-Pacific Who's Who, 1941, page 430.
(The Eskimo Clark Gable) "Even before it debuted, Eskimo generated
national industry buzz. Mala's many friends in the business chatted it
up enthusiastically. Awesome raw footage had been beautifully edited.
(The film would win the first Academy Award for editing.) Rave reviews
poured in from critics in both America and Europe. Eskimo was an instant
classic and Mala became a matinee idol. The roles that followed were
largely, though not exclusively, those of indigenous characters
including more Eskimos, a lot of Polynesians and the occasional bad
Indian in westerns. But he played a number of other characters,
including an extraterrestrial in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
Mala acted side by side with performers like Charles Laughton, Douglas
Fairbanks Jr., Vincent Price, Ray Milland, Dorothy Lamour, Jane Wyatt,
Barbara Stanwyck, Anthony Quinn, Robert Preston and Ralph Bellamy. But
within the business, he was most admired as a cinematographer. He worked
camera for Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock, among
others. Big names on the other side of his lens included Betty Grable,
Carmen Miranda, John Wayne, Joseph Cotton, Merle Oberon and, yes, Balto.
Morgan who is probably best known as the author of Good Time Girls of
the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush provides details about Malas movie career,
his friendships with people like Stan Laurel and Johnny Weissmuller of
Tarzan fame. (Weissmuller envied Malas ability to land roles that
required real dialogue and real acting.) But she also documents the
history of his Alaska years, his relatives and friends in the villages.
She follows the lines of parents, siblings, stepparents and, finally,
his own wife and son, recounting private stories while searching out the
personality somewhat obscured by studio hype and legend of a man who
led, she concludes, an unusually lonesome life. Morgan will be signing
copies of her book at screenings of the Mala films planned over the next
month. Movies scheduled will include his first credited film, as the
cinematographer in the 1925 Pathe News recreation of the Nome Serum Run,
How Death Was Cheated in the Great Race to Nome, and his last on-screen
work, the Cold War thriller Red Snow, released in 1952, the year of his
death. Still regarded as classics, Eskimo and Igloo are also to be
featured in the festival, but fans may be especially delighted by his
role as a tropical islander in Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, the
campy 14-part serial in which he shared top billing with Rex the Wonder
Horse one of the best-paid and most nasty-tempered stars of the time. No
actor in his right mind would take a job that included Rex, Hollywood
pros said. The fact that Mala did so reveals one facet of his
personality that comes out again and again in the book. He understood
the studio system better than a lot of Hollywood folks whose rising fame
splattered against their own egos. He worked past or overlooked
indignities with the same grace as he handled a harpoon or finessed the
most technically complicated mechanical camera. He knew there was
nothing to be gained by reacting harshly, Morgan writes with regard to
one occasion that roused anger in others. A naturally quiet man, Ray
just let it slide. He may have let his health slide too. He died at age
45 of heart problems exacerbated by a strenuous shoot in the steaming
jungles of Mexico. He had recently run cameras for Les Miserables and
was being considered for a role in The Ten Commandments among other
parts. Television, in its infancy, needed adroit cinematographers and
photogenic actors who did not look their age. In Malas case, the cliche
is fact: He really did die too soon."
By Mike Dunham. Mike is the
arts and entertainment editor at the Anchorage Daily News.
[Major William N. Monroe] He came to Nome to supervise the construction
of the Wild Goose Railroad and is the man who built the first railroad
in Northwestern Alaska. After its construction he was the superintendent
of the railroad line and when it was acquired by the Nome-Arctic
Corporation he was manager and put in full charge of the road.
He
was a native of Indiana and was born June 4, 1841. He was a soldier of
the First Iowa Cavalry. He married Mary J Hall, Dec 25, 1864 in Omaha.
They had children: Milton S, George O, Myrtle M and Mabel H.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by
E S Harrison, 1905
He was the French Vice Counsel in Nome. He was largely involved in
mining and ditch construction and was the president and general manager
of the Northwestern Ditch Company. Albert Schneider was born in Paris
March 3, 1864. He was initially involved in the commission exportation
business and left that business to go to Dawson in 1899. He came to Nome
the next year. He married Mile. Marguerite Bourgeois in Paris in 1890
and had two daughters Simone and Helene.
Source: Nome and Seward
Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by E S Harrison, 1905
Born 14 Sept 1877 in Skibotn, Storfjord, Troms, Norway; died 28 Jan
1967, Seattle WA, buried at Nome. Leonhard was the son of Isak Isaksson
Seppala and Anne Henriksdatter. He was initially a blacksmith and a
fisherman in the old county. When he came to Alaska during the Nome gold
rush of the 1900s. His friend Jafet Lindeberg (one of the three Swedes)
had returned to Norway from Alaska and convinced "Sepp" to work for his
Pioneer Mining Company in Nome.
He was employed as a dogsled
driver for the mining company and he loved it from the first day. He
traveled between 50 and 100 miles most days. In 1913 Lindeberg brought
puppies from Siberia as a gift for Roald Amundsen in hopes that the
explorer would take the dogs on his expedition to the North Pole.
Amundsen cancelled the trip and Lindeberg gave the dogs to Seppala.
His first dogsled race was in 1914 - the All American Sweepstakes -
which he entered at the last minute. He withdrew from that race because
he and his dogs did not know the trail, and the dogs suffered on the
race. In 1915 however, he was much more prepared and won - finishing two
hours ahead of the second place finisher. He also won in 1916 and 1917.
The race was suspended until 1983 after that.
Winter of 1925
brought a diptheria outbreak to Nome. Seppala's only child, Sigrid who
was 8 years old, was at risk. The towns supply of diptheria antitoxin
serum was out-dated. This was during the coldest winter in 20 years. He
was chosen as one of the mushers to participate in the relay to get the
serum to Nome in time during blizzard conditions and bitter cold. It was
known as the "Great Race of Mercy" and is now commemorated as the
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Leonhard toured across America in
1926-1927 with an Eskimo handler - ending in Poland Spring, Maine. He
and his partner Elizabeth Ricker started a Siberian dog kennel at Poland
Spring which was the start of the spread of the Siberian Husky dog breed
in the United States. In 1928 he moved to Fairbanks with his wife and in
1932 he earned a silver in sled dog racing demonstration event at the
Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games. Later they moved to Seattle Washington
where he and his wife Constance died. Both were buried in Nome.
Solner, Nordahl Brune
Identified with banking interests of Nome
since early spring of 1900. He was the manager of the Bank of Nome,
transacting large business in Nome. He supervised the construction of
the bank building in June 1900. Mr Solner was a native of Janesville,
Wisconsin and was born Jan 10, 1864. Subsequent to the establishment of
the Bank of Cape Nome he was elected vice president.
Source: Nome
and Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies by E S Harrison,
1905
Here on the shores of Bering Sea, on June 24, 1899, Louise Forsythe, age
12, was the first girl to come to Nome, landed with her family from
Lowell, Massachusetts. They had come on the steamer Corwyn from Seattle.
Because of a lack of building materials, they, like many of their
companions lived that first winter in a tent, and with no communication
with the outside world. On August 1, 1909 she married Michael Joseph
Walsh, an immigrant from County Cork, Ireland. To this marriage ten
children were born and reared in Nome.
On this fourth day of
July, 1972 we honor our parents, Louise and Michael Walsh, and all the
pioneers who adopted Nome as their home. They broke the trail for others
to follow, clinging to the very edge of the continent in this remote
area with the hostile climate, they raised their families and pursued
their walk in life. Together they endured with fortitude the friendships
and frustrations and rejoiced in their successes and achievements,
remaining to build the enduring foundations for the emerging State of
Alaska, to their heirs and future generations they leave their heritage
of independence and self-determination in this ___ land. To their
everlasting memory this site is lovingly and respectfully dedicated.
Louise Forsythe Walsh 1886-1971 ~ Michael Joseph Walsh 1882-1963
WIRT, Loyal Lincoln, clergyman; born Lamont, Mich., May 3, 1863, son of Rev. David and Sarah Corbin (Potter) Wirt: education, public and high schools of Plymouth, Wis., Pacific Theological Seminary (Oakland, Calif.) B.D. 1890, Armour Institute of Technology (Chicago, Ill.) Sc.D. 1912, Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley, Calif.) D.D. 1925; married Harriet Eliot Benton, Oakland, Calif., Oct. 6, 1890; children, J. Benton, Williston, Monica Alexandra, Lincoln Brown, Sherwood Eliot. Ordained Congregational minister 1890, state supt. Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society Calif., 1890-98, territorial supt. Congregational Missions and U. S. Commissioner of Education in Alaska 1898-1900, pastor Wharf St. Congregational Church, Brisbane, Australia 1901-07, Harrow, Eng. 1907-8; assocate pastor First Congregational Church, Oakland, Calif. 1908-12; Chautauqua lecturer and writer 1913-18, capt. American Red Cross in France 1917-18, International Commissioner, Near East Relief service 1919-24; western secretary National Council for Prevention of War 1924-30; dir. Golden Rule Foundation since 1930; established first hospital at Nome, Alaska 1899, and first public school north of Yukon River; first white man to cross Alaska in winter – 1200 miles from Cape Prince of Wales to Pacific Ocean – to secure medical aid and food to relieve starvation during first gold rust to Cape Nome 1899; organized international movement for relief of war orphans and refugees in Near East, establishing branches in Hawaii, Japan, China, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, had charge of first shipload of food and clothing from Australia to Constantinople, raised over $2,000,000 for post-war relief; founder of Casa Colina Home for Crippled Children; regional dir. Church Committee for China Relief: author, "As a Nation Thinketh," "Alaskan Adventures"; fellow, Royal Geographical Society; member American Academy of Political and Social Science, chancellor Pi Gamma Mu; decorated Near East Relief Service medal; member, Scrooby Club, Rotary, Hawaiian Come Backers Club. Mason, Republican. Home: 592 Mayflower Rd., Claremont, Calif.
Contributed 2024 Mar 15 by Norma Hass, extracted from Pan-Pacific Who's Who, 1941, page 770.
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