Archive Record

Metadata

Title

"Arctic Ties, Finnmark to Alaska: Brief biographies of the U.S. Reindeer Project expedition members" by Ruthanne Cecil. Draft

Object Name

Manuscript

Scope & Content

"Arctic Ties, Finnmark to Alaska: Brief biographies of the U.S. Reindeer Project expedition members (an alphabetical listing)" by Ruthanne Cecil, J.D., with Faith Fjeld and Nathan Muus, of the Saami Baiki office. Draft dated September 20, 2006. Prepared for the Saami Council, Roros, Norway, 2006.

Expedition members (excerpted from article):

ABRAHAMSEN, Jeremias. From Finland, Jeremias was 25 when he arrived in Alaska, listed as a "Norwegian cook" for the 1898 expedition.

ANDERSEN, Per, wife Sofie N. SJUOSJAVRE (NOTE: This family was part of the Karasjok family "JENSEN") (NOTE ALSO in Karasjok this clan is called KIRKEVERGESLEKTEN, or "church worker lineage". We call it the "Jensen clan" as they all descended from the same three Jensen grandfathers in Karasjok.)

ANTI, Lars Larsen. Arrived in Alaska in 1898, from Karasjok, Lars died at Eaton Station near Unalakleet in April 1900.

ANTI, Per L., and sisters Kirsten and Karen ANTI, from Karasjok, settled in the Kuskokwim region of Alaska. Per arrived in 1898 with the Manitoba Expedition, while the sisters and a nephew Lars NILSEN arrived later.

BAER, Anders Aslaksen ("Andy"). Single, age 27 in 1898, Andy Baer arrived in Alaska from Kautokeino, Norway. He stayed in Alaska, reindeer herding for over 30 years.

BAER, Ole O. and Inger CLEMETSDATTER and 2 children arrived in 1898 at Eaton Station. (Ole Baer was a first cousin to Andy Baer, above.) Ole and Inger settled at Unalakleet and herded there and at Egavik, Strawberry Hills, and Shaktolik.

BALS, Aslak J., wife Susanna M. HAETTA, and children Susanna and Mikkel. They came to Alaska in 1898 on the Manitoba expedition, and returned to Norway in 1900. Later, in 1931, the daughter Susanna and her TORNENSIS husband went to Canada to herd reindeer from 1931 to 1938, then returned to Norway.

BALS, Nils, wife EllenMarie RIST, and 4 children, Per, Inger, Marit and Kirsten BALS. Nils Bals arrived in Alaska in 1898 with 3 children in their teens, and their stepmother EllenMarie RIST, and settled near Unalakleet.

BALS-LOGJE, Kirsten Nilsdatter. The adult daughter of Nils Bals above, Kirsten had twins in Norway in 1903, and one died. She joined her father's family in Alaska in 1907, with her four-year-old son Nils, surname LOGJE. It is unknown if she used the surname BALS or LOGJE.

BALTO, Samuel J. He arrived in Alaska in 1898 at age 37, as did his brother Anders and family, below. They were Sami from Karasjok, originally from Enare, Finland. An explorer, herder, fisherman, and author, Samuel Balto wrote a book about his earlier expedition with Fritjof Nansen to Greenland, which was translated into the Sami language.

BALTO, Anders J., wife Marit P. BITI, and daughter Mary. This family of 3 came from Karasjok to Alaska in 1898 on the Manitoba expedition, as did brother Samuel (above). They arrived at Unalakleet, herded and helped to construct Eaton Station, 8 miles upriver. Descendents live in the US, and surnames are NILSEN, STENBERG, HUNTINGTON, HEPNER.

BASI, Wilhelm. A young Finnish cook on the 1898 Manitoba, from Langfjord, age 29, he was one of the expedition chroniclers. His diary covered the voyage, the train ride across the United States, the events in Seattle, the first part of the Haines trek, the arrival in Unalakleet, the building of Eaton Station, and the early days of the Nome gold rush... They then moved to Portland, and around 1930 he became a pastor at the Quincy Free Apostolic Lutheran Church, in southern Oregon. (Apostolic and Laestadian churches are closely related.)

BERG, Ole. In 1898, possibly age 40, he arrived in Alaska from Alta Norway, part of the Manitoba expedition. Was mentioned in 1899 as "doing well" in the mines, but no other mention.

BERG, Peder. He was 20 in 1898 when he arrived in Alaska. He was released from contract in June 1899, for the mines, and no further mention.

BITI, Anders K. and Marit N. BITI, recently married in 1898, traveled together to Alaska on the expedition. They had a son born in 1899, and they returned to Norway in 1900, where four more children were born. (NOTE: A first cousin of Anders BITI was Marith P. BITI, who was married to Anders BALTO of Nome.)

BITI-BALTO, Marit. She was the wife of Anders Balto, and they arrived in Alaska in 1898 with one daughter. BALTO descendents live in the Washington State area.

BOINE, Klemet Persen, arrived in 1898 with the Manitoba expedition, single, age 24, from Karasjok, Norway, and stayed in Alaska nearly 40 years. Klemet BOINE married Sami widow EllenMarie RIST-BALS of Unalakleet, after her husband died in 1919. BOINE descendents live in Norway. Klemet was interviewed on the radio in Norway about his Alaska years.

BONGO, Isak A., was single and 21 in 1898 when he arrived at Eaton Station near Unalakleet, and helped to build the station. He then stayed in Alaska, herding reindeer much of his life, always near Unalakleet.

CLEMETSEN (or KLEMETSEN), several family members.

EIRA, Berit Nilsdatter. Berit, age 21 in 1898, a contract reindeer herder, was listed as being from both Kautokeino and Karasjok.

EIRA, Johan E. and Marit P. SARA. They arrived in Alaska in 1898, helped at the building of Eaton Station at Unalakleet, and with reindeer herding, and returned to Norway in 1900.

EIRA, Mathis and wife Berit J. HAETTA, and children. They arrived in Alaska in 1894 on the Kjellman Expedition with 8-year-old son Aslak.

GAUP, Aslak A. and Kjersten M. TORNENSIS. They traveled in 1898, and their daughter Anne GAUP was born on board ship off the coast of Alaska in the summer of 1898.

GREINER, Otto. He was on the Manitoba expedition, age 25 in 1898, and went to Nome as early as fall of 1898, where he was a hired hand for Regnar Dahl and the North American Trade and Transport.

HAETTA, Isak J. Isak arrived in 1898 at age 22, and stayed in Alaska over 30 years, until 1929.

HAETTA, Jacob L., wife Berit M. TORNENSIS, daughter BeritAnne HAETTA, and stepson Mikkel S. BONGO. Also Lars L. HAETTA, brother of Jacob. Descendents' surnames are SPEIN and BONGO, in Norway.

HAETTA, Peder J. and Susanna PENTHA. Peder was 22 and single when the 1898 expedition arrived in Alaska. He took part in the Haines trek. He married Susanna PENTHA, one of 3 Sami sisters who came to the USA from Norway. (NOTE; This Peder J. Haetta is not to be confused with the Per J. Haetta who returned to Karasjok Norway after two years in Alaska.)

HAETTA, several individuals.

HANSEN, Amund. Arriving in Alaska at age 22 on the 1898 expedition, Amund was released from his herding contract at Eaton Station in 1899, and headed for Nome.

HANSEN, Johan Hilmar. He was 23, from Alta Norway, in 1898 on the expedition. No further mention after his April 1899 contract release, "for the mines."

HERMANSEN, Alfred, and wife Ida J. HAETTA. He was 21 in 1898, traveling single, a Finlander from Masi. He married Ida J. HAETTA shortly after arriving in Alaska.

JOHANNESEN, Peder. A 24-year-old from Finland in 1898, and a cook on the early part of the expedition, he was released in April 1899 for the mines.

JOHANSEN (See also "STALOGARGO" and "TVERSLO")

JOHNSEN, Anders, age 24 from Karasjok when he arrived in Alaska, is recorded in Karasjok records as "died in Alaska." No other known details. He was also part of the Jensen/Kirkevergeslekten family.

JOSEFSEN, Samuel. He was from Finland, age 25 in 1898 on the expedition, and released April 1899, "for the mines."

KEMI, Samuel J., wife Kirsten P. BALS, son Samuel, and daughter Anna. They went to Alaska in 1894 with the Kjellman expedition, and an additional 2 children were born in Alaska.

KJELDSBERG, Magnus and Thoralf. Both men were 22 in 1898, on the Manitoba Expedition, from Kaafjord, Norway, and they may have been twins or perhaps cousins. They are buried in Oakland, California, and there are descendents in that region.

KJELDSBERG, Emil. Possibly related to two other Kjeldsbergs listed at Nome. He was age 26 in 1898, from Kaafjord Norway. He did the entire Haines to Circle City trek in 1898-99, then was released from contract in June 1899. He fell very ill in Nome with typhoid fever in the fall of 1899, according to the diary of Sacariasen. He may have died there, or recovered. (Some Kaafjord research has been started.)

KJELLMAN, William. A Norwegian immigrant from Wisconsin, Kjellman was hired at age 33 by Dr. Sheldon Jackson of the US Reindeer Project because he was from Finnmark and knew about reindeer herding. He also spoke English, Norwegian, Finnish, and Sami.

KROGH, Ole. From Karasjok Norway, he was age 40 in 1898. He may have gone with Sheldon Jackson to Siberia in 1898 to buy reindeer, then spent a short time at Eaton Station before heading to Nome in the fall of 1898 with William Kjellman. Krogh was again herding with the US Reindeer Service by 1900, and taught at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, with Nils SARA.

KVAMME, Jens, and his brothers, surnamed ANDERSON. Jens KVAMME was part of the Kuskokwim community of herders. Although from the Finnmark area of northern Norway, he did not claim Sami heritage, but was a reindeer herder. Jens married Ellen-Marie SARA after she divorced Per SPEIN, and they had 4 children.

LARSEN, Fredrick. He arrived in 1894 on the Kjellman Expedition from Finnmark, at age 18. He was selected for the journey as a "Catholic Lapp," because Dr. Sheldon Jackson wanted to place a herd at a Catholic mission.

LARSEN, Lauritz. He was about 30 in 1898, from Alta. No further mention after his March 1899 release from contract, for the mines.

LEINAN, Otto, and family. Otto Leinan, his wife Hilda and 4 children Harald, Ragnvald, Oswald, and Alice were on the 1898 Manitoba expedition to Alaska, from Kaafjord Norway.

LINDEBERG, Japhet. An immigrant from Kaafjord Norway on the 1898 expedition, Lindeberg was under contract with the US Reindeer Service to deliver draft reindeer and to teach herding. Japhet Lindeberg married and lived until 1962, in the San Francisco Bay region.

LOSVAR, Johan. Mentioned in the diaries, but not in the 1898 ship manifests, he may have joined up during the trip.

NAKKALA, Mikkel J., and wife BeritAnne HAETTA. They came to Alaska in 1894 from Kautokeino with the Kjellman Expedition.

NAKKALA, Tom. Not recorded on the 1894 or 1898 voyages, Tom may have been the son of either Mikkel J. Nakkala or Isak Salomonsen Nakkila, both of whom served in Alaska before moving to Washington.

NAKKILA (or NIKKILA), Isak Salamonsen. In 1898, Isak was 28 and single.

NANGO, Johan Peter J., wife Kristine P. UTSI and son Per went to Alaska in 1898 as contract herders.

NILIMA, Alfred and John. Alfred arrived in Alaska in 1898, while brother John Nilima and wife Anna MORTENSDATTER arrived in 1907. Alfred married around 1905 to Alice FOSTER (Inupiat) of Kotzebue, and their children were Lila and James. Descendents' surnames are GREGG and SHELDON, still in the Kotzebue region. Later Alfred married Marit Johansdatter PENTHA, a Sami midwife, and they returned to Norway in the 1930's after US federal law prohibited non-native reindeer herding in Alaska.

NILLUKA, Mathis Ivar Klemetsen ("Mike"). He was 20 and single in 1898 on the Manitoba expedition to Alaska. His first wife was Grace AUTZYUK (Inupiat) and their daughter was Hannah. Nome descendents surnames are MILLER, and are interested in their Sami and Inupiat heritage. Mike Nilluka married again in the early 1920's to a Sami woman, Berit SIRI, who came from Norway. The descendents of son Peter NILLUKA are known, and are in the lower 48 states,.

NILSEN, Klemet Sjuosjavre. Also, he was the brother of Sofie Andersen who was on the same expedition. (See ANDERSEN, above.) (Probably his last name was actually Sjuosjavre, as was his sister Sofie, and he chose the easier patronymic middle name NILSEN for official documents.)

OLSEN, Ole. From Karasjok, Norway, Ole arrived in 1898 on the Manitoba Expedition. His mother Sofie ANDERSEN was also on the 1898 expedition, and she settled in the Unalakleet area with her husband Per ANDERSEN. Ole OLSEN settled in the Golovin area, married Elvira KIMOAYUK (Inupiaq) and they had 2 sons. Ole OLSEN was the grandfather, and Sofie ANDERSEN the great-grandmother, of Alaska's State Senator Dr. Donny Olsen.

PAULSEN, Olai, wife Birgithe, a family of 5. Olai Paulsen, his wife and three children Kristian, Margit, and Alfhild, were also from Kaafjord Norway. They arrived in 1898 with the Manitoba Expedition.

PENTHA, 3 sisters: Marit Johansdatter Pentha and her two sisters Inga, and Susanna. Marit PENTHA married Alfred NILIMA of Kotzebue and they returned to Norway. Her sister Inga PENTHA married Mathias Speinsen TORNENSIS in Poulsbo Washington and they settled there. Also married and settled in Poulsbo were sister Susanna PENTHA and Peder HAETTA, a Sami reindeer herder who had been in Alaska for many years.

PORSANGER, Per Josefsen. From Karasjok, Per was 41 when he went to Alaska in 1898.

PULK, Mikkel N. and family (Canada). Mikkel was the grandson of an 1898 expeditioner. He and his family arrived in 1931 in the Canadian Northwest Territories to care for the reindeer herd arriving from Alaska via the Brooks Range (see Andy Baer, above). The BINDER family, continue in reindeer herding to this day. Lloyd Binder has published a book on herding, The Reindeer Herders of the Mackenzie Delta, in 2003.

PULK, Johan A., wife Karen H. GAUP, and daughters Inger-Karen and Berret-Inga were with the 1898 Manitoba expedition. Only one family member, 19-year-old son Ole J. PULK, made it to Alaska, and stayed there, settling in the Bethel community (See Ole PULK, below.)

PULK, Ole Johansen. Age 19 in the 1898 expedition, Ole PULK was the only member of his parents' family to make it to Alaska.

RAPP, Ole M. He was a 21-year-old from Alta on the 1898 expedition. Released from contract April 1899, he was listed as staking Seattle Creek with Stefansen and Amund Hansen in Nome.

RAVNA, Johannes. He was 33 from Karasjok in 1898 when he came to Alaska.

REDMYER, Hedley, wife Marit RIST, and daughter. Hedley Redmyer, of Talvik Norway, arrived in the USA at age 18 in 1884, with his parents, and settled in Minnesota. He was a cousin of William KJELLMAN who organized the Alaska expeditions for Dr. Sheldon Jackson and the US government. Descendents surnames include COCHRAN, BROOKE, POORTVLEIT.

RIST, Johan Petter P., and BeritAnne L. HAETTA, arrived in 1898 in Alaska and went back to Norway in 1900.

RIST, Per Aslaksen and BeritAnne A. SPEIN. In 1894, Per RIST traveled to Alaska with the Kjellman expedition, leaving his family in Norway.

RIST-BALS-BOINE, EllenMarie Persdatter. She arrived in 1898 in Alaska with her husband Nils BALS and his children, who were her stepchildren. The BALS children stayed in Alaska, and BAHL descendents are in Alaska and the "Lower 48". (See also BALS, above.)

SACARIASEN, Karl. A cook, age 23 from Kaafjord Norway, Karl was hired for the 1898 expedition. He was a cousin of Wilhelm Basi.

SAMUELSEN, Hans. He was 26, and from Finland. No further word after his release to the mines, April 1899.

SARA, Nils Persen, and wife Inger Marie MORTENSDATTER, and children. Descendents mostly remain in Alaska and are surnamed SARA, SPEIN, KVAMME, DYE, DILLON, MURPHY, ALEXIE, KVAMME, TWITCHELL, HORNER, VENES, NIEMEYER, HANSON, SARA, MOWER, JACK, SNODGRASS, and SAMUELSEN, plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

SEPPALA, Lenart. He was invited by Japhet LINDEBERG to come to Nome to help supervise the mining, a few years after the gold discoveries. Seppala was from Skjervoy, Norway, was either Kven or Sami, and spoke Finnish. He ran a Finnish-speaking mining crew for Lindeberg. Later, in 1925, he became famous for his role in dogsledding needed diphtheria serum to Nome during an epidemic. This led to the formation of the famous Iditarod dogsled races in Alaska.

SIRI, Hans A. and Per N. Distantly related SIRIs, Hans was from Karasjok and Per was from Kautokeino, Norway. They were 23 and 21, respectively, in 1898, and both were selected to complete the yearlong

SJUOSJAVRE (See ANDERSEN and NILSEN above.)

SOKKI. John M. He came to Alaska in 1898 independently of the Manitoba expedition, at age 23.

SOMBY, Aslak L. and wife Brita O. NANGO, ages 52 and 46, left their 11 oldest children in Norway, and arrived in Alaska in 1894 on the Kjellman expedition with their 11-year-old daughter. .

SPEIN, Per Mathisen, and brother Mathis Mathisen SPEIN. Per Spein arrived in Alaska in 1898, 28 and single, with the Manitoba expedition. Per SPEIN married Ellen SARA around 1900, and they divorced in 1916. Descendents surnames in Alaska include SPEIN, DYE, DILLON, MURPHY, ALEXIE, and TWITCHELL, plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

SPEIN-KVAMME and TWITCHELL. Tim Twitchell (Yup'ik)(1906-2001) was the husband of Anna SPEIN-KVAMME. The daughter of Ellen SARA and Per SPEIN above, Anna was adopted by stepfather Jens KVAMME and used his name. Tim Twitchell, born 1906, married Anna Spein KVAMME in 1938, and was the father of many Sami-Yup'ik descendents who are living in Alaska.

STALOGARGO, Johan Peder J. Age 33 at the time of the 1898 expedition to Alaska, "Stalogargo" as he was called, had been a "mailman on skees (sic)" in the North Cape of Norway, according to the Jackson reports. He was one of several Sami men who pulled their cargo-laden sleds by hand from Eaton Station to Nome, over the ice of Norton Sound, in the spring of 1899.

STEFANSEN, Lauritz was 21 in 1898, a cook from Alta.

STENSFJELD, Ole J. A 24-year-old from Roros, Norway, he was released March 1899 for the mines.

SUHR, Karl Ove. After helping with recruitment and reindeer driving to Alta for the expedition in 1898, Suhr went along to Alaska. He was 28, and from Elvebakken, Finland.

THOMASEN, Gunharda, age 18 in 1898, was listed by one author as part of the Manitoba expedition, but she was not on the contract listing. She was listed as age 18, from Kaafjord. No other mentions.

TORNENSIS families. Many Tornensis family members arrived in Alaska with the 1894 and 1898 expeditions, and worked for the US Reindeer Service.

Isak Mikkelsen TORNENSIS, single, returned to Norway in 1900, after a 2-year stay in Alaska.

TORNENSIS, Johan I. and wife Berit A. KEMI. They came to Alaska in 1898 without children.

TORNENSIS, Johan Speinsen and his wife MaritGrete NAKKALAJARVI, and Berit, their youngest, arrived in 1894 in Alaska, and spent several years teaching herding for the US Reindeer Service.

TORNENSIS, Mathias Speinsen, the brother of Johan, also arrived from Norway, married Inga PENTHA, and settled in Poulsbo. Descendents in Washington region are surnamed NILSEN, WILCOX, and others.

TORNENSIS, Aslak M., wife Susanna J. TORNENSIS, and daughter Anne Susanne. This family went to Canada in 1931 to help with reindeer herding in the Northwest Territory, on the same trip as the PULK and HAETTA expeditioners. The wife Susanna, a half-sister to the Poulsbo TORNENSIS children, (her biological father was Johan Speinsen Tornensis) had been to Alaska as a child in 1898 with her stepfather Aslak BALS and mother Susanne HAETTA, and returned in 1900 to Norway. In 1931, however, Susanne, Aslak and Anne stayed seven years, helped to establish the Canadian herd, then returned to Norway in 1938.

(NOTE ALSO: Further Tornensis families also emigrated to the USA, but without Alaska events in their lives. One of these helped to found Pacific Lutheran College.)

TVERSLO, Johan M. Johansen. He was 21 in 1898, and may have called himself by the surname Johansen rather than Tverslo, but the US government records listed him as Tverslo.

UTSI, Anders P. From Kautokeino, he came in 1898 to Alaska at age 36, and returned to Norway in 1900.

VESTAD, Ivar. (Known as Ivar West.) Arriving in Alaska in 1898, Ivar stayed in the Nome area, reindeer herding into the 1930's. He was on the Great Trek drive of reindeer to Canada in the 1930's.. He was remembered as a traditional Sami, and a Unalakleet resident remembers him carrying and eating reindeer cheese, made in baskets.

WIIG, Rolf. He was only 18 on the 1898 expedition to Alaska, from Alta, Norway. He was chosen to be a storekeeper at Eaton Station.

Catalog Number

2010.85.01

Collection

Miscellaneous, T-87