That Time Grandpa Martin Blew Up the Schoolhouse and Uncle Ike Shot a Bull

In my children's father's family, there had long been a story about how my former mother-in-law's maternal grandfather had blown up the schoolhouse because he was mad at the schoolteacher. The family story continued that the younger sons who were still living at home had taken the fall for their father and gone to prison because he was older and needed to stay home to continue to farm. If true, this would make sense, as penitentiaries in those days involved backbreaking hard labor.

Recently, my children's father's cousin was in our local area and met up with their uncle, my former brother-in-law. The cousin and her husband had driven up to Sandpoint, Idaho, the county seat near where their ancestors had lived, and visited the museum. They talked to the museum staff about whether they were familiar with a story about a local schoolhouse being blown up in the early twentieth century. When the staff answered in the affirmative and said two young men had been arrested, the cousin shared the family story of how it was actually the father who had done the dirty deed.

After hearing all this from my children's uncle, I decided to see if I could find any newspaper articles about the incident to parse out family legend and facts. I hit the jackpot with Newspapers.com's collection of Bonners Ferry Herald issues. I found two articles referencing the incident and another one that hinted at it.

“Katka School Wrecked,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 1 September 1916, p. 10, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

Katka School Wrecked

The school house at Katka was wrecked by an explosion of dynamite shortly after noon Wednesday. The county officers will endeavor to apprehend the guilty parties.

The Katka district recently let a contract for the building of a new modern school to Frank Clapp. The old building was to have been used until the new one was ready for occupancy. It is claimed that incident Wednesday is the result of dissatisfaction over the action of the school trustees in hiring a teacher.

The next article, published on 8 September 1916, provided more details:

“Katka Folks in Trouble,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 8 September 1916, p. 1, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

KATKA FOLKS IN TROUBLE

Ike Martin Charged With Shooting Mayfield's Bull—Martins Threaten To Have Mayfield Arrested

YOUNGER MARTIN IS TAKEN TOO

Is Charged With Being a Juvenile Delinquent

Charged with maliciously shooting a bull belonging to A. C. Mayfield, Ike Martin, of Katka, was arrested last Saturday by Sheriff Worley. Steve Martin, a younger brother, was taken in charge by Worley and at the time of his brother's hearing, next Tuesday morning, will be arraigned as a juvenile delinquent before Probate Judge O'Callaghan.

The shooting is said to have happened Friday evening and it is understood that the state will produce witnesses to prove the charges made against the elder Martin.

The defendant in the case was unable to secure bonds and is in Sheriff Worley's charge. He claims that the bull shot is dangerous and that he shot it to protect himself.

The younger lad, it is claimed, will have to answer to several minor charges and the county authorities claim that he was heard to have made threats about blowing up the Katka school. It is claimed that the older Martin boy made similar threats and that damaging circumstantial evidence will be produced. Both the Martins deny having anything to do with the blowing up of the old Katka school house a week ago last Wednesday.

The Martin boys are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Martin, who have lived in the district many years. Mr. Martin, Sr., was in the city yesterday and announced that he intended to swear to a complaint charging A. C. Mayfield with drawing a loaded revolver and threatening one of the Martin boys with it at the time of the recent school election at Katka.

After the Katka schoolhouse was blown up last week it developed that several of the patrons of the school were in arms over the action of the school board. It seems that the board first hired Mrs. Mary Dore to teach again this year and that for some reason or other the clerk, A. A. Jennings, took it upon himself to sign a contract with Miss Gertrude O'Neill, of Minnesota. Miss O'Neill arrived here last Saturday expecting to begin the school term Monday. It was told yesterday that the school board of the district had agreed to pay Miss O'Neill's expenses back to her home if she would relinquish her contract.

John Franklin "Frank" Martin and his wife Angelia Rebecca (Luke) Martin were my children's great-great-grandparents. They had 12 children; Isaac "Ike" Raymond Martin and Steven Charles Martin being their third and fifth sons and seventh and tenth children, respectively. Their sixth daughter and youngest child, Leona Mary Martin (married name Chaplin), was my children's great-grandmother. She does not appear in this story and would have been not quite 10 years old at the time.

While I have not yet found more information about charges regarding the schoolhouse incident, it does sound like there was basically a feud between the Martins and the Mayfields with gunshots fired on both sides. In addition, serious accusations were made against the young Steve Martin without any apparent evidence.

 

“Ike Martin Freed by Jury,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 15 September 1916, p. 4, col. 4; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

IKE MARTIN FREED BY JURY

Tried in Probate Court for Shooting Mayfield's Bull

The trial of Ike Martin on the charge of having shot a bull belonging to A. C. Mayfield, occupied attention of Probate Judge O'Callaghan Tuesday. The jury in the case brought in a verdict of "not guilty" and Martin was dismissed.

Nearly every resident of the Katka district attended the trial as a witness for the defendant or the state. Witnesses for the state claimed that the bull was shot from behind and Mrs. Mayfield swore to seeing Ike Martin shoot the bull. The Martin swore that he shot the bull from in front and that he was afraid of it as it was of a vicious disposition. Other witnesses swore that the bull was vicious. Bartlett Sinclair defended Martin.

On Wednesday Stephen Martin was given a hearing before Probate Judge O'Callaghan on the charge of being a juvenile delinquent. S. E. Henry conducted the defense. The case was continued until Monday when further evidence will be introduced.

In this case many Katka people were called in as witnesses. Mrs. Jennings and son were star witnesses for the state and swore that young Martin had attempted un-natural practices upon the baby Jennings girl. Witnesses for the Martin boy gave him a good character.

There is great bitterness in the Katka district over the recent happenings. The Martins and their friends claim they are being prosecuted, while many of their neighbors say they are living in dread of their lives and the lives of their wives and children.

J. V. Witt reports that Sunday evening someone fired a bullet from a high-power rifle through the front door of his house, the bullet passing a little over the head of his sleeping baby. On Monday Mrs. Witt was badly frightened when the clothes she was hanging up to dry were peppered with shot from a shotgun.

This all sounds very much like the Hatfields and the McCoys, doesn't it? I definitely need to search for more newspaper articles and plan to research court records, perhaps on site at the courthouse in nearby Sandpoint.

Precious Memories: Tying Shoes

Miriam and Pixie on the front steps at our home
on Bayview Boulevard, Klawock, Alaska, 1971.

My dad taught me how to tie my shoes when I was probably five years old, about a year after this photo was taken 

First he taught me how to put my shoes on the correct feet by showing me how the tips of the shoes matched the shape of my feet: slightly larger on the inside by my big toes and curving down to the outside by my pinky toes. Next I learned how to pull the tongue straight so it wouldn't fold under or wrinkle and make my foot uncomfortable (it made me giggle to hear that a shoe had a tongue, just like me!).

Then he showed me how to cross the ends of the shoelaces ("make an X"), take the bottom lace up and over the other, through the "hole" at the bottom of the X, and pull the ends tight. Finally, I made "bunny ears" with each of the laces and repeated the previous steps. I was so proud that I could tie my little blue Keds all by myself!

Henry Jacobs: A War of 1812 Veteran Ancestor?

View of the Camp of Col Laight's Regiment of Militia
from the New York Public Library's Digital Collection

Back in January 2017, I made an accidental discovery about a man whom I believe is my ancestor. 

I was doing some research in old, out-of-copyright county histories for Tioga County, New York at the Internet Archive, searching for any and all of my many family lines who lived there in the second half of the nineteenth century, including my Strong, Curtis, Jacobs, Lane, Mead, Wright, Clark, Rockwell, and Partridge lines.

In the 1907 history, Owego: Some account of the early settlement of the Village in Tioga County, N.Y.... by LeRoy Wilson Kingman, I found a chapter of the military history of the village from the American Revolution through 1850. At the end of the chapter, it said that in March 1867, the Owego Gazette published a list of the survivors of the War of 1812 then living in Tioga County, with their ages. Henry Jacobs, age 83, was listed among them.1

My 4th-great-grandfather, Henry Jacobs, fits this bill. He was born about 1786 in Westchester County, New York,2 so he would have been more or less the right age in March of 1867. He resided in the Town of Spencer, Tioga County, New York when the 1810 Federal Census was taken,³ and was in the Town of Candor in 1820,⁴ so it was likely he was in New York during the war. 

I have looked at the pension records available for War of 1812 Veterans and their widows at Fold3. The only one for a man named Henry Jacobs was a soldier who died 29 June 1861 in Morristown, Pennsylvania.5 My Henry Jacobs lived until 11 November 18766 and died presumably in the Town of Candor, where he was last enumerated in the 1875 New York State Census with his daughter and son-in-law, Esther and James Cortwright.7 Pensions for veterans of this war were not offered until 1871,8 and if his daughter's family was able to support and care for him, there would have been no reason to apply for a pension.

A little digging into this to see if I can find some solid evidence that my Henry is the same man mentioned in the county history is warranted. If true, this would be my fifth identified ancestor who was a veteran of the War of 1812.

Sources:

    1. LeRoy Wilson Kingman, Owego: Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego (Owego, New York: Owego Gazette Office, 1907), pp. 391-2; imaged, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/owegosomeaccount00king/ : accessed 7 January 2017).

    2. 1855 census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor ED 2, p. 5, line 29, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7181/ : accessed 5 August 2016); citing Tioga County Clerk's Office, Owego.

    3. 1810 U.S. census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Spencer, p. 85 (stamped), line 20, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7613/ : accessed 18 June 2016.

    4. 1820 U.S. census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor, p. 38, line 22, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7734/ : accessed 18 June 2016.

    5. "U.S., War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1812-1815," database with images, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/image/314331865/jacobs-henry-page-20-us-war-of-1812-pension-files-1812-1815 : accessed 3 September 2024) imaged untitled document: Henry Jacobs, Capt. John Huston's Co., Pa. Mil.; citing Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Applications Based on Service in the War of 1812; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Washington, D.C.: National Archives).

    6. Daughters of the American Revolution, Beulah Patterson Brown Chapter, Tioga County, New York, cemetery records of the towns of Berkshire, Candor, Newark Valley, Owego, and Richford (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1928), p. 114; imaged, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7S-S9S7-W : accessed 11 September 2024).

    7. 1875 census, Tioga County, New York, population schedule, Town of Candor ED 2, p. 18, line 44, Henry Jacobs; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7250/ : accessed 7 April 2014); citing Tioga County Clerk's Office, Owego.

    8. Stuart L. Butler, "Genealogical Records of the War of 1812," Prologue Magazine (Winter 1991, Vol. 23, No. 4); online article, Archives.gov (https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1991/winter/war-of-1812.html : accessed 11 September 2024).

The Death Certificate of Rose "June" (Barber) Morarity Eaton Wrone

Death Certificate of June Wrone¹

While I have hardly been blogging at all the past few years, I have not stopped doing genealogical research at genealogy websites, ordering documents from courthouses, archives, and libraries, or expanding my genealogy education. My focus lately has been to identify the parents of my most recent "brick wall" ancestor, my paternal great-great-grandfather James W. Barber (1841 - 1912). I have blogged about him before here, here, here, and here.

One of the targets of my research plan has been to obtain death records for all ten children of James and his wife Elizabeth Ann "Betsey" Cole to see if a specific birthplace other than "England" is listed for their father's birthplace. I was challenged, however, to find any mention after 1955 of their youngest daughter whose name has been spelled Rose, Rosie, Rosa Bell, Isabel, Rosman, Rosamond, and Rosemond and who was often nicknamed June, which is what I will call her. 

In attempting to locate a death record for June, I once again came across a challenge that has often frustrated me: there is an unfortunate nearly two-decade gap, 1952 - 1971, between available online death records indexes for the state of Michigan, June's presumed final residence. Ancestry has a death records index, "Michigan, U.S., Death Index, 1971-1996." FamilySearch's "Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800 - 1995" is incomplete, according to the Michigan Deaths and Burials page at the FamilySearch wiki. At Michiganology's "Death Certificates 1897 - 1952" collection, death records created between 1921 and 1948 include an image of the death certificate, while records from 1949-1952 are only available in an index. I suspected June had died during this record gap, as I had been unable to find her in my many searches in the the above collections.

Fortunately, I have found obituaries for six of June's nine siblings, and four of them mentioned her specifically, giving me information that I did not have previously about her and narrowing the search time frame. The first was the 1945 obituary of sister Clarissa "Clara" Jane (Barber) Goodwin Sines which named Rose as "Mrs. Rose Rhome of Detroit".² The surname Rhome was new to me (although I found out later it was an incorrect spelling of Wrone). I had located two marriage records for June, neither to a man with a surname of Rhome or Wrone. The first record was for a marriage on 23 September 1896 to William Morarity in Lapeer, Lapeer County, Michigan.³ The second record was for a marriage to William A. Eaton on 15 May 1906 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.⁴

The next sibling obituary was for sister Lavina Elizabeth (Barber) Wilson Streeter in 1949.⁵ This one named June as "Mrs. Rose Wrone of Detroit". Sister Caroline "Carrie" (Barber) Smith Hutchinson Poole's 1951 obituary provided another clue, naming June as "Mrs. Michael Wrone of Detroit."⁶ And finally, younger brother Alexander Barber's 1955 obituary names her as "Mrs. Michael Wromes, Detroit."⁷

So began my search for a marriage of Rose/Rosa Bell/Rosemond or June Eaton nee Barber to Michael Wrone between 1955 and 1971. These searches involved many variations of their first and last names. I was able to find their marriage record in Lucas County, Ohio on 1 March 1930,⁸ less than two months after she divorced William Eaton on 9 January 1930 in Wayne County, Michigan.⁹ (I have yet to locate a divorce record for her marriage to William Morarity or a death record for him.) June signed her marriage application as "Mrs Rosemond J Eaton," which leads me to believe that June was her middle name and not just a nickname.

Michael Wrone's parents were listed on their marriage record as Peter Wrone and Teckla Bennett. However, his obituary mentions his brother Joseph Wronikowski, which led me to other documents confirming that this was the original spelling of his last name.

Michael's 1971 obituary in the Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com¹⁰ described him as "Beloved husband of the late June", so I knew that she had to have died sometime between her brother Alex's death on 28 February 1955 and Michael's death on 26 May 1971. The obituary mentioned a funeral home, R. G. & G. R. Harris Funeral Home of Detroit, and I was able to find current contact information for them. I sent them an email to ask if they had any information on a burial, cremation, etc. for June, but never received a reply.

Meanwhile, I located a memorial page for Michael at Find a Grave.¹¹ He was buried at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. My next task was to contact the cemetery to see if they had any death and/or burial information for June. I received an email from them stating that although they did not have an exact date of death for her, she had been interred on 1 May 1958 in Section Q, lot 778, plot 2. Michael was buried in plot 1.

Obtaining an interment date was beneficial in that it considerably narrowed down a potential time frame for her death. With this information, I sent off to the Wayne County Clerk's office for June's death certificate. It arrived on 3 February 2024.

Finally, I had a death date and location for June: 28 April 1958 in Detroit. Unfortunately, the death certificate had no fields for birthplaces of the decedent's parents; only for their names.¹² 

Despite the many searches I had done in online newspaper websites, I had not been able to find an obituary or death notice for June until after I obtain her death certificate. Narrowing down the time frame, I was able to go page by page through the Detroit Free Press in the days after her death and finally located her death notice, published 30 April 1958.¹³ The Optical Character Recognition had simply not been able to find it in all of my many searches over the years.

I felt a sense of accomplishment and closure having finally determined when and where Rose June (Barber) Morarity Eaton Wrone--with many variations of her first name and with a surname originally spelled Wronikowski--was buried. With all these names and variants, no wonder it had been a challenge to find her!

---

Future posts will discuss the other death records of James and Elizabeth (Cole) Barber's children and what information was given on them for James's birthplace.

Sources:

1. Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate 5860, June Wrone; County Clerk’s Office, Detroit.

2. “Mrs. Clara Jane Sines,” Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 7 May 1945, p. 11, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : viewed 6 January 2023).

3. "Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DYJ9-TXS?cc=1452395&wc=9663-T3D%3A1041533201 : viewed 15 January 2019), image 304 of 670, entry for Wm. Morarity and Rosa B. Barber, 23 September 1896, Lapeer, Lapeer County, record #1423; citing Secretary of State, Department of Vital Records, Lansing.

4. “Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, ” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61378/ : viewed 6 January 2023), image 83 of 250, application and return for William A. Eaton and June Moriarty, 15 May 1906, Cuyahoga County 1906-1907, p. 165, application #46658; citing original data from Marriage Records, Ohio Marriages, various Ohio County Courthouses.

5. “Deaths: Mrs. Lavina E. Streeter,” Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 10 January 1949, p. 14, col. 5; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 22 March 2022).

6. "Mrs. John B. Poole," The Time Herald (Port Huron, Michigan), 25 May 1951, p. 26, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 6 March 2022).

7. "Barber, Alex," Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), 1 March 1955, p. 22, col. 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 23 March 2022).

8. "Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61378/ : viewed 23 March 2022), image 1404 of 1420, application and certificate for Michael W. Wrone and Rosamund J. Eaton, 1 March 1930, Lucas County 1929-1930, p. 530, application #84338; citing original data from Marriage Records, Ohio Marriages, various Ohio County Courthouses.

9. "Michigan, U.S., Divorce Records, 1897-1952," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9092/ : viewed 6 January 2023), image 1652 of 4401, divorce record for Rosman Eaton and William Eaton, 9 January 1930, 1924-1947 Wayne County certificates 29,290-33,636, state file #82 30937; citing original data from  Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing.

10. "Wrone," Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), 28 May 1971, pg. 34, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 23 March 2022). 

11. FindAGrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/262037463/michael-w-wrone : accessed 11 January 2024), memorial page for Michael W. Wrone, Oakview Cemetery, Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. Includes a tombstone photo.

12. Wayne County, Michigan, death certificate 5860, June Wrone.

13. "Wrone," Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan), 30 April 1958, pg. 29, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : viewed 12 June 2024).

A Busy Day for Weddings in the HOLST and ROBBINS Families

I've been busy cleaning up items in the Downloads folder of my laptop.  In many cases, I downloaded an image of a record from a genealogy or historical newspaper site and then used my photo editing software to make a copy of it, clip or resize it, rename it to fit my digital filing conventions, and then file it in the appropriate genealogy folder.  But sometimes I didn't delete the original image.  Other times, I downloaded an image but forgot to clean it up and move it to a folder.  My Downloads folder was very full at over 1400 items, but it is slowly getting cleaned out and is down to about 550!

Today I once again came across the October 17, 1940 edition of the Coopersville (Michigan) Observer that published my paternal grandparents' wedding announcement on page 8, column 3:

Grandma and Grandpa had a simple wedding in the Methodist pastor's parsonage on a Saturday morning.  They wore their Sunday best outfits, as seen in the photo below.

Their best friends, Geneva Parish and Raymond Adams stood with them during the ceremony, although my Great-Grandmother Nellie Holst signed the marriage certificate rather than Geneva. I know that Geneva would have been about 16 years old, just like my grandmother, so she would not have been of legal age to sign the marriage certificate. I don't know if my Great-Grandfather Alfred Holst or my Great-Grandparents Robbins (Bill Sr. and Marie) attended the ceremony.

After the ceremony, they had a "dinner", probably held at noon, at my Great-Grandparents Holst's home with immediate family.  I'm guessing that would have been both sets of parents of the bridal couple, my grandfather's four younger siblings (Bill Jr, Shirley, Jack, and Joyce) and perhaps my grandmother's older married sister and brother-in-law, Lucille and John VanderHorn.

When I was double checking to make sure that I had clipped, renamed, and copied the announcement into both my grandparents' genealogy documents folders, the surname Klinger in column 2 of the same page caught my eye.

I knew that my Great-grandfather Holst had a sister named Margaret ("Maggie"), who had married Johan H. Klinger.  Taking a closer look, I realized that Margaret and Johan's daughter Ethel Klinger, who was my grandmother's cousin, got married to Steve Hulka on the same day that Grandma did, only in the afternoon in Muskegon, rather than in the morning in Coopersville:

While Grandma and Grandpa had a simple and informal wedding, Ethel and her groom Steve Hulka, had a more traditional church ceremony at a Lutheran church.  Ethel wore a "...white satin gown with train and fingertip veil...."

I was able to identify everyone in the article.  Mrs. Theo. Klatt was Jennie (Holst) Klatt, another sister of Alfred Holst, and Mrs. William Scheile was Jennie's daughter, Ellen.

Next mentioned were my grandparents' wedding party and immediate families!  Miss Geneva Parish, Miss Shirley Robbins, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Robbins (my grandparents), Mrs. Alfred Holst, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Adams (so Ray's wife would likely have been at my grandparents' wedding, too) and Mr. and Mrs. John VanderHorn were all named.

It sounds like nearly the entire two families and wedding party left after dinner at my Great-Grandparents Holst's home and drove up to Muskegon, about 25 miles north, to attend Ethel and Steve's wedding and reception.  I did notice my Great-Grandfather Holst was not mentioned, nor three of my grandfather's siblings: Bill Jr, Jack, and Joyce.  We don't know if Bill had to work that day; he was an 18-year-old young man.  Jack and Joyce were 13 and 7, respectively.  Perhaps they stayed home, or perhaps they weren't mentioned due to lack of print space.

Also, one member of the Klinger family was not mentioned.  Joh(a)n and Maggie had at least three children: Earl, Jennie, and Ethel.  Jennie was mentioned as the maid of honor, but Earl is not mentioned.  

At any rate, it would have been an extremely busy day for both the Holst and Robbins families, and an especially busy day for my grandparents to get married in Coopersville, have a family dinner, drive to Muskegon, attend another wedding and the reception, and then set off for their honeymoon!

A New Blog: Shirley's Diary: A Depression-Era Girl's Story

Today I started a new blog.

Yes, I can hear what you're thinking!  "She hasn't kept up with her original one, and she's starting another?!"

Life has calmed down a bit (knock on wood) since my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2019, followed by his death five months later, caring for my mom, and a pandemic.  Several months ago, I came across the diary of my paternal grandfather's sister, Shirley Robbins, in the things we had packed up from my parents' home.  I had to share it, not just with family members and close friends, but with those who are genealogists, family historians, general historians, and descendants of the friends and community members mentioned in the diary.  It's a wonderful perspective of Depression-era life through the eyes of a 10- and 11-year-old girl.  It reminds me of the Kit books my daughter used to read from the American Girl series. It's real, and it will be unedited, although it will be published with comments and clarifications.

Please join me over at Shirley's Diary: A Depression-Era Girl's Story.

Before MLK, There Was Elizabeth Peratrovich

Seventy-five years ago today, the first anti-discrimination law was signed on American soil.

It was more than two decades before the Civil Rights Act. Before Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech. Before Rosa Parks's act of defiance on a Birmingham bus.

And it was brought to fruition by a soft-spoken Alaska Native woman you have probably never heard of.  It's long past time to learn her story.

Elizabeth Jean Wanamaker was born in Petersburg, Alaska on the Fourth of July, 1911, the daughter of a Native woman and an Irish man.  She was a member of the Tlingit nation, a tribe in Southeast Alaska, Northwest British Columbia, and the Southern Yukon Territory with a complex language and rich in culture, art, natural resources and oral history; a nation with a history of fierce warfare and a love of politics that transposed in modern times to powerful leadership.  Tlingit people are keenly aware of their heritage and can proudly cite their moiety and clan.  She would have been able to inform you at an early age that she was of a member of the Raven moiety, Lukaax̱.ádi clan and that her Tlingit name was Kaaxgal.aat.

When her biological parents were unable to raise her, she was adopted by another Tlingit couple, Andrew J. and Jean (Williams) Wanamaker.  Andrew was a fisherman, a lay minister for the Presbyterian church, and a charter member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), a lodge for Native men which worked to combat discrimination.  Jean was a skilled basket maker.  Elizabeth's growing up years included several Southeast Alaska communities:  Petersburg; my hometown of Klawock where she met her future husband Roy Peratrovich; and Ketchikan, where both she and Roy graduated from the public high school, which had been integrated after the school board was successfully sued by a Tlingit couple more than a quarter of a century before Brown vs. Board of Education.  Elizabeth continued her education at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska and the Western College of Education (now part of Western Washington University) in Bellingham, Washington.

At the time Elizabeth was born, neither women nor Natives could vote.  Native Americans were not even given citizenship until 1924--four years after (white) women were given suffrage--and the last state to fully guarantee voting rights for Native people was Utah in 1962.  Alaska Natives, although in the majority population-wise, experienced a great deal of prejudice and discrimination from the Caucasian population in what was then Alaska Territory.  Segregation was common everywhere in Alaska. It was this world in which Elizabeth and Roy grew up and were married, on 15 December 1931.

At first they lived in Klawock.  Roy was from a prominent Native family.  The Peratroviches, descendants of a Croatian man and his three Tlingit wives, were well-known in Alaska.  They were acute businessmen and politicians.  Roy's younger half-brother Frank served in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, the Alaska Territorial Senate, the Alaska State House of Representatives, and the Alaska State Senate.  Both Roy and Frank served as mayor of Klawock.  Roy also served as a policeman, chief clerk, and the postmaster of Klawock.  Just as importantly, he became Grand President of the ANB, and Elizabeth became the Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS).  The couple and their three children eventually moved to the territorial capital of Juneau, where they could be more involved with politics.

It was in Juneau that the Peratroviches especially noticed how strong discrimination was.  Signs stating, "No dogs or Indians" or "No Natives Allowed" were posted in front of many businesses.  When Roy and Elizabeth attempted to obtain housing in a nice neighborhood, they were refused on account of their race.  Three-and-a-half weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, they wrote a letter to the territorial governor, Ernest Gruening:

The proprietor of "Douglas Inn" does not seem to realize that our Native boys are just as willing as the White boys to lay down their lives to protect the freedom that he enjoys.  Instead he shows his appreciation by having a "No Natives Allowed" on his door.  

We were shocked when the Jews were discriminated against in Germany.  Stories were told of public places having signs, "No Jews Allowed."  All freedom-loving people in our country were horrified at these reports, yet it is being practiced in our country.

The governor befriended the couple and together they worked to pass an anti-discrimination law through the territorial legislature in 1943.  Unfortunately, it failed with a tie vote of 8-8.  But Elizabeth and Roy didn't give up.  They traveled tirelessly across the territory, encouraging Natives to support their cause and urging many of them to run for legislature.  Two years later, the bill again came to a vote.  Although expected to pass this time, there was much heated debate and many onlookers, including the Peratroviches.  Elizabeth sat quietly listening to the arguments while knitting in the back of the gallery.

Senator Allan Shattuck expressed the sentiments of many prejudiced Alaskans when he debated:

Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?

When it came time for public comments, Elizabeth set down her knitting needles and, poised and dignified, made her way to the podium from the back of the gallery.  Intelligent and beautiful, she would have had the eyes and ears of everyone in the room.  The last to speak, she was clear and eloquent:

I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind the gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights.

Her passionate speech described what it was like to be treated as a second-class citizen in her ancestral lands, how difficult it was to be refused housing because of the color of her skin, and how dismaying it was for Native children to be barred from the theaters or stores.

No law will eliminate crimes but at least you as legislators can assert to the world that you recognize the evil of the present situation and speak your intent to help us overcome discrimination.

Her words were met with thunderous applause.  When the vote was taken, the bill was passed with a vote of 11 to 5.  On 16 February 1945, Governor Gruening signed the act with Roy and Elizabeth proudly looking on.

Elizabeth Wannamaker Peratrovich died of breast cancer on 1 December 1958 in Juneau and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery there.  Roy was laid beside her after he passed in 1989.

On February 6, 1988, the Alaska legislature declared February 16 to be "Elizabeth Peratrovich Day," which has been proudly celebrated by Alaska Natives ever since.

Every year a distinguished Native American is featured on the reverse of the U.S. Sacajawea golden dollar.  At the 2019 Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand Camp, the design of the golden dollar coin commemorating Elizabeth Peratrovich was unveiled.

UPDATE: On December 30, 2020, Google honored Elizabeth Peratrovich with a Google Doodle beautifully created by Native Alaskan artist Michaela Goade.  You can read more at the Google Doodle page here.