Edelman Family

The Edelman family in Alaska begins with (Edvin Jacobsen) “Edwin” Edelman who was born in Porvoo ,Uusimaa, Finland on February 11, 1856. At that time Finland was under the authority of Russia.

Edwin first came to Juneau in 1885 and mined in Southeast Alaska. In June of 1897 he located a gold claim, “The Edelman” on Rainbow Creek, on the north side of Turnagain Arm. On May 1, 1888, he and four others left Juneau in a whaleboat to join a gold stampede to Yakutat Bay. Later he prospected in Prince William Sound.

He went to Iliamna Lake in 1889 and located petroleum near Oil Bay and Iniskin Bay. He staked oil claims there - the earliest known effort to develop the petroleum resources of Alaska - but he later abandoned them. During his first two years at Iliamna he said he met only one other white man - Frank Lowell, the original settler of Resurrection Bay who came to Iliamna on his schooner, Maria, taking census during he autumn of 1890. Edelan came to Kenai in 1896 and sailed a sloop for about fifteen years around Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm.

In 1900 he was living in “Fort Kenai” Alaska and already married to Demnina Oskolkoff, (b. Alaska 1879-d. 1949) the daughter of Zakharii and Elizaveta KNAGIN Oskolkoff. They had two children, Nina and Zacharias. He was listed as a miner and his mailing address was San Francisco, California. By 1910 there were five more children.

Edwin declared his loyalty to the US in 1883 and became a naturalized US citizen in 1915.

CHILDREN:

• NINA EDELMAN LUND was born on March 10, 1896, in Kenai, Alaska. She married Carl John Lund and they had three sons John, Carl, and Albert and five daughters, Agnes, Virginia, Mathilde, Dolly, and Jean between 1915 and 1926. She died in December 1977 in Seldovia, Alaska, at the age of 81.

• JACOB “JACK” EDELMAN, born July 26, 1900 in Kenai, married PAULINE JULIUSSEN ON April 25, 1937. Pauline was the daughter of James Juliussen who had immigrated to the US from Norway, and his wife, Anna. They lived in Kenai as well. Jack and Pauline moved to Seldovia where they had three children, Richard, Jacqueline and Shirley. On August 27, 1951 Pauline and Jackie were killed in Seldovia when the small plane they were in crashed upon takeoff. Also killed was Seldovia resident John Alex. Pauline and Jacqueline are buried in adjacent graves in Seldovia City Cemetery.

• • JACQUELINE EDELMAN was born 1940 in Seldovia, Alaska. She, along with four others including her mother, died August 27, 1951, Seldovia, when the plane she was in crashed upon takeoff. She was eleven years old. She is buried adjacent to her mother in Seldovia City Cemetery.

• EMMA EDELMAN JOSEFSEN was born June 23, 1902, in Kenai, Alaska, to Domnina Oskolkoff Edelman, of Kenaitze (Athabaskan) Indian and Russian decent, and Edvin (Edwin) Edelman, a Finn explorer from Porvoo. Her Russian Orthodox baptismal name was Evgeniia. She attended a school run by the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai. She was the wife of Simon Josefsen and Martin Haakonsen, both of Seldovia. She died May 11, 1993, Seldovia, Alaska.

• MARTHA EDELMAN was born in Kenai, Alaska on February 23, 1904. On January 9, 1927, in Seldovia, she married ARTHUR KVARNESS who was born October 15, 1892 in Trondheim, Norway. They had three children, one of whom died as an infant and is buried in the Seldovia Hillside Cemetery. In 1948 they were living in Seattle, Washington. She died there in 1950. He died March 16, 1953 and is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery.

• JOHN EDELMAN was born 1906 in Kenai, Alaska and died 1975 in Everett, Washington.

• EDWIN EDELMAN: Lifetime Alaskan Ed Edelman, 84, died Friday, 13 Nov 1992, in Homer after a short illness. Mr. Edelman was born Aug. 13, 1908 in Kenai, Alaska, to Domnina Oskolkoff Edelman, of Kenaitze (Athabaskan) Indian and Russian decent, and Edvin (Edwin) Edelman, a Finn explorer from Porvoo. Edelman attended high school at the Chemewa Indian School near Salem, Oregon, traveling by steamboat. Prior to that, he attended a school ran by the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai. In 1934, he met and married Lottie Van Horn in Portland, Ore. They made their home in Seldovia, Anchorage and Kenai for the past 58 years. Mr. Edelman was a retired commercial fisherman and member of the Local 367 of the Plumbers and Steamfitters in Anchorage. He was also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks for 47 years, as well as a member of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and CIRI. According to his family, Mr. Edelman left a legacy of love for the Alaska outdoors and commercial fishing.

Demnina and sons Edwin and Jack