Anesiem Alexanderoff
1872, Kodiak, Alaska — June 27, 1945, Seldovia, Alaska
Buried in Seldovia City Cemetery Plot #25ANESIEM ALEXANDEROFF was born in Kodiak in March 1872 to John and Lubov Alexandroff. His name may be spelled as Anisim and his family name is sometimes spelled Alexandroff.
The name Alexandroff is likely an outgrowth of the Russian name Aleksandrov. Early Russians at Kodiak and at Fort Ross had some version of this name and the Alexanderoffs were sometimes listed in US Census records as “Creole”, meaning of a Russian father and Alaska native woman.
Anesiem lived on Woody Island, Kodiak in 1900, with Otto Anderson, from Sweden as a lodger. In 1910 he lived with his parents, John and Leuboff (?) Alexandroff in Seldovia. In 1920 he and his wife Catherine were living on Kachemak Bay and he was a fox farmer. He had 3 adopted children including Andrew Beristoff.
He married Agnes NAUMOFF Barnes on April 12, 1931 in Seldovia. He was listed as a rancher (fox farmer, actually) at the time and both he and Agnes had been married twice before. Both of his wives had previously died, as had Agnes’ second husband, Reuben Barnes.
Anesiem was one of several native people who assisted Frederika DeLaguna and other archeologists in their explorations of Kachemak Bay in the 1930s. He was from the Aleut culture of Kodiak but susequently was married for many years to Indian women and thus he was able to supply names and details about relics found from the point of view of both cultures.
Anesiem drowned in Seldovia Bay on June 27, 1945. He was offshore in his boat and suffered an apparent heart attack. He beached the boat on the north shore of either Yukon or Hesketh Island, and was found dead sitting on the beach. Subsequently his relatives came to Seldovia and sold the property to Maury Porter.
Anesiem is buried in Seldovia City Cemetery Plot #25.
Anisim Point (From “Inventory of Cook Inlet Historical Sites, 1975”)
On the south shore of Kachemak Bay and due east of Yukon Island is a point of the mainland called Anisim Point. At the beach next to the southern knob there is a historic cabin. The site continues along the furthest inland shore of the adjacent lagoon, and on the hill behind it.
Sustained subsistence activity, both precontact and historic, long term native residence, also traditionally a refuge place. Anisim Alexandroff’s log cabin still stands, although the present residents say it is over 100 years old. About 40 acres of land was given to Alexandroff, a Russian-Aleut, by US Government land grant for a fox farm (exact date unknown). Anisim had several native wives and a child who are buried in the cemetery about 500 years north of the cabin. The building is a two-story structure, about 18’ x 30’. The logs are hand-hewn with fine craftsmanship, and Scandinavian-style dove-ailed corners. It is still chinked with the original moss. Cabin in livable condition, although the floor and roof need repairs. DeLaguna reported that Anisim was a Kodiak Eskimo. She had personal contact with him as an informant in the 30’s. The high rock in front of the wooded point was a refuge place, according to tradition. This point is now called “Sunshine Point” by the Porter family.
Reger and Keler reported a large shell midden at the back of the lagoon adjacent to Anisim’s cabin. The lagoon entrance has changed from the south to the north of the wooded point, thus the lagoon’s periphery has also changed shape. Presently a large surface scatter is the only evidence of a midden.
Sources: Delaguna 1934:30, Keler 1971:38, Reger 1973:4, Maury Porter and Fred Elvsaas.
All of the men in the photo below were considered “Creoles”. At the far left are Vasilii Baiiu (church warden), Anisim Alexandrov (member of the St. Nicholas Temperance Society), standing next to Rev. Ioann Bortnovsky, and Nikolai Romanovich Fomin (a Seldovia chapel reader), and a man only identified as Yackoloff is just out of the picture. Photograph courtesy of Alaska Historical Library Juneau (PCA 243 1-90)
