By the time Russian fur traders and other settlers had been living in Kenai for over fifty years, intermarriage had become an established practice. In the 1880s, Scandinavian men began to arrive and develop the Cook Inlet commercial fisheries. These Scandinavian fishermen represented the second wave of European bachelor immigrants.
A significant number of people who settled in Seldovia or parented people who did originated in the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Here’s a summary of somme:
John Conrad “Jack” Anderson was born 1889 in Bergen, Norway, died in Seldovia in 1933 and buried in Seldovia Hillside Cemetery. His daughter Dorothy ANDERSON Warren (1928-1945) and his infant grandson, Robert Eugene Anderson, (1948-1948) son of Jack, Jr. and Lois May ERICKSON Anderson, are buried in the City Cemetery.
Clement Anderson was born in Norway in 1874, and immigrated to the US in 1893. He lived in Rampart in 1910 – 1940. Census records list his marital status as “married” “widowed” and “divorced” but no wife is ever mentioned. He died in Seldovia in October 1, 1951.
Storm William Anderson was born April 7, 1879 in Kristiana, Norway and died in his cabin near Seldovia on April 28, 1941.
Hans Martin Antonsen was born in Green Island (Gronnoy), Norway June 24, 1895. He lived in Seldovia in 1940 and worked as a cook for the cannery. He became a US citizen in 1950. He died in Seldovia, Sept. 1965.
Carl Berg was born Nov. 13, 1874 in Norway. He was a fisherman. He died, unmarried, on March 23, 1955 in Seldovia, Alaska.
Peter Beaverford (Peder Olsen Baeverfjord) was born in Stangvik, Norway November 11,1895. He came to the US in 1924 and was naturalized in 1934. In 1940 he was listed in the US Census in Seattle, WA as a fisherman. He died in Seldovia, Alaska on September 23, 1946
Julius Christiansen married Annie Bloch, daughter of Adam Bloch and his first wife, Anny-Anna (Malakoff) Bloch in about 1894 in Alaska. He was born between Nov 1855 and Nov 1859 in Norway. A notice in the 2 Aug 1930 edition of The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reads, “DOING WELL IN NORWAY - Julius Christiansen, a resident of Alaska for many years, is now a successful fox rancher in Norway, according to the Seldovia Herald. Christiansen formerly resided at Seldovia and left the Territory six years ago to establish a fox ranch in his native land. He made his start in Alaska foxes and writes that he is prospering.” Annie Bloch Christiansen is buried in the Seldovia Hillside Cemetery.
Albert Linas Colberg was born in Norway April 24, 1896; immigrated 1914; died January 3, 1942 in Seldovia, Alaska. He married Doris Amalie Bellamy in Seattle, Washington on Dec. 5, 1934, but was divorced at the time of his death. He was naturalized in Seward, Alaska in 1929. He was the brother of John Colberg.
John Colberg, Sr was born March 28, 1887 in Moe, Norway. He left home on a pair of skis when he was 17 and lived first in Canada. He met Elizabeth Cleghorn in Seldovia while following the herring harvest. They married and had six children. He died in November 1969.
John Arnt Ekren was born in Molde Norway in 1888. He died in Seldovia in 1980
John was the father of Harley Ekren, born November 17, 1921, who married Shirley Jean Hurd, and died in Seldovia September 10, 1986. They operated a family cannery at Kasinstna Bay until Harley’s death. Shirley had previously been married to the father of Doug Pieren (1943-2019).
Herman Magnus Elvsaas was born in Aalesund Norway on Feb. 1, 1900. He married Agnes Ponchene in Seldovia in 1928. They are buried in Washington State, but several of their descendants are buried in the Seldovia Cemetery.
Peter Ivor Elvsaas was born August 15, 1930 in Seldovia, Alaska and died June 2, 2003 in Homer.
Frederick H. Elvsaas was born May 28, 1933 in Seldovia and died September 25, 2017 in Seldovia.
Charlotte Arlene Elvsaas, daughter of Peter born Oct 22, 1950, died September 3, 2005.
Edward Erickson was born in 1884 in Norway. He immigrated 1910 and was a fisherman in Valdez and Bristol before coming to Seldovia. He died in Nov. 1938, Seldovia, Alaska at the age of 54.
Sigurd Halvorsen was born on September 27, 1892, in Haugesund, Norway and naturalized on 26 May, 1947. He married Marie Anderson on December 27, 1920, in Unalaska, Alaska. They had twelve children during their marriage. He died on March 1, 1951, in Seldovia, Alaska, at the age of 58.
Arthur (Art) Emil Hendrickson was born August 22, 1896 in Christiansund, Norway d. Aug. 30, 1937. He never married.
Martin Hogenson was born in Stavanger Norway October 16, 1884. He immigrated to the US in 1903 and was in Bristol Bay in 1910. He married 1st: Emma Edelman in 1919 in Kenai, and 2nd Katie Tanka in 1933. They had two sons, Nick and Harry Hogenson. He died Aug. 1964 in Seldovia.
Nick Hogenson was born August 20, 1934 in Seldovia to Martin and Katie Tanka Hogenson. He died June 30, 1988 in Seldovia. In August 1966, Nick and Simon and John Josefson were rescued from Josefson’s fishing boat in Kachemak Bay.
Olaf C. Hoie was born May 7, 1882 in Bergen, Norway. He arrived in Anchorage August 1920. He died in Seldovia January 29, 1965. There is no record of a marriage or children.
Peter Jackson (father of Peter Jackson born in Valdez August 13, 1898. Pete, Jr. was a life-long fisherman throughout Southcentral Alaska, but in 1942 he was registered for WWII draft while living in Seldovia. He died in Seldovia in 1962.
Nels John Jacobsen was born September 16, 1865 in Norway; He arrived in Alaska April 1886. He gave Orca, Alaska as his hometown in the 1900 US Census. In pre-gold rush 1897, increased prospecting activity by cannery personnel from Orca led to first claims in areas that would later be important: Nels Jacobsen and Louis Thorstensen file claims at Landlocked Bay (Copper Mt.). He gave power of attorney to M. L. Washburn to deal with Landlock Bay Claims, sold his house, woodshed, etc. to George Donaldson for $2,000, and List of prospectors crossing Valdez Glacier, May 29, 1898 (W.H. Crary Diary, p. 5). He located Quartz Claims on Latouche Island with A. Lawson, W. J. Shepard. Jacobsen & Thorstensen were in a dispute over Landlock Bay (Copper Mt.) claims with L. L. Williams & Associates, entered agreement for development rights with Alaska Commercial Company, 3/7/1898, ML, BK. 2, p. 97; Jacobsen sold White Eagle Claim to F. C. Lawrence for $1.00. In 1901 he was part of an “exciting trip down the Copper River” with Albert Dowling and others (trip described in Pathfinder, IV:10. 8/1923). Nels died in Seldovia in May 1951.
Nels married Irinia ULN, an Aleut native (buried in row 6 of relocated graves) and they were the parents of at least 4 children including:
Mary Jacobsen Jensen Boraveno (1904-1958) married
John Nels Jenson son of Mary Jacobsen and Nels John Jensen born March 1, 1924, married Alice Clark in Seldovia in 1947, died June 1953 in Kodiak, buried in Seldovia City Cemetery.
Nellie Jacobson Pilskog (1907-1978) married Nels Rasmusen Pilskog (see below).
Carl John Lund – October 14, 1874, Bergen, Norway, and immigrated to the US in 1893. He had three sons and five daughters with Nina Edelman between 1915 and 1926. He died on November 11, 1939, at the age of 65.
Andrew Edward Myhre was born in Norway May 9, 1886. He arrived in the US in 1911 and applied for citizenship in Montana in 1914. In 1940 he was listed as a fisherman in Egegik. There is no record of a wife or children. He died in Seldovia October 19, 1949.
Paul Myklebust was born in Aalasund, Norway, January 15, 1894 and arrived in the US in 1913. In 1917 he lived in Butte, Montana, in 1920 he was a laborer at a logging camp in Washington and in 1940 he was a fisherman in Seldovia. He applied for citizenship in 1941 but died before his application was processed. He died in Seldovia. Oct. 3, 1944. There is no record of a wife or children.
Einer Nilsen was born in Christiana, Norway in 1887. He moved to Portlock, Alaska to help his brother Adolph Nilson in his salmon canning business. Einer fell and hit his head and died in Seldovia in 1937.
Andrew Olsen was born in Bergen, Norway on July 17, 1882. He lived in Bristol Bay in 1920 and in Seldovia in 1940. He died in Kodiak on August 13, 1947.
Hjelmar Heimdal Olsen was born on May 1, 1874 Vågan, Nordland, Norway. In 1930 and 1940 he was a widowed salmon fisherman living in Seldovia. In 1940 he was called a “web man”.
Hilmar Olsen was born in Norway in 1879 and immigrated in 1902. In 1920 he lived in Kachemak Bay. He was “a tall Scandinavian who worked on sailing ships for years before settling in Seldovia in the 1930s to trap and fish.….he built a house there that subsequent residents have reported hearing the ghost of Hilmer rocking in his chair on the top floor.” In 1943 he married, for the first time, Hannah Pedersen who was previously married to Peder Pedersen who died in 1940. He died July 11, 1959 in Seldovia. No records of any children have been found.
Peder Emanuel Pedersen was born February 5, 1876 and his wife Hannah immigrated to the US in 1893 and became naturalized citizens in Washington in 1924, declaring himself to be a fisherman and sailor. He died of tuberculosis on September 19, 1940 in Seldovia. Hannah then married Hilmar Olsen in 1943.
Nels Rasmusen Pilskog was born in Hjorungaag, Norway on June 17, 1897, and died in Seldovia January 21, 1991. Nels was the 3rd son of Rasmus and Johana Pilskog. He went to sea at the age of 16, on a sailing ship hunting seal and whales off the coast of Greenland. He immigrated to the US in 1923, via Ellis Island and then traveled to Washington State to work for his uncle as a logger and fishtrap watchman. He lived in Wrangell, Alaska for many years and then moved to Spenard when it was still “out in the woods”. He fished Bristol Bay and smoked salmon on Fire Island for the Anchorage market. He also worked on the railway and as a carpenter and played his accordion in bars and for dances. He married Nellie Jacobsen in Seldovia in the 1940s and fished commercially well into his 80s, primarily halibut. He was survived by his step-son Niles Kaho of Homer.
John Gustave Jensen Roe was born in Trondhjem, Norway July 11, 1893 and emigrated in 1904. He became a US citizen in 1937. He married Anna Dartgige (b. April 18, 1887, France – September 1941, Seldovia, Alaska) on August 9, 1922 in Seward, Alaska. After her death, John married Velma Shafford (December 6, 1913, Colorado-May 27, 1945, Seldovia, Alaska) in Seldovia in 1943. He was a fisherman who owned his own boat. He died December 1, 1972 in Seldovia. He had no known children.
Theodor (Tom) Joachim Steffenson b. Feb. 13, 1886 in Ibestad, Norway. On May 23, 1944 he became a US citizen and his name was officially changed to Tom Steffenson. He was an independent fisherman in Portlock. He died May 5, 1946.
Sverre Alexander (Alex) Strand was born 25 Jul 1894 in Hegeland, Norway, died Aug. 24, 1942 in Seldovia, Alaska. He had no known wife or children.
Haackon Sundsby was born January 30, 1876 in Norway. He became an American citizen in 1950 at the age of 74. He died October 9, 1946 in Seldovia. His nephew Eric Sundsby lived in Seldovia at the time.
Dorothea Ellingson Ursin was born in Tromso, Norway, on June 12, 1867 and she married Andrew Ursin May 20, 1892. She and her husband received their US citizenship June 1, 1939 in Seldovia, Alaska. She died April 25, 1948, Seldovia, Alaska
Andrew Ursin was born June 17, 1861, Harstad commune, Troms fylke, Norway. He entered the US in Washington in 1900 and obtained his citizenship June 1, 1939 in Seldovia, Alaska. He married Dorothea Ellingson May 20, 1892 in Norway. Children: Radar (11/27/1897), Harstad (8/5/1899), Axel (9/3/1900). He died on Aug. 15, 1950 in Seldovia.
Oscar William Anderson, was born in Sweden in 1865. He immigrated to the US in 1882 and married Alyce Laura Erickson (August 1868, Washington –August 11, 1940, Seldovia) in Seattle, Washington in 1889. Their daughter Juanita Amelia Lenore Anderson was born on September 3, 1890 in Washington.
Charles Engstrom b. Oct. 3, 1877, Sweden d. May 10, 1947, Seldovia; there is no record of a wife or children. He was a fisherman.
Olaf Hansen b. Lilla Isie, Malmöhus, October 28, 1883 - d. 1961, immigrated 1905. He lived in Seldovia at least between 1930 and 1940 and was a fisherman. There is no record of a wife or children.
Gust Hedin born May 13, 1883 in Sweden and died June 18, 1942 in Seldovia from CO poisoning as a result of a boat defect.
Gus Larsen b. Sweden March,1862, d. April 1940, Seldovia
Carl Gosta Lindstedt Dec. 1905-Aug. 1990. Carl came to Seldovia in the mid-1920’s at the age of 19. He arrived from Seattle on the 4-masted schooner Alice Cook. He remembered 52 seine boats tied up at the saltry where he worked and 4-5 thousand people flowing into town during summer herring run. The herring saltry was a floating processor in Seldovia Bay called the Salvador. It was actually an old 4-masted schooner owned by Libby, McNeil and Libby and had been retrofited from a sailing ship to a herring saltry. Mr. Lindstedt earned $80/month with fifty cents an hour overtime and room and board as well. These were considered big wages.
John Martinson – born Sweden on January 26, 1889, arrived in US in 1913, and became a US citizen in 1920 in California. He was a fisherman in Alaska and died in Seldovia November 13, 1946
Carl Harry Nordenson was born in Fengersfors, Sweden on Oct. 30, 1905 to Aldof and Rut Nordensson. “Sleepy Carl”, as he was known, came to Seldovia in 1926. He fished commercially in Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet. He married Grace LLOYD, had three children: Ingrid, Eric and Bruce. He was a Councilman, Chamber of Commerce member and Elks Club member. He died in Seattle on Jan. 6, 1968 at the age of 62. He was a 42-year resident of Seldovia.
Edwin Edelman father of Nina Edelman Lund and Jacob (Jack) Edelman who was husband of Pauline Juliussen Edelman and father of Jacqueline Edelman and Emma Edelman.
Gus Holmstrom was born in Bromarv, Finland in 1880. He was the husband of Anna WALNUSSON Holmstrom born in Seldovia 1876, died in Seldovia, October 28, 1941. They were parents of Sergei Holmstrom b. Nov. 29, 1902- d. Aug. 18, 1941, and Paul Holmstrom as well as two daughters.
Andrew (Andy) Johnson was born Feb 12, 1864 in Finland. His father was Tog Mickelson of Sweden. His mother was also from Sweden. It is believed that he came to US about 1892, coming through Ellis Island in NY. He went down the Yukon River on a raft with two other men and it was said that both of the other men were robbed and killed. He worked in mines in Wyoming and at a copper mine in Montana, went to Death Valley for gold and then to Alaska for gold. He went to Kodiak on the steamer Dora. At one time he was a net maker and while in Finland made wooden pegs for boats. He built a 30 ft. boat named the Elsie. His family thought he made his money working copper mines in Montana and in the Gold Rush. He built several houses in Seldovia.
Andy married Harriett Susanna Bowen in Kodiak, Alaska. She was born 24 Sept 1888. He was about 24 years older but outlived her by 11 years. They had 8 daughters; five died young and the survivors were Susan (Mrs. Leo Haskin), Hattie (Mrs. Tom Fox), and Elsie.
Matt Yuth was born in Finland Nov. 1871 and immigrated to the US in 1888. He was granted citizenship in Wisconsin in 1901 and naturalized there in 1919. He migrated to Seldovia in 1934 and died there in 1952.
He was the husband of Eugenia Virginia Oskolkoff Yuth who was born Dec. 19, 1897 in Ninilchik, Alaska, and died Nov. 23, 1970 in Seldovia, Alaska.
Matt and Eugenia were the parents of Hartley Hedwick Yuth who was raised in Seldovia and entered the U.S. Army in 1945. He had been employed as a commercial fisherman. Mr. Yuth was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Seldovia Native Corp., and Cook Inlet Region Inc. He enjoyed fishing and cooking, and loved children. He died November 11, 1992.