CLEGHORN FAMILY

JAMES NAISMITH CLEGHORN, was born on November 22, 1852 in Lewiston, New York to Nasmith and Elizabeth Cleghorn. His father was born in Scotland and his mother in Ireland. James came to Alaska in 1886. He and his partner, Harry Mellish crossed the Yukon River near the Russian Mission Portae and went up the Kuskokwim River in search of gold in 1890, long before the gold rush of 1897. Finding very little gold, the men spent the winter of 1890-91 in the village of Kolmakov near the confluence of the Kuskokwim River and the Holitna River.

The next season, Mellish and Cleghorn searched the Mulchatna River area but found only small quantities of super-fine gold. In 1892, the men split up and Cleghorn went on to marry an Athabascan woman named Mary Shitachka (Paul? Panfeelof?) of Tyonek in about 1893. (The 1900 census in Susitna Station lists Mary as a member of the Tyonek Tribe but the 1910 U.S. Census for Ouzinkie, Spruce Island, lists her as Athabascan–Kutchin Tribe, from Kantishna and date of birth May 1874.) By 1896, James Cleghorn was the Alaska Commercial Company agent at Susitna Station. In 1902 the original Postmaster ceded his position as well as his trading company position to James Cleghorn. In 1910, the family was living in Ouzinkie on Spruce Island near Kodiak and times were tough. An article written in the San Francisco Call (newspaper) in 1912, said they had received word that the Cleghorns and their 12 children were trying to live on $25 a month. U.S. Treasury Secretary Wayne McVeagh was so concerned that he offered the Cleghorns free passage out of the area on a U.S. Revenue Cutter. By 1920, the family was operating a fox farm on Yukon Island. James Cleghorn and his wife are both buried in Seldovia’s Hillside Cemetery below the Russian Orthodox Church. (James 1852-1928) (Mary 1866-1932). James and Mary had 12 children:

1. Kate Ballou, born 1892, was actually a step-daughter of James
2. Jennie 1894-1959
3. Lucille CLEGHORN Ollestad b. 1895, d. 1985; buried in Seldovia City Cemetery. Memorial in Seldovia City Cemetery , plot #195. See OLLESTAD FAMILY.
4. James CLEGHORN b. December 2, 1898 - d. July, 1971 Seldovia, Alaska, Seldovia City Cemetery , plot #195.
5. Marie Xenia CLEGHORN Fondahn, Born in Old Tyonek on Jan. 14, 1900, she married Edmund A. Fondahn, Sr. an early Alaska Pioneer. She had served as a volunteer at the Alaska Medical Center. During WWII she served as a translator for the Soviet vessels that docked in Seward.

• She and Edmund had 3 children, a son, Edmund A. Fondahn, Jr. and two daughters, Karen Fondahn Swartz and Margaret Fondahn Ollestad. Marie Xenia Cleghorn Fondahn listed her mother’s maiden name as Panfiloff in her Social Security papers.
  1. William Paul CLEGHORN b. February 16, 1902-d. February 8, 1943, Seldovia, Alaska. His death certificate says his father’s name was James Cleghorn and his mother’s was Mary Paul (not Shitachka).
  2. Eliza CLEGHORN COLBERG b. February 24, 1904-d. 1980; married JOHN COLBERG, b. March 28, 1887, died November 15, 1969, Seldovia, Alaska. See COLBERG FAMILY
  3. Annie CLEGHORN 1905-?
  4. Walter Howard CLEGHORN b. September 15, 1907- d. August 22,1975. Walter became a professional middleweight boxer (known as the “Kodiak Bear”) and competed in 91 professional fights in the lower 48 between 1925 and 1934.
  5. Bertha Stella CLEGHORN 1908-1927
  6. Maxine CLEGHORN 1913-1982
  7. Adam Calvin CLEGHORN, “Crow” 1915-1978 died in Seldovia and is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery Plot #209