SOROKOVIKOV/SOROKOVIKOFF Family

The Sorokovikov family name came to Alaska from Irkutsk Russia. Ivan (John) Sorokovikov, born in Irkutsk about 1766 was sent to the mouth of the Nushagak River to establish and manage the Novo Aleksandrovski Post of the Russian American Company. Colonial Chief Manager Hagemeister mentioned Ivan’s many years of devoted service to the Company. After establishing the post he was ordered to leave for Kodiak and work there for the summer. He later returned to Sitka aboard the ship Autumn Vessel. By the summer of 1823 he was back in Kodiak. Ivan and his wife, Maria Antropovna, a Creole, had 8 children. In March 1828 he was the commander of the Karluk, which transported furs, goods and supplies between the Company’s Kodiak District posts. The Karluk was wrecked during a storm late in 1829. In May 1830 Ivan was reassigned as a pilot aboard the boat Bobr. At the end of January 1831 he dispatched a baidara from Kodiak to the Alaska Peninsula with people bound for the Novo-Alexsandrovskii post. The baidara was lost with all aboard, including Ivan. The wreckage was found in Zhuravlev Bay. Wrangell reports that “Aboard had been 8 employees, 3 of their wives and 4 of their children, and 12 Aleuts from various settlements. Sorokovikov himself and sailor Ivan Kolmakov, son of manager of Novo-Aleksandrovsk redoubt, Fedor Kolmakov, were among them. Also laments the loss of the Aleuts who are so necessary for the company and whose numbers are decreasing in the Kodiak district. Lists annual numbers of Aleut deaths in the Kadiak district from 1825 through 1830. Wrangell intends to look into the decline in Aleut population when he visits Kadiak this summer.” Russian American Company, 30 April 1831

Relief measures to be taken for the families left by the company employees who perished in the [lost] baidarka:  (1) the debts of the deceased are not to be charged to their relatives, but erased from their accounts; (2) their credit balances are to be used to benefit their wives; (3) bonuses are to be paid out according to the appended list, and Sorokovikov’s wife, out of respect for her husband’s useful service and large family, is to receive 1 pound of flour per month for free and is authorized to purchase 20 funts more. 

Stepan Ivanov Sorokov, son of Ivan and Mariia, b. 1824, d. 1865, married Tatiana Kompkov. They lived on Kodiak Island and had at least 7 children including Nikolai 1847. Reader Nikolai Stefanov was the Kenai-born son of Deacon Stefan Ivanov Sorokovikov and Tatiana Ivanova Kompkova; educated in a theological seminary in Eastern Siberia. He worked as a song leader in Kenai from 1875-188730.

Konstantine (Conste) Sorokovikoff, b. January 24, 1871 in Kodiak married Sarafina and had children Sarafina (1903), Nick (1905), and Andrew (1908). He was a Dena’ina-speaking lay song leader who grew up in Kenai and was in charge of a chapel in Seldovia in the 1920s and 1930s. He accompanied the missionary Paul Shadura as an interpreter between 1908 and 1914. A phrase (“my own Indian song leader”) casually uttered by Shadura regarding this Creole-cultural broker reveals the level of Constantine’s entrenchment into Dena’ina culture. The US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) could not figure out how to categorize him in their official rosters: on the one hand, Constantine was involved in local subsistence activities, and on the other hand, he was performing chapel services. As a result, in their 1934 roster of Seldovia residents, the BIA labeled him as a “second priest of Seldovia”.

Konste and his wife Anna Berestoff Sorokovikoff had 8 children:

Nick Sorokovikoff: Aug.12,1905- Feb.1968, buried in Seldovia City Cemetery

Anna Sorokovikoff Waterberry: Feb 24, 1910 in Ninilchik, d. Nov. 19, 2004 in Seldovia, buried in Seldovia City Cemetery

Jim Sorokovikoff: Aug. 14, 1913 in Kenai, 1966 in Seldovia

[Peter Sorokovikoff]((../_people/Sorokovikoff_Peter.md): July 15, 1915 in Kenai, d. 1966 in Seldovia

Three die in Seldovia home fire SELDOVIA AP) - State Police said today three men died in a fire which destroyed a twa-story house here Monday afternoon. Investigators earlier had been unable to determine how many perished in the blaze. The victims were listed as Gene Sarakovikoff, 52, and his brother, Peter, 49, and William Hunter, 65, all of Seldovia. The fire was in a home owned by Jimmie Sarakovikoff, another brother of two of the victims. All four men apparently lived at the house. Troopers said the fire apparently was caused by a cigarette which fell on a mattress. The flames apparently spread rapidly throughout the frame building.

Steve K. Sorokovikoff: b. Dec. 12, 1920, died June 30, 1995

Tania Sorokovikoff Wilson, married Abraham Wilson, d. September 24, 1987, buried in Seldovia City Cemetery

Children:

Ann Marie Wilson Anderson: b. Jan. 9, 1947 in Seldovia, married Andy Anderson Feb. 11, 1967; d. Jan. 19, 2014 in Anchorage; buried in Seldovia City Cemetery

Gladys **Wilson Yuth**: b. July 17, 1944 in Seldovia; married Harold Yuth, d. January 23, 2023, Seldovia.

Helen Wilson Quijance, married Alfred Quijance

Kenneth Wilson: buried in Seldovia City Cemetery

Alexander Sorokovikoff b. April 4, 1926, died April 24, 1941 in Seldovia; buried in Seldovia City Cemetery