There are a lot of part-Russians in Alaska. The term for this mixed ancestry is “Creole”.
Before digging deeper into the history of “Russian Creole” we need to remember that although this group was composed predominantly of offspring of mixed-blood marriages, the Creole category hardly says anything about the ethnic origin of a person. For example, Russian-Dena’ina, Dena’ina-Aleut/Sugpiaq or Russian-Aleut/Sugpiaq equally could be defined as Creoles. In certain cases, when the situation demanded, a native could be defined as a Creole. The Creole status defined the deree of integation of native Alaskans into the Russian Alaska social system and was equal to that of a burgher, townsman, in meropolitan Russia. The level of education to which Creoles were entitled under the Russian regime often determined their position in the administrative sector, with Russians sometimes serving in sobordinate positions. Lydia Black, “Creoles in Russian America” Pacifica 2, no. 2 (1990): 142-155.
The term Creole comes from the Spanish word criollo — meaning native to the place. In nineteenth century Kodiak, Russian entrepreneurs used this term for individuals of both Russian and Native ancestry, an increasingly large and segregated part of Alaska’s population. Descent was not the only defining characteristic of the Creole class, however. A person might also be considered Creole based on their achievements. The Alutiiq word for Creole — kasaakaruaq — literally means a kind of Russian, or not a real Russian.
Russian entrepreneurs, who needed a steady and reliable source of labor, extended special privileges to people of mixed descent and those who pledged political alliance to Russia. In this way, they created a distinct class of tradesmen, managers, and leaders who were in turn guaranteed basic civil rights. In the mid nineteenth century, Creoles performed many of the essential administrative functions in Alaska’s Russian American colonies. They ran schools and businesses including the flourmill, blacksmith shop, tannery, lumberyard, and metal works. They were also trained as priests, teachers, navigators, cartographers, and ship commanders.
According to Russian regulations, Creole status was hereditary, passed through men to their children. The children of a Native man were considered Native. In contrast, the children of a Russian or Creole man were considered Creole. Creoles had the right to an education, were exempt from taxation and obligatory state service, and could move to Russia at the expense of the Russian American Company after ten years of service in America. When the US bought Alaska from Russia, the Creoles lost much of this status as the US Government considered them as “half-breeds” and made every attempt to “cleanse” them of all things Russian.
In 1880 the 10th U.S. Census was published identifying, 74 natives and Creoles as residents of Seldovia and Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky may have been an Indian settlement on Yukon Island. No other communities were recorded in Kachemak Bay in the 1880 Census. This census did not list individual names, but in 1900 and into the present, many of the surnames indicate families that are of Russian Creole descent. Creole names found among our Seldovia Cemetery ancestors include Alexanderoff, Balashoff, Berestoff, Kashevarof, Romanov, Saracoff, Simineof, and Sorokovikoff. There is always some discrepancy in translation from the Russian and in spelling in various locations and timelines.
The Kashevarov family has been used as an example of the possibility of Creoles to succeed on a large scale. The Kashevarovs, who were the descendants of former serf Filipp Kashevarov—a teacher at the Novo-Arkhangel’sk school and a creóle (by some sources, Aleut) woman-included a major-general who wrote extensively about Russian America, a skipper, priests, and many prominent people in the colonies. Although the Kashevarovs may have been exceptionally successful and prolific, they are part of a larger group of creóles from high-level RAC employees and so can-not be dismissed as an aberration. Probably the most famous of the Kashevarovs of the first generation is Aleksandr Fihppovich Kashevarov (1809-66). In the 1816 list, it notes that he and his brother, Gavriil Filippovich Kashevarov are studying Russian grammar, catechism, the foundations of mathematics, drawing, navigation and the English language. ^^ As Roxanne Easley has noted, Kashevarov enjoyed a long and successful career as naval captain, explorer, cartographer, port commander, and ultimately, head of the Hydrographie Department of the Naval Ministry. Interestingly, during the 1830s, when he was the head of a scientific expedition to the northwest Alaskan coast, he identified wholly with Russian and European civilization, stating of the Inupiat, ”The savage inhabitants of this dead nature, of the dreadful kingdom of darkness and cold, have no need for assistance from us people who have moved forward with the ages. ‘’ However, with the arrival of the Great Reforms, Kashevarov’s writings underwent a deep shift, as he signed himself a Creole and defended the inhabitants of Russian America. In an 1861 article in the reformist journal, Morskoi Sbornik, Kashevarov challenged paternalistic views of the natives, writing:”Is it possible that we, the natives of the Russian American territories, must forever think of the RAC’s interest, which is instilled in us from our very youth, and smother within ourselves every inkling of natural inclination for the benefit of our native land as citizens? Do you really think that we will always be like artless children, as we were twenty years ago, and will not dare wish better for ourselves? We are citizens of Russia, just like every stockholder of the Russian American Company; we too are thinking about our progress.” In a neat reversal, Kashevarov identifies true progress with the natives, in which group he includes himself and not with the RAC and Russian bureaucrats.