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DAR - Who were the Ladies of 1903?

In an 1897 census of the town taken by The Alaskan, Sitka’s newspaper, it found 275 “Americans” including 65 children, 174 “Russians” including 68 children; 28 Chinese and Japanese, 44 U.S. Marines, 47 men on the U.S.S. Pinta and 771 “Indians” for a total population of 1339. Additionally, the newspaper counted “46 dwellings in the city, 45 in Russian Town, and 18 stores and saloons.”

Brady Family Home The 210 “Americans” would have been teachers, political appointees (customs, agricultural station, U.S. Marshall, customs office), government clerks, lawyers, storekeepers, mill owners, mining engineers, as well as speculators and prospectors.

Among the teachers, military officers and government officials, as well as some of the older, established business people in Sitka, a kind of “society” developed, in which the families tried as much as possible to establish lifestyles exactly like those in the lower 48, with “at homes,” society dinners and entertainments, and all the refinements expected of “ladies and gentlemen” at the turn of the century.

Haley home Some Juneau businessmen, according to historian Ted Hinkley, maintained a home here, in the territorial capital, so their families would be “immersed in refinement.” In several journals and letters from this turn of the century period, there is a congratulatory note describing what a fine influence this “better class” of people was on Sitka.

By the time of the 1900 census, the population had diminished in Sitka to around half what it had been in 1887, but the make up of the population would have been similar, with a hefty percentage of the population still military and government officials, as well as businessmen and mining engineers.

Mary Johnson, pictured here, came to America as a child of 9, arriving first in Victoria, B.C.; there she met her first husband, Ah Bong, who brought her back to Sitka.

"China" Mary Johnson In Sitka, "China Mary" quickly made a name for herself as a lively character who learned both Tlingit and English, and moved easily from one group to the other.

Many Chinese and Japanese came to work in the canneries in the late 19th century, but by 1903 many had established businesses in Sitka or surrounding towns. Ted Hinkley, in Alaskan John G. Brady (1982) reports, “to have one’s shirts laundered by Sitkan Lung Sing assured quality cleaning. Yet the capital’s Chinese were outsiders.”

“China Mary”s marriage in April of 1903 to Sing Lee is reported in The Alaskan, however, this appears to have been a rare journalistic mention of this lively character. In 1909, she married a third and final time, to Fred Johnson. She became one of the first women troller's in Southeast Alaska.

Most of those listed as “Russian” in 1897 had disappeared by the 1900 census. Probably, having adopted the United States as their own country, under the conditions of the 1867 treaty, those who remained were now registering as Americans.

Photo credits: all photos on this page by E.W. Merrill; top: Gov. John Brady's home and children, ca. 1903; 2nd from top: Haley House, ca. 1904; 3rd from top: China Mary, ca. 1906

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