Happy Canada Day: Finding the Old Family Farm in New Brunswick

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers! I'm happy to say that I too can celebrate Canada Day and it's not just because I love their national pastime of hockey. I can trace my family tree back to my fifth great-grandfather, Christian Feero. Christian, like some colonial Americans, chose to side with the King of England during the Revolutionary War. Naturally, after Britain was defeated and the U.S. won its independence, it was pretty awkward for Christian and the other defeated Loyalists (also called "traitors" or "Tories" by the other side). Christian and the rest of the unwanted Loyalists made their way up to Nova Scotia and eventually settled in New Brunswick (which was part of Nova Scotia at the time). Christian made a life as a farmer in Southampton along the Saint John River with several generations of the family remaining in New Brunswick before many moved to Maine. 

Much of this information I gained from the book "Christian Feero, loyalist of New Brunswick, and his descendants" by Gloria Bullock. The detailed book goes over the many generations of family after Christian Feero, leading up to my father's generation (with lots of information on my great-grandmother's family). It's a great read that is unfortunately out of print. Luckily, a year ago, I was able to find a copy in the Los Angeles Public Library of all places and I was allowed to scan all of it. Amazingly, I was even able to use the old map in the book and Google Maps to find exactly where Christian Feero's old farm is located today. Interestingly enough, when you look at the overhead shot of the area on Google, you can still make out the boundaries of many of the farms that existed some two-hundred plus years ago. There seem to be two homes located on the old plot now. I wish I could contact the people that live there currently and ask if they are related at all to the Feero family as my aunt told me that many years ago they had repurchased the land. 

Thanks to a distinct part of the river I was able to find the farm on Google

The view from the street now. What a lawn!

The Tale of Three Stewarts

Looking back on the last few generations of my family I discovered that there were three boys name Stewart, three generations in a row, each with decidedly different fates. 

The first Stewart was the 9th child to be born to John C. Feero (1821-1911) and Emeline (Way) Feero (1831-1881) in York, New Brunswick. John and Emeline would eventually end up having 11 children in total but poor Stewart died only 10 and a half months after being born in 1870. John and Emeline also lost another son at an early age when Miles died when he was 2 and a half in 1874. 

The second Stewart was born in Maine in 1885. He was the son of John E. Feero (who was the son of John C.) and Emma (Babcock) Feero. He was one of the older brothers of my great grandmother, Edith Feero. Unfortunately, Stewart also met with a tragic ending at a young age when he died at the age of 10. 

Stewart (in front right, smiling) with his siblings.

Here is how my great grandmother Edith described what happened to her brother when reflecting on her early childhood in Tacoma before moving to Skagway, Alaska for the gold rush. 

"Mother and Father got a chance to take over a farm for half of everything they could raise. Which might have been fine except the owner had been in an asylum twice and we found out he was ready to go again. We had real bad luck on that place. We lost my brother Stewart there. He was out with the men falling trees to make fence rails. One tree fell against another and a branch of the other tree broke off and hit Stewart in the forehead. He died the next morning at 3 am."

I was beginning to think that the name Stewart was cursed but perhaps the third time was indeed the charm. When Edith grew up, married Karl Larson, and started a family of her own she named her first child Stewart. Perhaps she was honoring her lost brother with her choice of a name. Thankfully, this Stewart avoided the tragedy of his preceding namesakes. Born in Skagway in 1908, Stewart would live to see the 21st century, passing away in 2002 in Washington state. He certainly made up his predecessors, living a full life which found him marrying three times (Virginia Van Dyk, Velma Fish and Helene Stoops) and having three children (Leila, Jim, Carolee). (Jim was adopted by Stewart when he was 14 years old.)

(Probably) Stewart operating a mini-steam locomotive at a fair.

I was never able to meet my great uncle Stewart but I was able to get some details about him from his son Jim's wife Jo-Ann (both now residing in Calgary). According to her, Stewart loved to play cribbage and lived to dance (he went dancing just 3 weeks after getting a new hip!). Like many in the family, he was a railroad man, having worked for Northern Pacific Railroad. He was also a bellhop at the Golden North Inn in Skagway. He was fun-loving with a sweet tooth for ice cream and an appreciation for poetry (Robert Service and Wadsworth were favorites). Later in life, he volunteered to drive cancer patients. His third wife Helene, unfortunately, died from brain cancer. 

"He lived thru the century change in 2000. But did not want to live to be 100 because he missed having a girlfriend/wife to snuggle with." 

It's nice to know that the third Stewart on the family tree had a happy ending. 

A Wonderful Care Package of History

Yesterday, I was surprised to receive a care package from my aunt Joyce featuring many historical items. I actually knew the package was coming but I was surprised at how quickly it got to me in Japan. In the past few months, because of Covid-19, mail has really become snail mail with some letters I sent to the U.S. taking two months to arrive.

Anyway, back to the wonderful package. It was full of historical items in the form of books, photos, and some very special items made by my great grandmother. First to come out of the package was a of The Skagway Story, a book that I had been trying to get for a while. The book by Howard Clifford takes a thorough look at the history of the gold rush town of Skagway, the birthplace of my father. It really goes into detail about the events and people that shaped the town. Naturally, my family (specifically the Feeros) were mentioned in several places (bookmarked conveniently by my aunt).

I can't wait to read this thorough account of Skagway history.

Next in the package was a vintage copy of the children's book Benny's Flag. Printed in 1960 (written by Phyllis Krasilovsky and illustrated by W.T. Mars), the book tells the story of Benny Benson, the boy who won a contest to design the flag of Alaska (see my earlier blog entry for more on this). Although the book smells a bit musty, it's in great condition and will a nice addition to our collection of Alaska-related books. (Interestingly, I see that there is a new edition of this book with a new illustrator.) 

The original 1960 edition of Benny's Flag

Here are a couple of the nice illustrations from the book.

I was also pleased to see that my aunt had included some old photos in the package although some of them were prints that I had seen before. Several of the photos that featured a very young me were originally sent to my grandmother and had been passed on to my aunt. However, the most interesting photo was a picture of my aunt celebrating her 11th birthday in the family home in Skagway. The reason she sent me that photo was because she wanted to show me the cabinet that my great grandfather Karl Larson had made. In the photo, it can be seen in the corner of the dining room. He was a very good carpenter who worked for the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. And as you can see, it was quite a unique design, built to fit snuggly into the corner in a triangular fashion. It looks like it was really well-made. I wonder if it's still there as the house is still in use today.

Happy 11th birthday, aunt Joyce!

Finally, not to be forgotten, maybe the most special items in this package were three crocheted snowflakes. These were made by my great grandmother Edith Feero Larson. One of my strongest memories of decorating the Christmas tree each year was the collection of handmade crocheted snowflakes that had been given to us by my great grandmother. Unfortunately, when I was emptying out the house a few years ago before it was to be sold, I couldn't find the ornaments no matter how hard I tried. Hearing this, my aunt Joyce included some similar snowflakes made by great-grandma in the package. And although they aren't the same size and design as my family's set they are still in excellent condition, especially when you consider they are probably 50 to 60 years old! Now, I will be able to put a piece of family history on the Christmas tree every year and eventually I hope to pass these down to my three children so that they can tell their children that their great-great-grandma made these snowflakes. 

My Poor Great-Grandfather Carl, Oops Karl Larson

While researching my family history I have often come across different documents from the time. It's very cool to be able to see sheets from the different census', certificates of naturalization, marriage, etc. especially in someone's handwriting. One thing I've noticed especially though is that my poor great-grandfather Karl Larson (my father's namesake), more often than not, could not catch a break when it came to the correct spelling of his name. You'd think it would be an easy name to spell correctly but on almost fifty percent of the documents I've found, Karl's first name is spelled incorrectly with a "C" instead of a "K." In the 1910 and 1920 census, it was misspelled. In his certificate of naturalization? Misspelled (correct in pencil!). In a book on Skagway? Misspelled in the caption next to his photo (below). In the book's defense, someone wrote on the original photo "Carl" as well. On his own certificate of marriage? Misspelled again! Poor Carl Karl.

Misspelled again! (From the Alaska Geographic book on Skagway)

The Story of Benny Benson and Our Fantastic Souvenier

A couple years ago, while I was packing up everything and getting ready to sell the family home, I was flipping through some photo albums put together by my mother when she first made her way to Alaska. My mother is a native of southern California and in the sixties she moved to Anchorage to teach, eventually meeting and marrying my father while she was there. She always kept such detailed and artistic albums so it was a joy to go through them, reading all the details that she wrote so neatly next to photos and other objects (her handwriting hasn't changed!). It was in one of these albums that I came across one of the coolest Alaska souvenirs around, a small Alaska state flag autographed by the designer of the flag, Benny Benson. When I saw it on the page, I made sure to take a quick picture of it before I moved on. Now, I had heard about this memento through the years from my mother but this was the first time I actually saw it. 

The Alaska state flag signed by Benny Benson, the boy who had designed it.

The story of Benny Benson was an interesting one. Born in 1913 to a Swedish-American father and a Alutiiq-Russian mother, Benny and his brother were placed in an orphanage at the age of 3 when his mother died and his father could not care for him. It was at that orphanage in 1927 in Unalaska that Benny entered a state-wide contest to design a flag for the (then) territory of Alaska. As a prize for winning the contest, Benny was given $1000, a gold watch, and a trip to Washington D.C. 

So how did we get our hands on an autographed Alaska state flag? Well, according to my mother (and her detailed photo album), "He is the only living person who has designed a state flag. We had the privilege of meeting Benny in Anchorage and having diner with him. Benny signed thousands of these little flags the Saturday that we saw him. The money from the sale of the flags went toward a college scholarship for Miss Alaska." Benny, unfortunately, passed away a year or two after my mother met him at the young age of 58 in 1972.

While searching for more on this story I was able to find an interview that Benny did for the Anchorage school district in 1971. Some of the footage is of poor quality but it's still an interesting listen. Skip ahead to the 3:10 mark to hear all about entering and winning the flag contest. It's a wonderful story and amazing that my mother was able to get this flag signed and I hope it remains a treasure in our family for generations to come. (I just wish that the tape used to put the flag in the book hadn't discolored the flag a bit.)

After I finished writing this entry I also came across a cute animated recap of Benny Benson's story in the show Molly of Denali. I hope my kids will enjoy this.

Update: After posting this I checked again with my mother of her experience. According to her, she and my father saw Benny Benson at a parade in Anchorage (he was the grand marshal). The two rushed to try and get him to sign their flag after the parade but weren't able to catch him. Having given up on getting the flag signed they went to dinner only to spot Benny at the restaurant. My mother recalls telling my father, "Isn't that Benny Benson?" to which he replied, "He doesn't look anything like that." Of course, it was him and they were able to get his signature. 

Visiting the Homestead Part 2

Just a short entry today as I'm very busy with work. I was looking through some old photos today for the first time in a while and with the added knowledge of being able to recently visit my father's old childhood home in Skagway (see this earlier blog entry) I was able to see them with new eyes. Now, armed with that knowledge, I realized that these two photos of my father were taken in front of that house. In the second picture, you can see what I believe was the White Pass and Yukon Hospital as well as a little tree to his left. Looking at the house now, you can see how much that tree has grown!

The homestead today, some 75 years later!

Attu: Remembering Alaska at War

Recently, a distant family member was kind enough to share some photos from an old family album passed down through the years. Understandably, some were shots of family members long gone. Surprisingly, there were also some photos that were either taken by a late-relative or passed on to him that showed shocking scenes of the aftermath of the battle of Attu. 

Nowadays, most people have forgotten (or never knew) but during World War II the Japanese military invaded the islands of Kiska and Attu, found on the very far tip of the Aleutian chain. These were the only times that the Japanese military set foot on the mainland United States. On June 7th of 1942, the Japanese landed and took over Attu unopposed. They had also invaded the nearby island Kiska one day earlier. Almost a year later on May 11th, the US military made an amphibious landing and after a brutal battle, retook the island. The battle lasted 19 days and the cost of lives, especially for the Japanese forces, was high. Of the US force of 15,000, 549 were killed. The smaller Japanese force of 2,900 lost 2,872. Only 28 prisoners were taken. 

Among the brutal pictures that were passed on to me, there were a handful of pictures that were taken off the bodies of the soldiers after the battle. They were probably taken during the period that the Japanese occupied the island (for months they basically had nothing to do). They are surprisingly playful in nature. I'm not sure if these photos (or copies of them) made it back to their families back in Japan but I hope they did. Although I'm not sure where to start, since I'm in Japan currently, I may try and see if there is a way to forward these images to relatives of the soldiers. I've chosen not to share any of the gruesome photos here because I don't believe it would right.  

While researching this topic, I also came across an excellent program on the battle from an Alaska station. In the report, they talk about a book that was written by one of the natives who survived the invasion (he was six at the time). The program is really well done and worth a look. I'm also happy to see that the book, "Attu Boy", is available in PDF form online for free. Below is the program from KTVA. 

It's funny how things end up. Relatives of mine fought the Japanese in World War II and now here I am, living in Japan and raising my Japanese/American children here.