Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:
1) Share a recent genealogy find about an ancestor or family, such as a new name, document or even a clue towards cracking a brick wall.
[Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic - I will probably use it again!]
Here's mine:
The most recent goodies I found were for a client, so I searched at FamilySearch full-text search. I found a wonderful goodie!
I have known through family stories that my paternal grandmother’s aunt, Elizabeth Gleeson, had gone to Alaska during a gold rush. I had never found any real evidence of this until today.
Elizabeth M. Gleeson of Portland, Oregon, filed a power of attorney in Tanana, Alaska, for H. L. Hedger of Richardson, Alaska, to locate and stake claims and placer mining grounds in the Territory of Alaska. [1]
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| Tanana, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Unorganized Borough, Alaska, Powers of Attorney, p. 45, no. 2624, Power of Attorney for Elizabeth M. Gleeson, 1909, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-L3FT-5B16), IGN 107135046, image 70 of 327. |
Now this document filed in Alaska does not prove she was in Alaska, as she used a notary public in Oregon to file this power of attorney. However, it brings the story of her being involved in an Alaska gold or silver mining venture closer to the truth. And it will become the start of a new research avenue, to research about the mining in this part of Alaska. From a map at FamilySearch Wiki, the Yukon-Koyukuk area is huge.
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On a side note, it is interesting when looking at the index at the front of the volume that H.L. Hedger also received powers of attorney from seven other people. Perhaps these people could be considered part of her FAN club.
NOTE: For some future research, several deeds were found in Los Angeles that may be my Elizabeth M. Gleeson, as one where she is the grantor she is in Portland and using the same notary.
[1] Tanana, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Unorganized Borough, Alaska, Powers of Attorney, p. 45, no. 2624, Power of Attorney for Elizabeth M. Gleeson, 1909, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-L3FT-5B16), IGN 107135046, image 70 of 327.
What fun to find that there might be some truth about her going to Alaska and that she definitely has some kind of tie to the Gold Rush days. Interesting, too, that you found someone with the same name using the same notary but in Los Angeles. Elizabeth's travels might have some great stories to tell.
ReplyDeleteShe never married and did have great adventures.
DeleteElizabeth already sounds like a fascinating woman. Even if she didn't go to Alaska herself, just the fact that she was laying claims and apparently dealing with land in Los Angeles makes her a woman ahead of her time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, she's one of my favorites. I keep finding stuff.
Delete