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TWO-COUNTRY LIFE SPANGreat-Great Grandmother, Age 110, Remembers U.S. Purchasing AlaskaBy Thomas Snapp Times Staff WriterMrs. Dolly Komakhuk, 310-year-old Eskima great - grandmother, now living in Anchorage, remembers when the United States purchased Alaska from Russia.In fact, she remembers the time before the Russians came to northern Alaska,Mrs. Komakhuk was born near Council, just a little north of Nome, sometime in 1832, the exact date is not known.Amazingly, she was mother to five children, and now has 80 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren, One great-granddaughter is now seventeen.In the not too distant future, perhaps the smiling Eskimo woman may have her first great-great-great grandchild.According to Mrs. Komakhuk, shortly after she was married, she remembers the excitement among her people when Russia sold Alaska to the U. S.Prior to that time she said her people traded with the Russians at what is now St. Michael’s. When the Russians sold Alaska, Mrs. Komak-huk says they were afraid the trading would be discontinued. IAt that time she said her people were mostly hunters, trappers, and fishermen.“We had only wood traps,’* she said, and fishing nets made out of caribou sinew and seal hides,Jade MatchesOnly matches we had were jade rocks, she said, and we had jade knives.**Since Mrs. Komakhuk does not speak English fluently, information was given to Tundra Times through her 59-year-old daughter, Mrs. Andrew Knlernk.Mrs. Komakhuk lives with a blind daughter, Mrs. Grace Alexin, 69, in a little apartment on Tudor Road, very near to the home of her other daughter. Mrs. Kalerak.Although well past the century mark, Mrs. Komakhug is still frisky and gets about. She makes Eskimo yo-yos and dolls and does other sewing.Life SecretMrs. Komakhuk gives as the reason for her long life the fact that she only eats meat, berries, muktuk, fish, and wild potatoes. 1In the early days, Mrs. Komakhuk says her people used fish traps, some big, some only about 5 feet \ (Continued on Page 6)
Newspaper Details
Tundra Times
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Mon, Feb 04, 1963
Page 1
Full Page
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USA 13 Apr 2022
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