Historical Vignettes
Sheldon Family
as written by
Elisabeth Sheldon Hakkinen, oldest daughter

Stephen Sheldon was born in Columbus, Ohio May 27,1885. His father, Frederick Beaumont Sheldon, was born and educated in England, where he was the youngest student to pass the entrance exams for Oxford.  After finishing school he and his brother immigrated to the United States. At the time of his death in 1927 he had been Vice president of the New York Central Railway for several years. Steve’s mother, Harriet Ellen Thrall, was born in Iowa and was a descendant of Peter Brown, who arrived on this country on the Mayflower.

When Steve was 16 years old he went to England where he attended school at Sandbach for two years. While there, he received a gold medal, presented by Florence Nightingale, as the school’s outstanding athlete. On his return he entered Ohio State University’s school of engineering for two years. The summer between those years he worked on the Orpheum Circuit doing song -and -dance routines and learning prestidigitation. These skills he maintained all his life, using them frequently in local vaudeville, minstrel and variety shows, along with his ability to coax a tune from almost any instrument.


Steve Sheldon, in his early 20s

After leaving Ohio State, he and George Jones, a life-long friend, started west looking for work, as the "panic" of the early 20th century was going on. They worked in hay fields in Oklahoma, and orange groves in California, eventually finding their way to Seattle. Steve managed to get a job as a storekeeper on the Alaska Steamship "Northwestern" and made seven trips to Nome. During one of his trips, the ship was held fast in the ice in the Bering Sea for a time. Intrigued with Alaska, he applied for work with Michael J. Heney who was building the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad out of Cordova. The winter between his two seasons there, he was a storekeeper in a remote supply station far up the track. When that railroad was completed, some of the crew members went with their boss, John Rosene, to Haines to work on the survey for the Alaska Midland Railroad (see monograph) which was to connect Fairbanks with the deep-water port of Haines. When he arrived in 1911, he worked with another young engineer, H.P.M.Birkinbine "Birk". When Birk found that he would be detained up-river, he asked Steve to meet the ship when his sister came to visit for a month or so.


Steve, Elisabeth and baby Elisabeth (Lib), 1914

Elisabeth Neidly Birkinbine (Bess) was born in Philadelphia September 22, 1885. Her father, also an engineer, specialized in waterworks, completing a water system for Philadelphia, then building one for Council Bluffs, Iowa, only to return to Philadelphia to enlarge their system. Bess’s mother, Louise Chadwick, was the daughter of a Boston sea captain. Bess went briefly to Vassar, decided she wanted to be a nurse so she transferred to Jefferson Medical School of Nursing, then worked out of a "Settlement house" in the slums of Philadelphia. Her father and older sister were killed in the first traffic accident in Philadelphia involving an automobile. They were riding in their horse-drawn buggy when they were struck by a car. Both were killed instantly. Mrs. Birkinbine saw the accident, had a heart attack and died within ten days. Bess had already begun packing to move to Chicago to work at Hull House. Devastated by the loss of her family, she packed a few favorite family items and went to visit her brother "Birk" in Haines, Alaska, arriving in May of 1912. She planned to return in the early fall.

When the teacher for the Bureau of Indian Affairs School was taken ill and unable to come to Haines, Bess was hired to teach the winter of 1912-13. Half the teacher’s job at the BIA School was public health work in the village, and a nurse was as good at teaching as a teacher was at nursing. This was work Bess could handle.

Steve Sheldon had taken a job with J.W. Martin for the winter, building Ashley stoves. Bess Birkinbine and Steve Sheldon were married March 23, 1913. The young people had both been raised in homes with plenty of household help, so were not well prepared for life in the 2-room cabin on the northwest corner of Union Street and 2nd Avenue which they called home. There was wood heat, of course, and no plumbing of any sort, but there was a well about half a block away. This was the little house where they brought home their first child, Elisabeth Anne, who had been born in Skagway’s White Pass Hospital on January 11, 1914, because the Haines doctor was away on vacation.

When Martin’s store was sold to N.G. Hansen, Steve built stoves for the new owner and the little family lived in a somewhat larger house behind the hardware store. Stephen Jr., born February 4, 1916 was brought home to this house from the Presbyterian Hospital across the street. The Sheldons then bought Hansen’s stove business and move into George Vogel’s building just down the street, taking over the Post Office from Vogel, and adding a prescription counter at the urging, and with the help of the doctors stationed at Ford Seward. A soda fountain was soon added to their sales effort. The third Sheldon child arrived in that building August 19,1918, and was named Harriet Louise for her two grandmothers. The family lived upstairs over the stove shop/drug store/Post Office. They added the service of a small telephone system which connected the Army’s Fort Seward phones, the U.S. Commissioner, Bob Ferry’s and Tim Vogel’s Saloons and the Deputy U.S. Marshall’s home.

When Charlie Hockett, who had been running Jack Dalton’s Hotel on the corner of Main and Front Streets left town, the Sheldons bought that building in the fall of 1919. The family lived on the third floor. They had seven rooms for rent on the second floor and the street floor housed the trading-post items they had taken over from Hockett, plus the drug store and soda fountain. The Sheldon’s fourth child, Frederick Beaumont, was born there January 19,1921. The following year they bought the Elite Steam Laundry from Homer O. Banta, and operated it for several years as well.

Steve Sheldon, 1941

About the time that Prohibition was passed, Steve was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshall, covering Haines and Skagway. To save funds, the Federal Government decided he should also cover Yakutat once a week. To the people in Washington D.C. it looked pretty close on the map. Steve made one trip over to Yakutat, but the trip entailed catching a steamer south to Juneau, waiting for the ship to return south from Cordova, Valdez and Seward in order to get back to Juneau where he waited for the next northbound ship to Haines. The round trip took nearly two weeks. It was decided that one of the Juneau deputies could handle Yakutat more economically.

In the 1930’s the Sheldons added more groceries to the store stock, but still relied heavily on the tourists the Alaska Steamship Company and Admiral Line ships brought to the city dock at the foot of Main Street. In 1925 they had begun showing their collection of artifacts, displayed on top shelves of the store and in the living room they had added on the bay side of the main floor of the building. Both of the Sheldons were collectors, Steve having started at the age of 8. Bess had collected a few choice china items in Pennsylvania, but the bulk of her treasures were beadwork and baskets made in Haines and Klukwan.

The busy, happy family was outdoor orientated at all seasons: hiking, camping, picnicking, skating, skiing and coasting. They were especially active in sports, music and the variety shows which Haines specialized in during the winters.

In the mid-twenties Steve bought his first boat, the "Alaska," a former fishing boat, which they used for picnics, camping and exploring Lynn Canal. Later they owned the "Annie B", then the "Sea Parrot" --the Army’s 64’11" "J-44" with a cantankerous Diesel engine. It was the first one licensed to carry paying passengers on charter, with his daughter Harriet, home from college for the summer, as crew. During World War Two, it was requisitioned by the Army for "casual" use, whatever that means! Much as Steve enjoyed his boats, they never became a source of much revenue, so he sold the last one in the forties.


Steve Sheldon on Davidson Glacier, circa 1912

Steve's grandchildren Betsy & Fred Hakkinen
Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau 1947

 


Steve's oldest daughter, Elisabeth (Lib) Sheldon Hakkinen, 1978, holding the Friendship Pole.

During the building of the Haines Cutoff Road in 1943, Steve worked as a warehouseman for the construction company hired to upgrade the road after the Army finished the basic haul-road.

When Bess died in January 1950 their oldest daughter Elisabeth and her husband, Felix "Whitey" Hakkinen bought out the family store business and part of the land. They built a new store with an apartment for their family upstairs. Steve began spending part of his summers with them, showing his collection to tourists. He made his home base in Seattle with his daughter Harriet and her husband, Harold Brakken. Christmas holidays he spent with his brother and sisters wherever they gathered in Ohio, Texas or Florida. He drove around the country, usually alone, frequently stopping in Elks Clubs everywhere, and visited Mexico, Cuba and Hawaii.

Steve died of cancer in Seattle during August of 1960, almost 3 months before he could have cast his first-ever vote for President of the United States because of Alaska becoming a State.

The Sheldon daughters inherited the already well-known Sheldon Collection and have donated it to form the nucleus of the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center you visit today.

For further information on Historical Individuals of Haines please view the following links:
Charles H. Anway • Dalton Trail • Francina E. Haines • Solomon Ripinsky

(c) Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc. Box 269 Haines, AK 99827  1(907) 766-2366
All rights reserved.  No part of this webpage may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center.
This webpage may be printed only for personal or classroom use.

 

[Home] [General Information ] [Special Events] [Collections & Exhibits]
[Museum Store ] [Historical Vignettes ] [Contact Us]

(c) Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc. Box 269 Haines, AK 99827  1(907) 766-2366
All rights reserved.  No part of this webpage may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center.
This webpage may be printed only for personal or classroom use.
Top of Page

[Home] [General Information ] [Calendar of Events ] [Collections & Exhibits]
[Museum Store ] [Nuggets of Haines History] [Membership ] [Contact Us]

Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc.
Box 269, Haines, AK
99827 - Phone: (907) 766-2366
museumdirector@aptalaska.net