wrward
2010-06-26

My heritage
My father was Jesse Ward, he was born on Kodiak in 1910 to Captain James Ward and Elizabeth Bowen who was an Alutiiq. I am very excited to find this site, I have wanted to explore my Alaskan family and this is the greatest find I could make in that endeavor. Looking forward to visiting the museum in person and to explore the history of my family.

MWLamp
2010-04-29

Walking in the footsteps of our grandparents
I came to Ouzinkie when I was more than age one and less than age two. I spent much of the next 5 years living on Spruce Island and making memories. Our family had the cannery on Spruce Island and we lived there at least half the year. I have wonderful early memories of Father Gerasim, of the wonderful missionairies and the great fun of eating in the mess hall. When I think back and look at photos, it almost seems it was a magical time in my young life. In 1964 I flew over Ouzinkie after the earthquake. It still was not easy to land so my only view was from the sky. In 1997 I returned with my then 19-year old daughter, sharing Spruce Island, the village of Ouzinkie and Monk's Lagoon with her. By accident I stumbled on Herman Squartsoff and he availed himself to ferry us to Monk's Lagoon. It was a special day for us and walking in the holy land that meant so much to Father Gerasim was overwhelming. In 2007 my older brother and I talked about a trip back to Alaska, the Kodiak area, to walk in the footsteps of our grandparents. We chartered a small plane to fly us from Kodiak to Larson Bay and Uyak Bay. Circling into Uyak Bay by brother immediately recognized the home he visited sixty years earlier, the home next door to where he lived with our grandparents. It was a joyful reunion of memories. We landed in both Larson and Uyak Bays and met the owner of our uncle's home at Uyak Bay. There were three Erickson houses, all similar, but only one remains standing. It brought real excitement and utter joy to walk the same beach as our Erickson grandparents. The next day we had pre-arranged with Herman, once again, to pick us up in Kodiak and by boat take us to Spruce Island so we could visit both Monk's Lagoon and the village of Ouzinkie. Again, what a special day. We will forever remember our time visiting the areas we knew as young children. I was able to talk to residents that knew our family, extended families of children I played with. I have done a fair amount of traveling in the U.S. and around the world. My brother has traveled even more but we both say that the trip to 'walk in the footsteps of our grandparents' is really the highlight of trips for us. It is such beautiful country, so peaceful and oh so memorable! We feel so blessed that we took time for this trip and that we shared it together.

Guest
2009-04-14

Kodiak resident 1946-1952
I lived in Kodiak from 1946 to 1952. My father was a commercial fisherman who trapped lobster's in CA. When he caught a King Crab on a Halibut set line, he built modified traps to catch King Crab. He continued to have his King Crab traps until we left the island in 1952. As I recall, there was no commercial crab fishing during that time. My daughter watches the TV program Dangerous Catch and is very interested in learning more about the parther grandfather played in the crab industry. I scanned all my photos of Kodiak and have them on my photo frame to remind me of the years we lived on the island. gail lightfoot

Melinda
2009-02-14

Facinating!
Thank you for this wonderful website, I've enjoyed learning about this awesome place, people, language, who have been blessed by The Lord!

Jenny
2008-10-13

Nice website
I like your website. Keep it up!

Jay
2008-08-30

Thank you
Thank you!!

Guest
2008-07-28

great work
I am the grandson of Marie Painter [lorenson], and wanted to say good job keep up the good work on our heritage.

Laura and Jack Muller
2008-06-15

Nice book!
Our Two Faces book came in the mail yesterday from Koniag, and it is beautiful. Great work, guys.

Sacha Sanguinetti
2008-05-22

Thank you!
Cama'i... I was born and raised on Kodiak, but moved away and now live in the lower 48 (Kansas, of all places). My heart, however, remains with the island and my Alutiiq heritage. I will always consider it my home. I just found this great site and plan on visiting it on a regular basis and sharing it with my children, who have only been able to visit Kodiak once. Thank you for the obvious effort and hard work that was put into making this a first class stop on the information superhighway.

jstump1972
2008-01-24

Native of Kodiak
My Grandmother's name was Verla Marion Hughes. I had never met her, but from what my father has told me she was full blooded Alutiiq Indian. I have always had a strong following of the Indian heritage and have alot of paintings, beads, and even have a few tattoos in relation. I am a 35 year old man and now live in the Memphis Tennessee area. If anyone knows my Grandmother or anyone in her family please feel free to email me with information at jstump1972@comcast.net (mailto:jstump1972@comcast.net). Jeremy Stump