Donnenworth - Alien Arrivals - 1906-1949

[arkay]

I'm helping a friend with her tree, and have found a Mrs Wm Donnenworth, who would be her grandmother, listed as an "Alaskan Alien Arrival".  Could someone please do a lookup for us? 

Arkay

[Lisa in California]

Hi Arkay:

Mrs. Wm Donnenworth arrived June 1911.  Ship name was "White Pass and Yukon Railway".  Port of departure was White Horse, Canada.  Last permanent address was White Horse.  Final destination was White Horse.

Nationality Canada.

She was in transit.

[Lisa in California]

You both most likely know this, but there is an Annie E Donnenworth under British Columbia Death Index.  Date of passing was 1954.

Further information may be found here:
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm

[arkay]

Thanks very much for that, Lisa.  Doesn't give a lot of personal info, though, does it?  Oh well.

Her son crossed the border from BC to Washington in 1947 for 3 days, and the border manifest card gave all kinds of detail, even down to the colour of his eyes! 

Yes, we did find her death, but that's another puzzle.  According to the archives, she and her husband both died on the same day - in different towns!! 

This game is full of surprises.

Cheers,
Arkay

[Lisa in California]

Hi Arkay:

I have seen border crossings that are very detailed.  This is the first time that I have seen reference to a train.  Perhaps that has something to do with the amount of personal information?

I just took another look at the image.  "S.S." is crossed off and W. P. & Y. Ry. train is written at the top.  "sailing" is scratched off, leaving just "from White Horse, Canada".

It appears that the immigration date is June 1911.

I just noticed  on a different image in this series of images that the port of arrival was Skagway, Alaska.  After a quick check, it appears that the passengers who do have complete details are non-Canadian and non-American passengers.  Perhaps so many Canadian and American passengers took the train that the officials only wrote down information about passengers outside of North America.
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I did notice that Annie and William passed away on the same day.  I didn't notice it was in different towns!  I hope you both are able to find out what happened.

[arkay]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the extra info.  I guess a lot of folks in White Horse took the train to the "big city" of Skagway, probably to get supplies, as I don't think there was much available up there in those days.  Annie had a little millinary business, so she had to get the fabric somewhere.  Her husband, who travelled all the way from Ontario for the gold rush, and was known as "Hobo Bill", drove a stagecoach and worked for the WP & Y Ry.

As soon as we can find their graves we may solve the other puzzle.  Personally, I think it was a mis-transcription, as they got the age at death of their son Fred wrong (he was 58, not 0).

To me, it's a fascinating family history!

[Lisa in California]

Isn't researching interesting?  Through internet searches, we were able to find out that some children playing in the back of my ancestor's property accidentally started a fire, that at that time, was one of the largest that the town had witnessed.  Fortunately, no one was hurt, but a lot of property was lost, as well as other things.  This was c1868!  (Don't remember the exact year.)

Have you both tried the usual sites, to search for cemeteries for the Donnenworth's?

[arkay]

I have located Fred's grave, which is on a database, but not William or Annie's yet (they're not in the same cemetery).  Luckily, we live in the area where they died, so we'll just need to do some legwork to find them!

Thanks for your interest, and have a Merry Christmas!

Arkay

[Lisa in California]

Best of luck with your searches.

I hope you enjoy your Christmas as well.