By CIRI Historian Alexandra J. McClanahan

The threads that Betty Gilcrist finds that lead to information about Point Possession and her family's history are often difficult to follow. But she knows if she keeps at it, her work will eventually be useful to the family's descendants and maybe even a wider audience.

For the last 10 years, Gilcrist, a CIRI shareholder who lives in Soldotna and Point Possession, has been researching information on the village where her mother, Feodoria Kallander Pennington, was born and grew up. She has focused much of her attention on trying to get information on her great-grandfather, Chief Nicholai. It's a difficult task, in part because the records are sketchy. Even the name "Nicholai" is spelled in a number of different ways, and the name of the village is not consistent. It was also known as Nicolai Village, she said.

Gilcrist believes that an obituary published in the Anchorage Daily Times on July 27, 1916, is for her great-grandfather. It states "The Daily Times has received authentic information that Chief Nicholai died several days ago at Point Possession from consumption and that this dreaded disease was working havoc with the natives of that section. It is reported that Chief Nicholai's wife and several children are in a bad way and several of them are in the last stages of the disease . . . Chief Nicholai has been at the head of his tribe for many years and was looked up to by his tribesmen as a man of judgment . . . in all matters pertaining to their fishing and hunting rights, and he was a picturesque character well known to the old-timers in the inlet."

Gilcrist said her research indicates that Point Possession was home to three families, including more than a dozen people, in the census of 1900. She said by the 1910 census, all the people were part of the Nicholai family.

Chief Nicholai was married to Dahlia, who was known as Doris. She was born in 1870 and died in 1933, Gilcrist said. Their daughter Cora Nicolai, Gilcrist's grandmother, married Julius Kallander from Oslo, Norway. Gilcrist said her mother, Feodoria Kallander, kept her maiden name and passed it on to her children because she feared the name would have been lost if she didn't. Gilcrist said her mother was foresighted because it turns out that her brothers are the only Kallanders remaining. In fact, today, Feodoria Pennington's descendants are the only remaining villagers.

The village on Turnagain Arm - just across the inlet from Anchorage - is the center of the family's gatherings.

"We go there year-round," she said. "We all have houses or cabins there, as well as our fishing sites for setnet salmon fishing."

Although the research is time-consuming and at times frustrating, Gilcrist said she enjoys it immensely.

"When I find out things that are linked to my family, it's exciting," she said. "My brother Norman (Kallander) teases me about always talking and getting so hyped up about Point Possession information. But I get this feeling I have to do this. Passing on stories to my family, children, and my grandchildren is in me. I'm following a tradition of storytelling. I'm very fortunate to be part of the family of Nicholai Village of Point Possession."

Gilcrist said that eventually she hopes to write a book about her family, Point Possession, and Chief Nicholai. "There is a story there," she said.

Previous Article | Top | Next Article | Return to the list of newsletters