Primary Name: Forrest, Selma Marie Berg
Filed as: Forrest, Selma Marie Berg
Also known as: Selma Berg Forrest; Selma Marie Forrest
Occupation / Association: Charter Member, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo No. 6; early Juneau resident
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Douglas, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Sweden
Family: Daughter of Carl and Steena Anderson Berg; wife of George Frank Forrest; stepmother of Marguerite “Rita” Forrest and George F. Forrest; mother of Hazel E. Forrest and Helen Violet Forrest
Keywords: Selma Berg Forrest, Selma Marie Forrest, Berg family, Forrest family, Juneau pioneers, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo No. 6, Swedish immigrants in Alaska, early Juneau families
Biography
Selma Marie Berg Forrest was a Charter Member of Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo No. 6, and an early resident of Juneau during the formative years of the community. She was born in December 1877 in Sweden, the daughter of Carl and Steena Anderson Berg.
Selma immigrated to the United States in 1895 during a period when many Scandinavians were settling throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. She arrived in Juneau in January 1898, only a few years after the city had become a major regional center during the Klondike Gold Rush era.
On September 27, 1899, Selma married George Frank Forrest in Douglas, Alaska. George had previously been married to Anna May Shelooe. Two children were born from that marriage: Marguerite “Rita” Forrest, born February 2, 1896, and George F. Forrest, born December 17, 1898. Anna May Shelooe Forrest died in 1898.
George and Selma Forrest later had two daughters together. Hazel E. Forrest was born in Juneau on August 5, 1904, and Helen Violet Forrest was born August 8, 1905. The family lived in the Juneau-Douglas area during the early territorial period when the region was developing as a center for mining, shipping, and regional commerce.
Selma and George Forrest divorced in 1918. By the time of the 1920 United States Federal Census, Selma was living in Seattle, Washington, with her daughters, Hazel and Helen. Like many former Alaska residents, she relocated to the larger urban center of Seattle, which maintained close economic and transportation connections with Southeast Alaska.
Selma Marie Berg Forrest died in Seattle, Washington, on March 9, 1936.
Sources
- 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau, Alaska
- 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau, Alaska
- Washington Marriage Certificate
- Washington Death Certificate