Primary Name: Pugh, Venetia Elizabeth

Filed as: Pugh, Venetia Elizabeth

Also known as: Venetia Elizabeth Hahn; Venetia E. Pugh

Occupation / Association: Clerk of the District Court; Charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6

Associated places: Ketchikan, Alaska; Skagway, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Anchorage, Alaska

Keywords: Venetia Elizabeth Pugh, Venetia Hahn, Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary charter member, SS Princess Sophia families, Alaska District Court clerks, Baranof Hotel tea house

Biography

Venetia Elizabeth Pugh was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6.

She was born August 13, 1904, in the U.S. Customs House in Ketchikan, Alaska, to John F. “Jack” Pugh and Venetia L. Pugh.

The family moved to Skagway in 1904 and to Juneau in 1909, when her father was appointed the Collector of Customs for the District of Alaska. Her father later perished aboard the S.S. Princess Sophia when the vessel ran aground and sank at Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau with the loss of all aboard.

After her father's death, Venetia and her mother moved into the Baranof Hotel in Juneau. Her mother operated a tea house there, and Venetia worked both at the tea house and at the Baranof Gift Shop.

She graduated from Juneau High School in 1922 and from the University of Washington in 1927. She then began a career with the District Court that lasted approximately thirty years.

On October 12, 1935, she married Karl Austin Hahn, and the couple moved to Skagway. Their son, Karl A. Hahn, was born in Skagway in July 1939.

In 1947, the Hahn family, along with Venetia’s mother, moved to Anchorage, where they lived on Government Hill in a Quonset hut until 1953.

Venetia retired from the Clerk of the Court Office in 1969. In 1987, she and her husband moved to the Anchorage Pioneers’ Home.

Venetia Elizabeth Pugh Hahn died at the Anchorage Pioneers’ Home on January 11, 1999.

Sources

1910 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau

1940 U.S. Federal Census, Skagway

Gastineau Channel Memories, Vol. 1, p. 425

Daily Alaska Empire, October 12, 1935

Juneau Empire, January 18, 1999

Anchorage Daily News, January 14, 1999