Parents: Elmer J. “Stroller” White and Josephine Keys

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska

Biography

Born to Elmer J. “Stroller” White and Josephine Keys. The family moved to Douglas, Alaska in 1916.

Sources

• Family and genealogical records

Primary Name: Albert Hamilton White

Filed as: White, Albert Hamilton

Parents: Elmer J. "Stroller" White and Josephine Keys

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska

Keywords: White family, Douglas, Alaska, pioneer families

Biography

Albert Hamilton White was born to Elmer J. "Stroller" White and Josephine Keys. The family moved to Douglas, Alaska, in 1916.

Sources

• Family and genealogical records

Parents: Elmer J. “Stroller” White and Josephine Keys

Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Los Angeles, California

Biography

Born to Elmer J. “Stroller” White and Josephine Keys. The family moved to Douglas, Alaska, in 1916.

When Josephine retired in 1950, she moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with her daughter. She died in Los Angeles on May 26, 1956.

Sources

• Family and genealogical records

Alice Josephine “Josie” Keys White was a Charter Member of Juneau Igloo No. 6.

She was born July 7, 1872, in Goldendale, Washington. Her parents were Calvin S. Keys and Jane Freelove Peck Keys.

She married Elmer J. “Stroller” White on December 30, 1891, in Tacoma, Washington. They had two sons, John McBurney White and Albert Hamilton White, and one daughter, Lenora White.

She came to Alaska with her husband, a well-known pioneer Alaska journalist.

The Whites arrived in Skagway when the town was still a tent city of gold-rush stampeders. Mr. White took a job with the Skagway News, a weekly newspaper, and the family remained in Skagway until the autumn of 1899.

They then traveled over the newly completed White Pass Railroad to Lake Bennett. Although they did not have the $500 required to cross the Canadian border, a barge owner told the Canadian officials that Mr. White was working as a cook on the barge. They boarded the barge in October, late in the season, and floated down the Yukon River toward Dawson. They came within fifteen miles of Dawson before the river froze.

“We went to Dawson for the mad excitement of it,” Mrs. White later recalled. “We didn’t know what we would do, but Mr. White got a job with the Dawson Nugget right away.”

The family remained in Dawson until 1905, when they moved to Whitehorse. Mr. White purchased the Whitehorse Star, and the family remained there until 1916. Their son, Albert H. White, was born in Whitehorse on August 7, 1907.

In 1916, they moved to Douglas, Alaska, where Mr. White purchased the Douglas Island News. “Douglas was the big town then,” she recalled. “The Treadwell Mine was going full swing.”

The Whites completed construction of a new newspaper plant in time for the Treadwell mine cave-in of 1917. The new plant included a cast-off press from the Juneau Empire. The press was moved back to Juneau from Douglas in 1920 when Stroller’s Weekly was established.

“I didn’t work much on the paper,” Mrs. White said. “I had two children to bring up and a little grouse-shooting to do. But when Stroller was sick, I would take over.”

Mrs. White was employed as assistant curator of the Territorial Museum in 1925 by the Rev. A. P. Kashevaroff, who had established the museum in 1920.

Her husband died in 1930. “I was the one who always talked about getting out of Alaska,” she later said.

She retired in 1950 and moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with her daughter. She died there on May 26, 1956.

Sources

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau
Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850-1950, Ed Ferrell, Vol. 2, pp. 344-345; Vol. 1, p. 337
Washington Marriage License
California Death Index

Elmer J. White was President of the Juneau Men's Igloo No. 6 in 1922 and 1923.

White was born near Cambridge, Ohio about 1860. He married Josephine Keys in December 1881 in Tacoma, Washington. They had two sons, John McBurney White and Albert Hamilton White, and a daughter, Lenora White.

Before coming to Alaska, White worked as a newspaperman in Washington State and Florida. He began his career in the North in 1898 as a member of the staff of the Skagway News.

He later moved to Dawson to accept a position with the Dawson Nugget. From the “Stroller's Column” in that newspaper, he adopted the pseudonym by which he became widely known to his friends.

White subsequently moved to Whitehorse, where he purchased the Whitehorse Star, which he published and edited successfully for several years. He later came to Douglas and purchased the Douglas Island News.

He maintained the newspaper either as owner or lessor until the abandonment of mining and milling operations at Douglas. At that time, he transferred the printing plant to Juneau and renamed the publication Stroller's Weekly.

In addition to his newspaper activities, White was active in politics as a Democrat. Known for fairness in partisanship, he commanded the respect and often the support of political opponents.

He served the public as Territorial Publicity Director from 1918 to 1921. He was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1918, and his colleagues' regard was demonstrated by his elevation to the Speakership. At the request of party associates, he ran for Congress in 1922 and conducted a respected campaign.

Elmer J. “Stroller” White died in Juneau on September 28, 1930.

Daily Alaska Empire, September 29, 1930