Jessie

Jessie: the story of a genteel lady in frontier Alaska is the fascinating saga of one of Alaska's most remarkable women of the Goldrush/Sourdough Era. In 1913 Jessie Mather born to a wealthy Victorian family in Sheffield England was stranded with her parents in Eagle Alaska by the outbreak of WWI because funds to continue travel became unavailable. Some fifty-six years later in 1969 Jessie died in Sitka and the few remaining items of her estate were sold in a state auction. The author who purchased those mementos unseen soon realized it would be possible to reconstruct the life of this pioneer lady from the contents of the ancient trunk and thus Jessie's story - a true riches-to-rags adventure - chronicles the life of this durable Alaskan citizen.