China Mary
USINFO | 2013-08-05 15:56

 
In Sitka, "China Mary" quickly made a name for herself as a lively character who learned both Tlingit and English, and moved easily from one group to the other.
 
Many Chinese and Japanese came to work in the canneries in the late 19th century, but by 1903 many had established businesses in Sitka or surrounding towns. Ted Hinkley, in Alaskan John G. Brady (1982) reports, “to have one’s shirts laundered by Sitkan Lung Sing assured quality cleaning. Yet the capital’s Chinese were outsiders.”
 
“China Mary”s marriage in April of 1903 to Sing Lee is reported in The Alaskan, however, this appears to have been a rare journalistic mention of this lively character. In 1909, she married a third and final time, to Fred Johnson. She became one of the first women troller's in Southeast Alaska.
 
Most of those listed as “Russian” in 1897 had disappeared by the 1900 census. Probably, having adopted the United States as their own country, under the conditions of the 1867 treaty, those who remained were now registering as Americans.
 
Photo credits: all photos on this page by E.W. Merrill; top: Gov. John Brady's home and children, ca. 1903; 2nd from top: Haley House, ca. 1904; 3rd from top: China Mary, ca. 1906.
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