Digital Bob Archive

Death of an Alaskan Princess, Bridget Smith's mystery novel, is not only getting great reviews but has been picked by McNaughton Books for its pre-packaged distribution service to libraries. And perhaps the best news is that her next book is 13/15th completed, or somewhere in that area. I don't believe it is a secret that its setting is the Chilkoot Trail which, thanks to a flock of books and movies, approaches the Klondike in public recognition.

Several years ago Bridget began a literary career with the publication of \"On People and Things Alaskan.\" She now moves to the front ranks of Alaska's women fiction writers, of whom there is a growing but still rather miniscule number. There are and have been a good many women writers in Alaska, but a review of the booklet, \"A Sense of History,\" published by the Alaska Women's Commission, discloses that a large majority of them have written nonfiction and only a handful have produced novels.

Juneau's tradition goes back a long, long way in the field of novel writing, although admittedly the production has been far from continuous. A survey of the Alaska literary field turns up \"Kin-dashon's Wife\" as the first novel about Alaska and by an Alaskan. If there was an earlier one, the late Judge James Wickersham didn't find it for his invaluable \"Bibliography of Alaskan Literature.\"

\"Kim.da.shon's Wife: An Alaskan Story,\" is 281 pages in length, was published in New York by the Fleming H. Revell Company in 1892. It was written here in Juneau by Caroline McCoy White Willard, although the title page shows her name as Mrs. E.S. Willard. Her husband, Eugene S. Willard, was a doctor and came to Alaska as a Presbyterian medical missionary.

The book won her a medal at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. She was born at Newcastle, Pennsylvania in 1853 and came to Alaska with her husband in 1881. They established Haines Mission on Lynn Canal and the town of Haines grew up next door to the mission. In 1884, just about the time they were getting ready to move to Juneau, Carrie Willard published the 384-page book \"Life in Alaska,\" which is a collection of the letters she wrote home, telling of their experiences among the Chilkat Indians.

At Juneau Dr. Willard salvaged lumber from a mission that had been established at Taku Harbor, then abandoned when most of the people moved to the new town. He built a church and a home where up to 24 children were housed and cared for by the Willards and some helpers. In addition to that work and her writing, Mrs. Willard raised two children of her own.

In 1895 the Willards moved to the Seattle area where they lived for a time, then went to Chicago. He became professor of bacteriology at Northwestern University, a post he held until his death in 1929. Mrs. Willard died in Chicago on February 15, 1916.