Juneau family celebrates its roots

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October 23, 2009

By SUZANNE MOORE The Press Republican Fri Oct 23, 2009, 11:26 PM EDT

CHAMPLAIN — The parade celebrated Alaska's 50 years of statehood, but for some, it meant something far more personal.

"Welcome home, Juneaus!" spectators called. "Thank you for founding our town!"

"I was all choked up," June Juneau recalled.

The Chazy woman and many other Juneaus either rode or walked the parade route in the city named for their ancestor Joseph Juneau (1836-1899), waving to a crowd that treated them like long-lost family.

"It was awesome," said Guy Juneau of Plattsburgh.

The July celebration provided the stage for this year's Juneau International Family Reunion, with about 100 Juneaus taking part. The group meets every three years or so at a location connected somehow to the family. Reunions have taken place in La Rochelle, France, where the Juneaus originated; in Quebec City, where immigrants settled in the New World; and in Louisiana, where reunion founder Virginia Juneau lives.

Juneaus have also gathered in Milwaukee, Wis., which was founded by Solomon (or Salomon) Juneau, Joe's brother. And Juneau, Alaska, of course, was an obvious choice.

BACK AT GUNPOINT
The Juneaus, who first visited the city in 1999 for their Kissing Cousin Reunion, weren't sure their presence would mean much to the inhabitants there. After all, Joe Juneau's founding of the city wasn't exactly heroic.

It all began when, in 1880, the Quebec-born prospector and a man named Richard Harris were sent to the Juneau area in search of gold by an entrepreneur in Sitka, Alaska.

One story says the pair traded all their grub stake for booze and returned to Sitka empty-handed.

The other casts an even more disreputable light on the two, saying they eventually found gold then high-tailed it for Canada. The only reason Sitka saw them again, legend has it, was because they were brought back at gunpoint.

"I like that story better," laughed Guy's wife, Mary Jo.

And there's a colorful saga about the naming of Juneau, too. The moniker was voted in at a miners' meeting in 1881, research shows. But some say Joe manipulated the vote, buying off miners with drinks.

Whatever happened, it is fact that Joe and his partner found the ore that set off the gold rush that brought civilization to the area that became Juneau. And the man's memory is revered there.

"The town opened its arms to us," said Thomas "Sandy" Sandell of Champlain, whose wife, Joanne, is a Juneau.

In July, Joe Juneau's descendents gathered in Evergreen Cemetery to lay wreaths on his and Harris's gravestones. There was a wreath, too, for the marker of Tlingit chief Kawa.ée who guided the pair and is also credited with discovery of Juneau.

"That was so moving," said June, who took part with her husband, Roland, and son Jerrid.

"We've decided Roland looks a lot like Joe Juneau," Mary Jo said, recalling the portrait they saw in the new Juneau-Douglas City Museum.

The Juneaus were also special guests of the Tlingit people, who performed a presentation dance for them in Native dress.

BREATHLESS
And beyond the celebration, the North Country group made the most of their trip, viewing the northern lights, visiting the AJ (Alaska Juneau) Gold Mine, flying in a twin-engine Cessna over Mount McKinley. Belted into harnesses, they rode a zip line 140 feet off the ground. They went whitewater rafting and from the deck of a cruise ship saw whales breaching and bubble feeding, and they watched in awe as a glacier calved, a huge slab of ice sliding into the sea.

Alaska left them breathless.

"There were so many eagles," Mary Jo said, "they're almost like our pigeons."

"The ravens are almost as big as the eagles," Roland said.

Joe Juneau was driven by a dream as tremendous as the wild land of Alaska his descendents saw up close and personal. Seeking wealth and adventure, he was drawn to California by the 1849 gold rush then by another big strike in Canada. Riches came to him in Alaska, but the cash didn't last.

"Supposedly, Joe Juneau spent his money as fast as he got it," Sandy said.

The prospector left Alaska to seek a new fortune in the gold fields of the Yukon, where he in Dawson City he operated a small restaurant before his death from pneumonia in 1899. In 1903, Juneau citizens raised money to bring his body home.

"He was a survivor," Joanne said.

"Even though he wasn't a doctor, a banker, it's a rich pioneer history," Mary Jo said.

Added Joanne, "We wouldn't change it."

E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com