Descendants of Mariah (Maria) Madgalena Blystone
Generation No. 1
1. MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA1 BLYSTONE was born April 08, 1789 in Westmorland Co., Pennsylvania, and died April 15, 1833 in Illinois. She married WILLIAM CARMACK, SR. December 30, 1811 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. He was born December 16, 1788 in Salem County, New Jersey, and died August 28, 1865 in McHenry County, Illinois.
Notes for MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA BLYSTONE:
Mariah's name may have been Maria Magdalena. Information from The Three Blystone Brothers book states her birthdate as January 17, 1779 and being baptised at Harrolds Reformed Church in Hempfield Twp., Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania on April 8, 1779.
More About MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA BLYSTONE:
Baptism: April 07, 1789
Burial: 1833, Auburn Cemetery, McHenry County, Illinois
More About WILLIAM CARMACK, SR.:
Burial: 1865, Auburn Cemetery, McHenry County, Illinois
Military service: War of 1812
Children of MARIAH BLYSTONE and WILLIAM CARMACK are:
i. ABRAM2 CARMACK, b. 1815, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
Notes for ABRAM CARMACK:
First name may have been Abram.
ii. DAVID CARMACK, b. 1817, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
iii. WILLIAM CARMACK, JR., b. 1819, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
iv. CHRISTOPHER CARMACK, b. 1821, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
v. SYLVUS CARMACK, b. 1828, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
vi. MARY CARMACK, b. 1830, Pennsylvania; d. Unknown.
2. vii. AUGUST PERRY CARMACK, b. 1831, Pennsylvania; d. 1871, California.
Generation No. 2
2. AUGUST PERRY2 CARMACK (MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA1 BLYSTONE) was born 1831 in Pennsylvania, and died 1871 in California. He married HANNAH L. STILES July 02, 1854 in McHenry, Illinois. She died 1863 in California.
Notes for AUGUST PERRY CARMACK:
Went to California for the Gold Rush in 1849.
More About AUGUST PERRY CARMACK:
Cause of Death: Apoplexy
Children of AUGUST CARMACK and HANNAH STILES are:
i. HANNAH ROSELLA3 CARMACK, b. 1855; d. Unknown; m. JAMES WATSON, 1869; b. 1831; d. Unknown.
Notes for HANNAH ROSELLA CARMACK:
Hannah raised her brother George after the death of their parents.
3. ii. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARMACK, b. September 24, 1860, Conra Costa County, California; d. June 05, 1922, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Generation No. 3
3. GEORGE WASHINGTON3 CARMACK (AUGUST PERRY2, MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA1 BLYSTONE)1 was born September 24, 1860 in Conra Costa County, California, and died June 05, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He married (1) ALASKAN INDIAN. She died Unknown. He married (2) ALASKAN INDIAN KATE ??2 Bef. 1893. She was born 1857, and died March 29, 1920 in Indian village in the Yukon. He married (3) MARGUERITE SAFTIG October 30, 1900 in Olympia, Washington. She was born 1874, and died Unknown.
Notes for GEORGE WASHINGTON CARMACK:
The 1896 discovery of gold on the Klondike River transformed the history of interior Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The Klondike River joins the muddy Yukon River about 120 miles upstream from the Alaska -Canadian border. Before the miners came and silted up the stream, its sparkling, clear blue-black summer waters were always thick with salmon.
For the men and women in the Yukon River basin the fantastic riches of the Klondike strike changed their lives forever. Miners once considered themselves lucky to find claims worth four or five cents to the pan. In the tributary creeks of the Klondike the ground was often worth four or five hundred dollars to the pan.
Gold was discovered on many of the creeks and streams along the Yukon River basin. By 1896, more than a thousand prospectors searched in the region, and nearly everyone believed that the big strike was near-at-hand.
Stone-for-driving-in-fish-trap-poles-river The Han Athabascan, known as the "people of the river," called the Klondike River "Thron-diuck," which was named after the fish trap poles they traditionally pounded into the streambed. The unfamiliar sounds of the Han language baffled the untrained ears of the white man. Thus it was inevitable that men with gold pans would corrupt the Han "Tron-diuck" to the miners' "Klondike. Laying Claim George and Kate Carmack, Skookum Jim, Dawson Charlie. and nephew Patsy Henderson camped at the mouth of the Klondike River during August 1896. When low on provisions, they hunted for moose whereupon they discovered gold in Rabbit Creek, later named Bonanza Creek. Carmack asserted that an Indian would not be allowed to register a claim, so he staked the discovery claim on August 1896 for himself and agreed to assign half interest to Skookum Jim. George staked No.1 Below the discovery claim for himself, No.2 Below for Dawson Charlie, and No.1 Above for Skookum Jim. As a married woman, Kate did not have a claim staked in her name.
The Tagish Story of Discovery The Tagish Athabascan people explain that gold in the Klondike was discovered by Skookum Jim, brother of Kate Carmack, as a result of an encounter with Wealth Woman. Skookum Jim meets Wealth Woman who first appears as a frog in a deep pit. Jim rescues the frog, takes her to a place where she can clean herself, talks to frog, and then gives her a gift tied around her head. Later Jim dreams of a beautiful woman who has shiny
things on her body that sparkles like gold. The woman introduces herself as his aunty, the head of the Frog nation, and she thanks him for saving her life. Gifts will be given to you, she says, if you don't tell anyone.
He wakes up and finds food piled in front of his door. Every evening food is cooked, but he doesn't see anyone. Frog woman comes to him again and tells him to go to the creek that runs out of the mountain and look for a reddish streak under the water. Take a drink. You'll find something there, but don't tell anyone.
Skookum Jim finds gold, lots of gold, but he doesn't know what gold is good for. He tells some prospectors who buy him out with money. But he doesn't know what to do with paper money, so he tacks it onto the wall of his cabin.
That's the true story about the discovery of gold
Adapted from the story by Minnie Johnson, The True Story of the Discovery of Gold, Under Mount Saint Elias, The History and Culture of the Yakutat Indians by Dr. Frederica de Laguna. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Notes for ALASKAN INDIAN KATE ??:
Sister to George's first wife. Geroge abandoned Kate in 1889 and told her they were not legally married under the "white man's law" and she was not entitled to any of the gold they had found.
Kate Carmack Shaw Tlaa 1867 -1920
Kate was born in a Tagish Athabascan village located on the Chikoot Trail. In 1886 her Tagish mother and Tlingit father arranged a marriage to George Carmack, a prospector and trader, according to Tagish custom and contract. They had a dau;ghter named Graphie Gracie.
Kate and George traveled the Yukon River basin to the Fortymile area where they prospected. With Kate's skill and knowledge of the wilderness, they were able to live off the land. Kate sewed and sold mukluks and mittens to other miners.
Not hearing from Kate in ten years, her brother Skookum Jim Mason and cousin Dawson Charlie found them at their fish camp on the Klondike River. Together the group made the gold discovery on Rabbit Creek that set off the Klondike gold rush. After staking the claims, the three men took out hundreds of thousands of dollars of gold while Kate cooked and kept house.
In 1898 Kate and George traveled to the lower-48 where he abandoned her. Stranded in California, Shaw Tlaa (Kate) attempted to sue for divorce but George Carmack denied they had been married for 12 years. Since they were not legally married the courts did not recognize her case, and she received nothing from his gold claims. Kate returned to the north impoverished and settled in Carcross.
Kate lived with Graphie, but George lured his daughter from the village so she could marry his new wife's brother...perhaps in a plot to keep control of the family fortune. The loss of Graphie troubled Kate because by Tagish custom, a child belongs to her mother's clan. Kate died at age 63 during an influenza epidemic in 1920.
First Claims on the Klondike George Carmack returned to Fortymile to record the discovery claims on Bonanza Creek. Few of the old time prospectors believed him because he did not have a good reputation as a prospector, plus the tributaries of the Klondike had already been explored. "The willows slant the wrong way," said the sourdoughs. So the first claims on the Klondike went to newcomers who jumped at any opportunity to stake a claim. Kate: Full blood Alaskan Indian, sister of George's first wife.
Kate Carmack, In her own words
I grew up in a Tagish village on the Chilkoot Trail. I married a Tlinglit man and had a daughter, but they both died. According to custom, I then married George Carmack, my dead sister's husband, who was a prospector who decided to come to Alaska. We traveled along the Yukon River to a Fortymile area where we prospected. With my knowledge of the wilderness we were able to live off the land. I sewed mittens for the miners and sold mukluks. My brother got
worried because he had not seen me for ten years, so he took his cousin and set off to look for me. Soon they found me at a fish camp on the Klondike River with George.
Together, George, my brother and my cousin found gold at Rabbit Creek. It is said that I was actually the first one to find the gold as the men napped one day. While they mined for gold, I kept house and tended to other chores. George had registered the claim and we all became very rich.
In 1898 George and I traveled to the lower 48 where he abandoned me because I began drinking a lot. I was not used to the life there and didn't adjust well. When I wanted my share of the gold, it turned out we were not legally married under the "white man's law," so I got nothing. George married a lady named Marguerite and said that he had never met me before.
I settled in Carcross, near my tribal village, and lived with my daughter where I drank too much and soon was put in jail. When I got out George had convinced my daughter to live with him.
In 1920, at age 63, Kate Carmack died from Influenza. Through time, the role of the Natives In the gold rush has become recognized. Kate Carmack was certainly one of these important contributors.
Marguerite: Marguerite married at age 14 to Peter Laimee in 1888. This marriage lasted less than two years. She went to the gold mines of South Africa as Mar�uerite Laimee, to Australia as M. LeGrande accompanied by Joseph LeGrande, and to the Klondike as Biddy McCarthy.
More About ALASKAN INDIAN KATE ??:
Burial: 1920, Carcross Cemetery
Cause of Death: Influenza
Child of GEORGE CARMACK and ALASKAN ?? is:
4. i. GRAPHIE GRACE4 CARMACK, b. January 11, 1893; d. Unknown.
Generation No. 4
4. GRAPHIE GRACE4 CARMACK (GEORGE WASHINGTON3, AUGUST PERRY2, MARIAH (MARIA) MADGALENA1 BLYSTONE) was born January 11, 1893, and died Unknown. She married JACOB GEORGE SAFTIG, SR. June 30, 1910. He was born 1878, and died Unknown.
Notes for GRAPHIE GRACE CARMACK:
Indian name was Ahgay which ment "daughter of the lake"
Children of GRAPHIE CARMACK and JACOB SAFTIG are:
i. ERNEST5 SAFTIG, b. Private.
ii. MARGUERITE SAFTIG, b. Private.
iii. JAMES GEORGE SAFTIG, JR., b. July 23, 1915; d. March 1959.
Endnotes
1. Notes on George Washington Carmack, Notes for George Washington Carmack were copied from Jeff Blystone's book " Descendents of Abraham Blystone" , Second edition June 2000.
2. Notes on Kate Carmack, Notes for Kate Carmack were copied from Jeff Blystone's book " Descendents of Abraham Blystone" , Second edition June 2000.