Charles Carter (Alaska politician)

Charles W. Carter (1869–1961) was a Canadian-born mortician and politician in the U.S. territory of Alaska. He was born in 1869 in Otonabee Township, Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada, the son of James Julian Carter (of Irish descent) and Sarah Jane Fife (of Scottish descent).[1] Carter's original name was Silas Whitfield Carter. He was in San Francisco, California, when news of the Klondike gold strike arrived, and he headed north to Skagway, Alaska in 1897.[2] He settled in Juneau, Alaska, in 1899.[3] He was a citizen of Alaska by 1901. He married Alphonsine Cecilia Lovely in Juneau in 1902. Carter served as the eighth mayor of Juneau, Alaska, from 1913 to 1914. In 1947, along with Henry Roden and David Gross, he persuaded the Alaska Territorial Legislature to rename the Pioneers Trust Fund, a regional fund for elderly citizens, to the Pioneer Memorial Fund. Outside politics, he owned and operated a funeral home, the Charles W. Carter Mortuary, which he founded in 1916.[4]

Charles Charter is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Juneau. In 1950, Carter sold the mortuary business which continued to bear his name. The business was acquired by the Fairbanks-based Alaskan Memorial Parks, Inc. in 1964.[4]

References
  1. Ontario Registrar General, Births, 1869, no. 007590 (or 6550), Peterborough County, Silas Whitfield Carter; digital image, "Ontario, Canada Births, 1832-1916," Ancestry.com, accessed December 2022.
  2. Lupro, Sarah J. (1995). Charles W. Carter, an Alaskan pioneer: his life story as told through his writings, newspaper articles, documents, photographs and our memories. Juneau, Alaska: S.J. Lupro.
  3. Lupro, Sarah J. "Gastineau Channel Memories". Juneau Douglas City Museum. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  4. Arndt, Katherine (January 26, 2004). Finding aid: Funeral Records, Juneau, Alaska, 1898–1964 (Report). Fairbanks: Elmer E. Rasmuson Library. p. 1.

According to the December 2, 1949 DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE, page 8, “Carter founded the [mortuary] firm in October, 1926, after 16 years’ employment for the C.W. Young Company, which maintained undertaking parlors in connection with its hardware business.” Article title is, CHAS. W. CARTER TO RETIRE; SKUSE BUYS MORTUARY.


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