Alaska, U.S., Pribilof Islands Vital Records and Census Records, 1877-1970

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Alaska, U.S., Pribilof Islands Vital Records and Census Records, 1877-1970 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022.
Original data:

Census of St. Paul Island, Alaska, 30 June 1906-31 December 1928. NAID: 159258811. Records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1868 - 2008, Record Group Number 22. The National Archives at Seattle, Washington. U.S.

Census of St. George Island, Alaska, 1877-1899; NAID: 159259335; Records of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1868 - 2008, Record Group Number 22; National Archives at Seattle, Washington. U.S.

About Alaska, U.S., Pribilof Islands Vital Records and Census Records, 1877-1970

About the Alaska, U.S., Pribilof Islands Vital Records and Census Records, 1877-1970

General collection information

This collection includes a mix of birth, marriage, death, and census records for the Pribilof Islands of Alaska between 1877 and 1970. Most records are in handwritten ledgers and arranged chronologically by year.

Using this collection

This collection may include the following information:

  • Name
  • Sex assigned at birth
  • Race
  • Age at event
  • Birth date
  • Residence
  • Names of family members
  • Relationships of family members
  • Spouse's name
  • Spouse's age
  • Marriage date
  • Marriage place
  • Death date

    • Entries in the registers are very precise, and may also contain the names of families who temporarily resided on the island or were employed by federal agencies.

    Many of the records in this collection represent people of Russian and Unungan (Aleut) descent. At the time the records were created, efforts were made to standardize the spelling of names; however, the preferred spelling was chosen by individual families. In the case of Alaska Natives, names may be in English, Unungan (Aleut), or both.

    Some ages may be approximate, while others are extremely accurate, to the point they are listed in years, months, and days.

    History of the collection

    The Pribilof Islands are a four-island archipelago located off the Alaskan coast. They are considered part of the traditional territory inhabited by the Unangan people. Only two of the islands are populated: Saint Paul Island and Saint George Island (Tanaxˆ Amixˆ and Anĝaaxchaluxˆ in Unangam Tunuu). Today, there are more than five hundred people who live in the Pribilof Islands and the islands have become a tourist attraction owing to their unique bird life and marine mammal population.

    Both Saint Paul and Saint George were originally unoccupied, however, after Russian explorer Gavriil Prybilov explored the islands in 1786 they would go on to become major outposts of the Russian seal fur industry. After the United States purchased Alaska in 1867 for seven million dollars, the Pribilof Islands continued to be a fur seal industry site under the Alaska Commercial Company. Throughout the twentieth century, the Pribilof Islands were also host to military bases and fisheries though the U.S. Federal government ultimately repatriated the islands back to the Unangan people in 1983.

    Bibliography

    National Archives."Census, Birth, Marriage, and Death Records of the Pribilof Islands, 1877 - 1970." Last Modified November 10, 2019. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5730881.

    Office of Response and Restoration. "For Alaska's Remote Pribilof Islands, a Tale of Survival and Restoration for People and Seals." Last Modified August 7, 2022. https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/alaskas-remote-pribilof-islands-tale-survival-and-restoration-people-and-seals.

    Veltre, Douglas W. and Smith, Melvin A. "Historical Overview of Archaeological Research in the Aleut Region of Alaska." Human Biology 82 (October-December 2010): 487-506.

    Young, Oran R. "The Pribilof Islands: A View from the Periphery" Anthropologica 29 (1987): 149-167.