It’s been over four years (2014a & 2014b) since I found any new information on John Fratis. A couple months ago I ran across some text that led me to purchasing (used book) written by Betty John (1998) to see if there was any additional information that her Grandmother, Libby Beaman, may have recorded.
So far the information is faint; however, Libby does mention a person she called “Cook” on June 1, 1879, approximately eight days after arriving on Saint Paul Islands, Alaska, who appears to be John Fratis.
“Our oven is impossible, even if I knew how to bake, so after supper at the Lodge, Cook gives me a little bread or rolls he has baked each day to bring up to the Government House. Cook is the cook who was here with the occupation of troops. He married an Aleut woman and settled here. Naturally the company was only too glad to get him for their Lodge, and he is a good cook by every standard.”
In my previous findings of John Fratis he was a cook. Fratis started out working as a whaler. He made his way to Saint Paul Island sometime in March 1869 as a cook employed by Williams and Havens Company of New London, Connecticut. In October 1870, he married Poleana Scheptina, a native Unangan. From 1870-1890 he worked as a cook and sealer with the Alaska Commercial Company. In 1873, there was an attempt by the Alaska Commercial Company to convince the Unangan Chiefs to allow John Fratis to share in the sealing and profits. Afterall, John was “a Spanish Creole native of Guam.” However, the old practices of Russian law prevailed and this privilege restricted to only natives was sustained. Later that practice would change and John became a Sealer and shared in on the profits.
For the most part John Fratis spent most of his life on St. Paul Island except for the year 1872-73, which he spent at San Francisco because of ill health. Also, from 1891-92 he and his family wintered at St. George Island, where he worked as cook for the North American Commercial Company. Afterwards he and his family returned back to St. Paul Island where he would live out the remainder of his life (died in 1906).
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Bibliography
Betty John. 1998. Libby: The Sketches, Letters & Journal of Libby Beaman, Recorded in the Pribilof Islands 1879-1880 as present by her Granddaughter Betty John. Council Oaks Books. Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Lindsay, Betty A. & Lindsay John A. 2008. Pribilof Islands, Alaska: Genealogy and Census (U.S. D U.S. Dept. of Com., NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS ORR 18). Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
Bernard Punzalan. 2014a. The Beginning of Taotao Håya-Unangan (Chamorro-Aleut) Clan: The Legacy of John Fratis and His Descendants. Chamorro Roots Genealogy Project. From: https://www.chamorroroots.com/v7/index.php/49-taotao-tano/history/297-the-beginning-of-the-taotao-haya-unangan-chamorro-aleut-clan-the-legacy-of-john-fratis-and-his-descendants
Bernard Punzalan. 2014b. John Fratis and His Descendants (Part II). Chamorro Roots Genealogy Project. From: https://www.chamorroroots.com/v7/index.php/home/collaborators/49-taotao-tano/history/295-john-fratis-and-his-descendants-part-ii
