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The facts are, and virtually any history book you want to read will tell you this, exactly as I said.
Only a small handful of Russians stayed in Alaska after it was transfered to the US. There were only about 700 of them to begin with, and the US Army had immediately confiscated all Russian property not owned by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Which is to say that virtually all ties to Russian culture were severed. The small string that was the Russian Orthodox Churh re-invented itself in a few years and grew. Almost all of what appears to be remnants of the Russian period in Alaska are actually descendant from the missionary work done after the US purchased Alaska (and of course a result of resettlement in Alaska by the Old Believers).
Your story is imaginative, but simply has no basis in fact. Tlingit, Yupik, and Aleut children with Russian fathers may well have Russian "bloodlines", but that has no effect at all on the transfer of Russian traditions and/or culture to Alaska.
Ask yourself, for example, if all of the Browers, the Leavitts, and the Hopsons here in Barrow are Inupiat, or English? Are they any different from the groups with names like Nageak, Akavana, and Okpik?
On the other hand I know a lady who is a Mekiana. Her grandfather was from Tuktoyuktuk. She speaks with a rather distinct British accent, because she was born and raised in London. You can rest assured she didn't impart any Inupiat traditions on the people of London any more than children with English "bloodlines" instilled English traditions here in Barrow.
If you want to use your imagination, write a book... but label it fiction.
Let's make it simple for you.... A Russian comes to Alaska, has six kids, goes back to Russia and leaves the kids with their Aleut mother....
That is six kids with Russian bloodlines that may not be able to speak Russian, but they are still of Russian Descent...
Just because their dad and others like him left, that doesn't change the fact that there is a Russian heritage here though them....
Your starting statement was....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson
Incidentally, there are probably no descendants in Alaska today of any Russians who were here prior to 1867. Just to begin with there were never more than 600-700 Russians in Alaska at any one time when they owned it. But even more to the point they all left immediately after Alaska was transfered to the US simply because the US Army literally confiscated everything they owned in an effort to drive them all out. Only about a dozen stayed more than a month or so. (See "History of Alaska", Bancroft.)
All of the Russians in Alaska today have migrated here in the past several decades, and most of them had left Russian long before they came to Alaska. They are "Old Believers".
Yes there are descendants of those Russians, they may not speak Russian but they can trace their heritage back to them...
That makes you wrong.... sadly, as you often are....
And Missouri's as well! I just don't know why Metlakatla would choose to be a masochist over Sarah when at least these two Menace NBC jerks are getting paid for it. Enjoy your day...
And Missouri's as well! I just don't know why Metlakatla would choose to be a masochist over Sarah when at least these two Menace NBC jerks are getting paid for it. Enjoy your day...
Some of us don't live our lives glued to a tv set.
You need to look up the word "heritage" in a dictionary, and then cease posting babble.
Your ability to not grasp what you are talking about is legendary, you clearly are a "legend in your own mind".
You make grand statements that there are no Russian left after Alaska was bought by the US. When they left, that was it...
Then when you are called to task on it, you then claim that the "Half Russian/local" kids remaining are not Russian because they were called something else by the Russians is hogwash. You clearly have no clue to the grand goofy statements that you make... Then you go to great extremes to try to put on a different face after you realized you stepped in it....
There is a lot of "half American" kids left in Viet Nam, just because they don't speak English, would you claim they aren't part of the American Bloodline too....
Anyone that grew up in Alaska and was taught Alaskan History in school, knows that there were Russians still here long after the Politicos left, as were their bloodlines, even though they don't speak Russian.
Regardless, they still have a Russian Heritage... although it may be a distant one now, but many retained their Father's family names to this day.
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Let's make it simple for you.... A Russian comes to Alaska, has six kids, goes back to Russia and leaves the kids with their Aleut mother....
Why don't you just let Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews read them for you?
I just don't know why Metlakatla would choose to be a masochist over Sarah when at least these two Menace NBC jerks are getting paid for it. Enjoy your day...
