My Mom's Family- The Krautter's

One day last year, I sat and visited with Mom and we looked at elementary school report cards that my cousin Tom Shugak had salvaged from going into a trash can. Tom asked me to see if she could remember anything about the names on the cards. One day I picked up Mom and then we sat down as she recalled all that she could about former classmates and others that were older and younger than herself.

She would pick up a card then quietly sit and think. She would smile if she remembered the person or shake her head if she didn't. Sometimes I thought she would remember the person but then decide that the information she knew I didn't need to know so would go to the next card. I wrote down as much as she told me but most names she could not say much about.

Old Harbor is the village where I and most of my siblings were born. As she spoke it made me realize how far removed we have become from the life that she and my Dad had known there. Mom and Dad raised ten children together and all were born before they made the big decision to leave Old Harbor.

Conflictions with the people repeatedly popped up after Dad and Mom had decided they could not bow down or kiss the icons in the Russian Orthodox church. The priest had told them these pictures were there just to remind them of Holy things. Dad and Mom could not get past the commandment in Exodus where God said, "You shall not make for yourselves any carved image nor bow down to them nor worship them." (Verse can be found in Exodus 20.)

It didn't take much longer after agreeing with their convictions to move their large family from the village to the largest city in Alaska, Anchorage. (Dad said his biggest reason to leave was the taunting he heard almost daily from the village kids towards us, his own children, for what they believed to be the truth.)

Dad never did earn his high school diploma and all he ever knew was commercial fishing. I admire him for his love for God and the strength of character he displayed once he decided in his heart what was the right thing to do. He spent the rest of his working days as a janitor for the Anchorage and Chugiak School District's.

While we talked about the past that day I asked about my Grandfather Raymond Krautter. "So Mom, how did Krautter end up in Old Harbor anyway?" She told me that he had been in the Army Corps and so came to Alaska and stayed.

I asked more about him and if she knew where the Krautter's came from. She did not remember or know. So I decided to write to my cousin, Don Krautter in Wyoming. I had kept in contact with Don and Jean Krautter by sending them a Christmas card most years. He responded by sending me some information but said to write to Carroll Fetherman, the son of my Grandfather's sister Olive or Ollie Krautter Fetherman.

I hit the jackpot when he replied! Carroll sent me pictures and even a family tree that helped to sort out my mind about how the Krautter's are related. My Great, great grandparents are Joel B. Krautter and Katherine (Transue) Krautter.

I was sorting through the family information then decided to start an online album at Yahoo and that explains the Flickr Badge on the left side of this webpage.

My Grandfather Raymond Krautter was not married to my Mom's Mom when Mom and my Aunt Lucia were born. My Grandmother on Mom's side was married to Timothy Kelly. Mom told me that she never really knew what name she should be known by... Kelly or Krautter. She said that both men were very kind to her and she loved them both.

I was excited to read about my biological Grandfather Raymond Krautter. He was in the Army Corps. He was married twice according to Mom. He mined for gold, silver and copper. His brother Grant (was high school valdictorian) also spent ten years in Alaska with Raymond. Grandfather Krautter died when he was 67.

A little history coming out of Old Harbor, Alaska to go with the pictures I will probably be sharing for a while here.