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In August 2007, four cousins journeyed to Alaska to learn more about their great aunt (and great-great aunt) Mary Catherine Hegans Staley Plein a.k.a. Kate Plein. Around 1900, Kate married Joe Plein and they set off to seek their fortune in the Nome gold rush. They spent the rest of their lives in Alaska, eventually moving to Fortuna Ledge/Marshall, a small Yup'ik Eskimo Village situated on the south end of the Yukon River.
NOTE: Click on photos to enlarge.
Pleins & Reillys
Joe Plein, Margaret Reilly, Kate Plein, Edward Reilly ca. 1910
About Me
- Ginny
- I'm a professional artist (website: www.virginiareilly.com) who also has a passion for genealogy. It has been by turns frustrating and fascinating, tedious and inspiring, but impossible to give up. Through searching for my ancestors and their stories, I've learned about such things as life in Richmond during the Civil War, the fishing industry in 19c Newfoundland, the Irish mafia in Boston (Mom's cousin ended up in witness protection) and gold mining in Alaska. I'm not a sports chick, but since learning I have a distant cousin on Mom's side who is an MLB player, I've decided I'm a baseball fan by default. It was the effort to learn about Dad's great aunt, Mary Catherine Hegans Staley Plein, a woman with a taste for adventure and gold, that helped lead to this trip in 2007. Luckily, my cousins Mary Alice, Virginia and Kelley have long shared my fascination with Auntie Plein, and thus this trip was born out of many hours of collective research.
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