The Alaska daily empire., 1913-07-25
FIRST GOLD IS OUT FROM SUSEIANA
SILVER WEDDING
 IS CELEBRATED
o-O

| 1elu. l0ey were HudTTleu III JuHSdu, July A, 1888, and theirs is the first silver wedding anniversary to be eel ebrated in Juneau. Rev. J. P. White, the Presbyterian missionary of those days performed the ceremony, and the wedding ring slipped on the finger of the bride, was made by Emery Valentine from gold taken from the mines of Yankee Basin, not far from | Juneau. Last night a number of in innate friends of the family formed surprise party and invaded the Held home. A very pleasant evening was spent dancing and charades occupy ing the time. As token of the love and esteem in which Judge and Mrs. Held are held, a beautiful silver ser vice was presented to them.
 Mrs. Held was formerly Miss Hen rietta Jensen and her home was for merly in Oakland, California. She taught in the government schools un- der the direction of Sheldon Jackson, at that time in charge of educational matters in Alaska. Judge Held started as boy from Peoria, Illinois, and came West, stopping in different States for a time until arriving in Seattle in 1884, he sailed for Juneau. Here he estab- lished himself in the law business and has continued to practice in Juneau ever since.
 One of the pleasing features of the celebration is that it was held in the same house into which Judge and Mrs. Held moved immediately after the we'd ding ceremony, and which continued to be their very happy home during the quarter century just passed. This house has history that is dear to their hearts. It was planned during the days of their courtship, while Judge Held, then a young lawyer. was finding his way to affuence and Mrs. Held, then Miss Jensen, was teaching school. An other endearing thought connected
 
 with house, is that all of their chil- dren, now grown into three beautiful young women, were born in it, and it has also been their home continually, with the exception of short periods in the States attending schools and uni versailles.
 1II 1o,,uihfor Mice Hnnrioff0 was the second white girl born in Ju- neau and was taken to Sitka to be christened. Gertrude and Elizabeth were each christened in the old log church, the first Protestant church to be established in Juneau. The build ing is still standing but has since been put to other uses.
 The furniture for the new home was ordered from San Francisco and was installed before the wedding. All of it is still in use and is in good condition. Included in the furniture shipped at that time was the first piano to be sent to Juneau.
 Many changes have come to Ju- neau since the Heids established them selves in their present home. Streets have taken the places of trails and the town has spread as far as the mountain will let it go At the time of their marriage there were but ten white women in the "camp" as it was then called,-now the city has a white population of about four thousand. The place had large Indian pOpula- ton that had not yet outgrown ancient customs and beliefs. They believed in witchcraft and is was their practice to chain up persons suspected of being witches as a safeguard against harm. In event of death it was the custom of the family to hire mourners. These mourners would paint their faces black, and make dismal and tor turing demonstrations. The dead were always cremated.
 Every stick of timber in the Held home had to be carried on the backs of Indians from a point on Seward street near Behrends corner to it's final destination.
 Gradually the place grew from the half-civilized camp" to a village and now another epoch has been ushered in-Juneau is developing into a city.
 Judge and Mrs. Held together with MT. and Mrs. B. M. Behrends formed the necleus for the first Protestant church in Juneau, from which grew the present Presbyterian church. The | first Christmas tree to be raised in Ju- neau was at the Held residence. Af- terward there was a Christmas tree for all the children of the town in the old log church. Judge Held helped es- tablish the first newspaper in Juneau, the Free Press, conducted by the eld- CT Howard, whose son Frank How ard is now United States court com missioner for the Koyukuk.
 1 -O-O-O
 VALUES ARE WHAT YOU WANT