Eliza Van Bibber

In Yukon, the Van Bibber name is well known and I would like to introduce the matriarch of this family, Eliza.

Eliza’s mother, Alice, was the daughter of a chief from the Juneau area. Alice apparently left before Eliza was born and joined a First Nation group making the trek toward the Yukon River.   

The Yukon journey led them to the Aishihik Lake area where Eliza was born. There were no written records for either of them but they were finally registered in the White man’s records showing her estimated birth date and they were given new names—mother became Alice and the young girl was Eliza.

They continued inland and lived around Fort Selkirk along the Pelly and Yukon watersheds, hunting, fishing and exploring.  When Eliza saw her first white person she was visibly in awe of the pale skin and strangeness of the language that came from these odd people.

Alice lost her second husband, and she eventually lived with Copper Joe until she died around 1921. Her gravesite remains can be found near their Coffee Creek homestead still today.

A young, very tall, handsome West Virginian named Ira Van Bibber, along with his brothers Patrick and Theodore, came north during the Klondike Stampede. Ira said he saw the prettiest little girl and he knew he would marry her—the rest is history as they would say.

Their family adventures are too many to recount in a short piece; however, Eliza gave birth to 16 children (Leta, May, Abraham, Dan, Archie, Alex, George, Helen, Kathleen, Pat, John, Lucy, Linch, Theodore) and not one was born in a hospital. Ira helped with the initial births and eventually the two older girls, Leta and May, assisted. 

There is a story of the family moving and walking to another camp but had to stop so Eliza could give birth. Several hours later, they moved on. There were two stillbirths and 14 live births, now that is a legacy and toughness that few women had, even in those days. 

The strength of our foremothers comes to mind, but also the ability to accept their place in the scheme of things. The family trapped in the Nahanni area for many years before returning to Mica Creek on the Pelly River where they set up a permanent home for the growing family. 

Eliza taught her husband, Ira, and all her children the traditional ways of life and how to do everything needed to survive in the harsh land without close support.

Always in the background, Eliza was a woman of the era. However, she was anything but usual when it came to understanding the complex world she was in because of having a white husband and half white children. 

She taught them all traditional skills such as preservation of food, skinning and sewing and all matters related to the wilderness and surroundings. Most important was that both parents taught them that the world would react differently to them because of their heritage but they were to treat everyone equally with respect and kindness.    

The children, being half white, did not attend residential school but had to attend  the mission school at St. Paul’s hostel in Dawson City. 

It was difficult with long separations but when someone arrived by dog team from Dawson City and told Ira and Eliza that one of their daughters had contacted TB, schooling was over for the Van Bibber children. Ira got his dog team together and went to Dawson and took all his children home, but not before Helen died. 

To protect the children from being forced to attend, he sent the boys out to work their own trap lines and the girls had lines close to the main house and huge gardens to tend. One of the boys had reached grade 5 and was quite proud of his education. 

Eliza was affectionately called “Shorty” by Ira and she would laugh as they had such a mutual respect for each other. 

As the children began to have children of their own, the gatherings at Pelly were large, noisy and full of laughter, chatter and food.  Patrick Ira Jr. remembers his Grandfather Ira would sit at the huge table with all the grandchildren and teach them manners. He was a force to be reckoned with and everyone paid attention.

Eliza gently cleaned wounds, kissed hurts and hugged everyone without favor. As she got older and was not as mobile, she sat in her chair and upon entering the house, you paid respects to her. Children went for hugs and kisses and adults gave her full attention first. It was the way.

Not that she demanded any attention but one knew what an amazing woman was before them— patient, wise and without a doubt, stronger than those who paid her respects.

All her children called her Mother and we called her Grandma and children called her little Grandma or “kissing hands grandma”.  Ira passed in 1965 and all his sons were pall bearers. Eliza carried on as the nucleus of the Van Bibber Clan. 

As large families do, once Eliza passed away in 1983, the family gatherings continued for a while. However, they eventually stopped as second and third cousins did not have a tie to the Pelly homestead as the first and second generation Van Bibbers did. 

As with all things, change happens and the legacy of the Van Bibbers will remain a strong part of the stories that shaped Yukon history. 

Eliza carried on through anything that was given her with not a complaint. We cherish her memory and know she is still watching a river flow by somewhere.