Elizabeth Jane Symington (Moreland) Ballentine

Elizabeth was born in 1876 in Belfast, Ireland, and passed away in Dawson City in 1947.

Elizabeth went out to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1895/96 to work as a housemaid. It was there that she met David Wesley Ballentine from St. John, NB. He was a millwright and had come to Boston to work.

They became betrothed and Elizabeth returned to Belfast to assemble her trousseau. David was to follow the next year so that they could be married at her home with her family.

In 1897, the Klondike Gold Rush was just starting and David, with his father and three brothers, joined the Rush.

They arrived in Dawson City in the spring of 1898. They staked and worked a claim on a small “pup” of Hunker Creek and did not badly that winter and into the following summer.

It was decided that if they had a steam boiler they could do even better, so in the fall of 1899 they returned to St. John to get the needed equipment.

David then wrote to Elizabeth and said, “I am going back to the Klondike and if you still wish to marry me, come out to Boston this winter. We will be married and go North to the Klondike.”

She did, and they were married. She spent the winter of 1900-1901 in a little one-room cabin on their claim. They were in a very steep little valley where the winter sun could not reach them. To brighten the cabin she lined it with her Irish linen sheets. One can only imagine her state of mind: 26 years old, so very far from home and family, no close female neighbors and pregnant. It was not her happiest year.

The mining did not go well that winter and summer so in the fall they moved into Dawson. David started working in the saw mill and at other construction jobs, one of which was the building of the Palace Grand Theater. Over the years he worked at many things: a school bus system, Construction Company, Ford Agency, and Fire Chief.

Elizabeth was the mother of six children, two boys and four girls. One boy died at birth but the other five lived to old age.

She was very active in the Dawson Community, Women’s Auxiliary of the Anglican Church, Women’s Auxiliary of the Pioneers, Member of the Eastern Star, as well as other volunteer work. She had a very large garden and a few chickens on the half block where they lived. It was right up on the hill across from The Bertons and Robert Service. Elizabeth was a wonderful cook and put up much of her garden produce. The rest was stored in sand bins in the dirt basement of the house. In the fall there was also the big berry picking expeditions with all of the family. David was a hunter and made sure there was a moose or caribou in the fall for her to can.

In 1942, she went outside for the only time and stayed a month. She and one of her daughters went to Seattle. This was the first time she had seen a city since she came North in 1900. She was not impressed with the changes and was very happy to return to Dawson.

Elizabeth was a beautiful lady of very small stature. She had a soft, kind smile and was a very gentle lady. This was a great contrast to her husband Dave who was a big, powerful man. If you wanted a difficult job done you would get Dave and he would “Ballentine” it, meaning that it would be done regardless of the difficulties and it would be done HIS way.

Elizabeth passed away in 1947 at the age of 72. She was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Dawson City, where she has been joined by David and her son Jim.

She never did see any of her family once she left Ireland in 1900. What a different world!