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John J. Sesnon Family photograph collection, 1900-1907

Overview of the Collection

Collector
Sesnon (Family : Nome, Alaska)
Title
John J. Sesnon Family photograph collection
Dates
1900-1907 (inclusive)
Quantity
1 box and 4 folders (83 black and white photographs, 2 panoramic photographs, 5 photographs)
Collection Number
PH1240
Summary
Images of an early Nome businessman's family residence and family members, Alaska Natve people, indigenous Canadians, and settlers, livestock, transportation, recreation, industry, events, settlements, and commercial buildings in and near Nome, Alaska
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries’ Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Additional Reference Guides

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

John J. Sesnon was a leading businessman in early Nome, Alaska. He was born in 1867 to a prominent San Francisco family, and moved to Nome during the 1900 gold rush with his first wife Anna Blennerhassett (alias Alma/Elma Hassett). There he established a shipping business at the mining camp. His business interests expanded to operation of warehouses, wharves and a toll road; commodities shipping, the sale of coal and most notably, lighterage. All of these services were an integral part of the Nome economy, especially lighterage, which was a means to get goods to shore from the steamships. The Bering Sea waters on Nome’s coast were too shallow and rough for large ships, so they anchored offshore in deeper waters, and goods were freighted to shore on barges (or “lighters”). John Sesnon expanded his lighterage operations to include towers mounted on huge caissons anchored offshore and inshore, with an aerial tramway and large crane. John J. Sesnon Co. became one of the largest enterprises in the territory. By 1907, he was reported to transact nearly a million dollars of business in one season. In 1907 he retired to Seattle, Washington in poor health. That same year, he married his second wife, Elizabeth Wetzel, a trained nurse who had attended him during a long illness. In Seattle, he invested in real estate and was prominent in yachting affairs, often sailing his yacht Elizabeth to San Francisco and Southeast Alaska. Mr. Sesnon died at his residence in Seattle on June 25, 1912, leaving a fortune to his widow and $5000 to Anna Hassett "providing that she did not marry before his death." During his life, Mr. Sesnon was involved in many legal disputes, concerning both family and business affairs.

Beverly Bennet Dobbs worked in Nome as a professional photographer from 1900 to about 1911. He photographed scenes in Nome and the Seward Peninsula and made portraits of Alaska Native people, for which he won a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) in 1904. About 1911 or 1912, he sold his photography business to the Lomen Bros and focused on his moving picture business.

Benjamin William Leeson lived 1866-1948, and worked as a photographer 1887-1900. In 1894 he moved from Vancouver B.C. to Quatso Sound on north Vancouver Island, B.C., where he ran a store with his father and studied and photographed the Quatsino native people.

Frank Nowell was a photographer who spent the years from 1900-1909 in Nome, documenting life in Nome and the Seward Peninsula. During his stay in Alaska he made frequent visits to Seattle on business leaving his studio operation in the hands of an assistant. Eventually he decided to remain and work in Seattle where he was appointed official photographer for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) in 1909.

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Content Description

The first section of this collection contains images of the Sesnon family members in their residence and around Nome, Alaska. Another portion of the collection documents John J. Sesnon's wharf and lighterage business, focusing on the destruction along Nome's waterfront in the storm of 1907, and of the building of a replacement caisson. Also included are assorted images of Nome, including mining camps, waterfront activity, special events and commercial buildings; individual and group portraits of Alaska Natives people and settlers, and images of areas outside of Nome including transportation, recreation, commerce, industry, settlements, and landscapes. The collection includes two hand-colored portraits and several panoramas and photographs by commercial photographers B.B. Dobbs, B.W. Leeson and Frank Nowell.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View the digital version of the collection

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions might exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact the repository for details.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 6 series.

  • Sesnon home and family members, Nome, Alaska
  • Nome wharf and lighterage
  • Construction of caisson, Nome, Alaska
  • Nome
  • Locations outside Nome, Alaska
  • Alaska Native and Quatsino people

Acquisition Information

Source: Curtwright & Son Tribal Art; received February 2005.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 


2014 (Last modified: 8/21/2025)

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