Becker, Ryland.

Ryland Johnson Becker, born in Watertown, NY, came to Alaska with his brother, Julian, in the 1890's to mine for gold. He also took the census for the Northern district, Nome area, in 1900. After corresponding with Ryland in Alaska, Lillian D. Curran, of Rochester, left New York for Alaska in 1898 and married him in Sitka on November 24, 1898. Lillian remained in Sitka when Ryland went north to Nome in 1899 and was was alone when their daughter, Dorothy Alden, was born in Sitka January 12, 1900. Dorothy was the first infant to be baptized at St. Peter's-by-the-Sea (April 1900). Lillian and Dorothy left Alaska for Seattle in the late spring of 1900 when a small pox epidemic broke out and did not return. Ryland followed them in 1901.