Yukon who is who

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George Allan Jeckell (1880 – 1950)
	
George Jeckell was born in Exeter, Ontario, the son of William Jeckell and Essy Case.((“George A. Jeckell,” Wikipedia 2018 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Jeckell.)) He came to the Yukon in 1902 and was on the first stage to run on the winter Overland Trail. He was hired to teach in the Dawson Public School when he arrived in Dawson.((Yukon Archives, Victoria Faulkner, 83/50 MSS 137 f.17.)) Jeckell worked in various government positions starting in 1919. He was acting Gold Commissioner from July 1927 to 1928. He was appointed Comptroller in the summer of 1932 when the positions of Gold Commissioner and Comptroller were combined. This title was changed to Controller in 1936 and he served until 1947.((“George Allan Jeckell,” 2018 website: http://www.commissioner.gov.yk.ca/about/George_Allan_Jeckell.html)) \\ 
	
Jeckell had a sense of independent authority, and in the late 1930s he bypassed his superiors to send Yukon Council protests directly to the Secretary of State and other senior officials when British Columbia’s premier Patullo attempted to annex the territory.((Linda Johnson, //At the Heart of Gold: The Yukon Commissioner’s Office 1898-2010.// Legislative Assembly of the Yukon, 2012: 49.)) Jeckell would be out of the Yukon for long stretches while Victoria Faulkner ran the government. For many years he went to Ottawa just before navigation closed and returned just after navigation opened.((Joyce Hayden, //Victoria Faulkner: Lady of the Golden North.// Windwalker Press. 2002: 64-5.)) \\ 
	
In 1941, the government staff included six employees under Jeckell and they performed territorial and federal duties. Very little had changed by 1944 as war-time conditions prevented the hiring of more staff.  A territorial agent in Mayo and Whitehorse handled local matters with Jeckell making periodic visits to check the accounts, count supplies, and investigate complaints. During this era, the territorial administration was a one-man show.((Marjorie E. Almstrom, //A Century of Schooling: Education in the Yukon 1861 – 1961.// Whitehorse, 1991: 205 and footnote 6.))
	
Jeckell resented the rise of Whitehorse during the Second World War and pointed out that Dawson was still a vital community. It had more than 150 children of school age, contributed over $140,000 to a recent War Bond drive, and bought more than $48,000 worth of liquor between November 1941 and February 1942.((K.S. Coates and W.R. Morrison, //The Alaska Highway in World War II.// University of Toronto Press,1992: 178-79.)) Jeckell was isolated from important Yukon events when the highway bypassed Dawson, and this precipitated the move of the government offices to Whitehorse in the early 1950s.((“George Allan Jeckell,” 2018 website: http://www.commissioner.gov.yk.ca/about/George_Allan_Jeckell.html))
	
George Jeckell retired as Yukon Controller in 1946 after serving the Yukon for more than forty-four years. He was made a member of the Order of the British Empire to honour his work. He suffered from ill health and, although Dawson City Liberals nominated him to run for Parliament, he left the Yukon in 1947.((Linda Johnson, //At the Heart of Gold: The Yukon Commissioner’s Office 1898-2010.// Legislative Assembly of the Yukon, 2012: 52.))