Thomas Andrew Firth (1867 - 1941)

Thomas Andrew Firth left home at the age of thirteen to travel around North America and take many different jobs. He met Delia Warrilow of Owen Sound and they corresponded for seventeen years. He was in Seattle when he heard about the Klondike strike.¹⁾ He travelled over the Chilkoot Pass and arrived in Dawson in 1897. He mined on Little Blanche Creek and Mint Gulch. In 1906, he founded an insurance firm on Queen Street in Dawson.²⁾ The business also handled the various legal affairs of mining companies. He bought out Patullo and Redford Insurance Agency and that made him the insurance broker for several insurance companies. At last he was financially secure enough to propose to Delia. They were married outside and spent their honeymoon on the Great Lakes. They returned to Dawson to live and their only son, Howard, was born there. Thomas and Delia lived in a house on Seventh Ave and the Firth family owned the house from 1909 to 1965. Thomas asked his son Howard to take over the business in 1937.³⁾