Daisy Mason, Saayna aat (1891 - 1938)

Daisy Mason was the daughter of James (Skookum Jim) Mason. In 1894, Jim was living in Dyea with his Tlingit wife, L’unáat’s sister Daakuxda.éit’ (Mary), a son named Kal ens’ and a daughter named Saayna aat (Daisy).1) After the discovery of the Klondike gold, Jim's wife left him and returned to her Tlingit family on the coast. She returned but left again taking their son while Jim kept their daughter Daisy.2) In 1900, Daisy joined Graphie Carmack and her cousin Mary, plus five children from Moosehide, in attending Bishop Bompas’ mission school in Carcross.3)

In 1905, Jim put the majority of his wealth in a trust fund to provide for Daisy and her future children.4) Funded by the $65,000 he received from selling the Bonanza Creek claims to the dredging company, the Skookum Jim’s last will and testament appointed Bishop Stringer and Percy Peele as guardians for his daughter Daisy, and set up a $20,000 trust fund for her expenses. He amended his will just before he died to leave $1,000 to his sister Kate.5) The remainder of the money was put in The Skookum Jim Indian Fund. The interest was to be used to furnish medical attendance and supply necessities and comforts to needy and deserving Yukon First Nation individuals. He named the Anglican Church Bishop and the Yukon Commissioner, and their respective successors or representatives, as trustees of his will and trust fund.6)

Daisy briefly studied acting in California and travelled back to Carcross, especially when her father was ill.7) Daisy and MSGT Harry Gordon Ebbert were married in 1917.8) After she died in 1938, Daisy’s body was transported from Seattle to Carcross where she was buried next to her father.9) Daisy died without children and so her trust money went into the trust to support Yukon First Nations. The Daisy Mason Wellness Fund was launched in 2020 by the Commissioner of the Yukon, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Yukon, and an advisory committee. The Fund provides financial assistance to First Nations citizens or groups organizing initiatives that help people in their community through wellbeing, healing, and personal development training and activities.10)

1)
Deb Vanasse, Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2016: 112-116.
2) , 7)
Julie Cruikshank, “Images of Society in Klondike Gold Narratives: Skookum Jim and the Discovery of Gold.” Ethnohistory, 39:1 (Winter 1992).
3)
Deb Vanasse, Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2016: 216.
4)
Charlene Porsild, “Keish (Skookum Jim, James Mason),” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 14, University of Toronto web site, 2018: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=74890
5)
Deb Vanasse, Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2016: 227, 239.
6)
Charlene Porsild, “Keish (Skookum Jim), James Mason.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 14, University of Toronto web site, 2018: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=74890
8)
“Daisy Mason Mullen.” Find a Grave, 2024 website: Daisy Mason Mullen (1895-1938) - Find a Grave Memorial
9)
The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 7 October 1938.
10)
“Commissioner launches the Daisy Mason Wellness Fund.” Indigenous Health Today, 9 April 2024.