Solomon Packer (1861 – 1918)

Solomon Packer was born Aaron Yehudah ben Pekler in Odessa, Odes’ka, Ukraine. He immigrated to America in the late 1880s and became a naturalized citizen. He married Elka Oreckovsky, born 1865 in the Ukraine, and she died in 1901. Packer moved to Dawson about 1908 and was a merchant on Front Street in Dawson, selling guns, ammunition, traps, knives, and hardware.1) Packer was one of 200 members of the Baron de Hirsch Congregation in Dawson. His friend, Harry Pinkiert of San Francisco made annual trips to Dawson City. Pinkiert was a former merchant in Dawson and President of the Baron de Hirsch Congregation.2)

Packer planned to leave the Yukon and retire in Minnesota, but he died suddenly of a heart attack or stroke after carrying in a load of firewood. He hadn't been seen for a day and his business was closed.3)

Solomon Packer was a member of the Yukon Order of Pioneers (YOOP) and could have been buried in the YOOP cemetery, but he is buried in the Bet Chaim Cemetery in Dawson with a YOOP symbol on his headstone. Solomon was divorced when he died, and his daughter predeceased him. His son came to Dawson to administer his estate and returned to St. Minnesota in the 1930s.4)

1)
“Jews among the Yukon population.” 2006 website: http://www.chalom-yukon.ca/thejewsamongtheyukonpopulation.htm.
2) , 4)
Dawson City Museum and Historical Society, “A Walking Tour of Dawson City Cemeteries.” 2001.
3)
“Jews among the Yukon population.” 2006 website: http://www.chalom-yukon.ca/thejewsamongtheyukonpopulation.html.); “Samuel Packer of Dawson dies suddenly.” Dawson Daily News (Dawson), 27 February 1918.