Clara Jane Van Bibber, nee Taylor (1916 - 2004)
Clara Taylor was born and raised at Twelve Mile at the mouth of the Chandindu River to parents Ellen and New Zealand-born Joseph Taylor.1) Clara grew up hunting, trapping, fishing and running dogsleds with her father. Her father died when she was twelve and while her dad was ill, she hunted, trapped and fished for the family. She met J.J. Van Bibber when she was in her early twenties. Up to that time she was working and living in Dawson.2) JJ Van Bibber was on a raft and stopped at Twelve Mile for tea. There he met Clara Taylor who was cleaning salmon on the riverbank.3) At that time, Clara had her own trapline down at Twelve Mile and worked in the café in Dawson sometimes. She was trying to earn enough to build a fish wheel and buy a boat.4)
Clara and JJ Van Bibber were married in October 1943 under Clara's condition that the actual wedding ceremony remain a secret. Clara was a crack shot and during the Second World War she watched the rangers continuously miss their targets until she stepped up and hit every one without wasting a shot. After her marriage, she and JJ lived and worked in many places in the Yukon. She rafted in the river, worked on her trapline, worked at the Triangle Cafe in Dawson, and ran the first restaurant in Stewart Crossing.5) She and JJ and his brother Pat bought Oskar Erikson’s trading posts and traplines at Moose and Russell creeks on the Macmillan River. Clara had three kids by that time: Steve, Sis and Pete. She mostly ran the posts, doing the buying and selling. She sold rifles, traps, food, ammunition, and lots more. Some of the trappers came to the Macmillan post from as far away as the Mackenzie Mountains. She also ran a small trapline near the post and managed it on snowshoes. The bottom dropped out of the fur market in the spring of 1950. They closed up the post and never went back.6)
For many years, Clara worked at the department store in Mayo.7) She was a good curler, played skip in the league play at Mayo, and attended bonspiels all over the Yukon and through Alaska. Clara was known, loved, and respected by everyone. She was predeceased by her son John James Jr. (Pete) and daughter Eleanor, and was survived by husband J.J., son Steve (Nora), daughter Sis (Clara Jane Jr.), thirteen grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.8)