William Loola (mid-1840s - 1918)
William Loola was the son of a Tranjik Kutchin (Black River country Gwich’in) shaman named Kootsurichyan. Black River is a tributary of the Porcupine River in Alaska. In 1869 and 1870, William was at Fort Yukon where Reverend McDonald taught him to be a Christian Leader [catechist].1)
[In July 1874], William Loola and Natthui paddled McDonald to a gathering near the mouth of the Tanana River [Nuklukayet/Noochuloghoyet]. The chief of the Kutcha Kutchin, Shahnyatti, asked some to stay at the gathering and listen to McDonald. All the chiefs rose to volunteer: Kwiyate of the Tunun Kutchin [Tanana River people], Bikkienchatti of the Tranjik Kutchin [Black Creek area people], Tevisinti of the Netsi-Kutchin [people living north of Fort Yukon], and Nootlete of the Hun-Kutchin [Hän].2)
Loola married Mary in 1880, and they had four children before Mary died in 1898. William Loola travelled to Fort Reliance with Reverend Sim and spent the summer with the Hän. In the summer of 1884, they travelled to the meeting place at Tanana, down to Nulato and up the Tanana River for 200 miles. Sim nursed the sick and there was lots of diphtheria that year. There was starvation as well because people were too sick to hunt. Loola was ordained in 1903 by Peter Trimble Rowe, the first Bishop of Alaska. Rev. Loola was assigned Minister-in-charge of St. Stephen's Church in Fort Yukon from 1904 to his death in 1918.3)