Anna Smith Puckett (1871 – 1934)
Mrs. Anna Smith and William Puckett were married in 1902. She was a widow with three children who came to Whitehorse from Kentucky in 1900. She operated a small fruit and confectionary store on Main Street before she married Puckett.1) After they were married, the Puckets moved to the Takhini Roadhouse. MacBride Museum holds Mrs. Pucket’s diary and a record of her first seven year in the Yukon. Anna wrote about the 1905 fire in downtown Whitehorse, and her fears about her store.2)
The Puckets sold the Takhini Roadhouse around 1908 and moved into town so Anna’s son Deyo could attend school. They used the profits from the sale to buy Unworth’s Hardware on Main Street. In the 1920s, Anna opened her own shop right next to Unworth’s Hardware and sold novelties and gifts.3) Their beautiful home became the centre of Whitehorse society.4) Anna was one of the first women to own a Ford touring car in Whitehorse. She and Mr. J. C. Newmarch [Jack Newmarsh?] bought a Ford in May 1926.5) Mrs. Puckett passed away in 1934 after a lengthy illness at her son's home in Long Beach, California.6)