Clara Tizya, nee Linklater (1913 – 1998)
Clara Linklater was born at Rampart House, Yukon to parents Archie Linklater and Katherine Netro. Her father was of Scottish descent and her mother was Ninyag and Vuntut Gwitchin. She grew up as her family travelled between Old Crow, Dawson, Rampart House, and Fort Yukon, Alaska.1) She went to boarding school in Dawson.2) [Around 1930,] Clara and Maggie Chitzi returned to Old Crow in the summer and taught school.3)
Clara and Peter Tizya, son of John Tizya and Sarah Moses, were married in 1930. They lived a traditional lifestyle and raised thirteen children. The family left Old Crow in 1946 when the children were school age and made their home between Carcross and Whitehorse.4) Clara Tizya worked as the cook at the Chooutla residential school from 1948 to 1960 when she moved to Whitehorse to live with her family.5) In 1965, Mrs. Tizya was the matron at St. Agnes Hostel where the First Nation students attending school in Whitehorse lived.6)
Clara left the Yukon for Vancouver in 1966. She returned around 1996 to live in Tagish and commute between family in Yukon and Vancouver. Clara loved reading, writing, travelling, and the church. Her collection of papers and photographs were donated to the Yukon Archives. The fonds depict both her traditional and modern lifestyles.7)