Moses Tizya (b. ~1896)
Moses Tizya was born on Crow Flats and lived in Old Crow since 1905. His father [Joh Tizya] told of a time when there were no willows five or six miles up the Crow River, just grass.1) Moses attended the Carcross Residential School for six years starting in 1912. The school was mostly work with three or four hours of teaching, and Moses described it as a jail for children. They were not allowed to speak their own language.2)
Back in Old Crow, Moses hunted and trapped and, for a short time, worked on the barges that travelled the 240km between Old Crow and Fort Yukon. The barges had 12, 35, or 65 horsepower outboard motors. In low water, the men hauled the five- to fifteen-ton barges from the shore with ropes. Old Crow now gets it freight by planes.3)
Moses and Mary married in 1920 and had four children: two boys (Andrew and Peter) and two girls (Fanny and Sarah).4)