1918-1921 H. Claude Kelly

Fairbanks

H. Claude Kelly was born on August 24, 1878 in Peru, Indiana to Millard F and Lueila (Ella, Lou) Hutchison. Millard was a pioneer photographer in Tacoma, and had his own studio in Tacoma, Crescent Studio. Claude came to Tacoma in May 1888. He attended Central Grade School and Bryant High School.

Claude headed to Alaska for Dawson during the Klondike Stampede in January 1898. He went back and forth between Washington and Alaska until 1904 when he arrives and settles into Fairbanks. He marries Cora Jones, daughter of a Tacoma pioneer family in 1910 in Alaska. In Fairbanks, he was a charter member of the Fairbanks Igloo and the Pioneers of Alaska. He was on the city council and retired on April 10, 1917. He was a clerk in the federal court of the 4th Division under President Wilson, until 1921. He was appointed to board of trustees by Governor Riggs in 1918 to fill the unexpired term of Richard C. Wood, who had resigned. He served until 1921. Milton D. Snodgrass was appointed to take his place on the Board.

He departed for Tacoma, Washington in 1922. He worked for the Pierce County Road District until 1949. During that time he became superintendent of the Road District at Lakeview.

On July 18, 1956, H. Claude Kelly died at Medical Arts Hospital in Tacoma due to a stroke. He was 77 years old.

Links:

There is one known photograph by Millard Kelly of Mount Rainier (Mount Tacoma) from Shades of the Departed - The Magazine, January 2010. That photograph can be viewed here. It is located on the last page.

Article on H. Claude Kelly in the Farthest North Collegian, not dated.

Sources:

BOR File
Daily News-Miner, April 11, 1917
The Tacoma News Tribune, July 1956