Tikchik village: a nineteenth century riverine community in ... - Cluster

VANSTONE: TIKCHIK VILLAGE 329River region at the time of the construction of Alexandrovski Redoubtand there is evidence that during the next ten years FedorKolmakov baptized a small number of Eskimos who were employeesin the service of the Company at the redoubt (Barsukov, 1886-1888,vol. 2, p. 36). Father Ivan Veniaminov, one of the first Orthodoxmissionaries in Alaska, visited the redoubt in 1829 from Unalaska andbaptized 13 individuals, the first Eskimos north of the Alaska Peninsulato receive baptism. He returned in 1832 and ordered the constructionof a small chapel. Between 1832 and 1838 Kolmakovcontinued to baptize people and in the latter year Gregory Golovin,Veniaminov's successor at Unalaska, visited the redoubt, administeredthe sacraments to 53 of those baptized by Kolmakov and baptized52 new converts (Barsukov, 1886-1888, vol. 2, pp. 37-38).In 1840 Veniaminov was named bishop of the Diocese of Kamchatka,the Aleutian and Kurile Islands and one of his first acts wasto request permission from the Holy Synod to establish a mission atAlexandrovski. This was authorized and in 1841 Deacon I. Petelin,Veniaminov's son-in-law, was ordained a priest and appointed totake charge of the Nushagak mission (DRHA, vol. 1, pp. 385-386).The number of Christians at Nushagak in 1842 was about 200 andduring the next three years as many as 400 additional Eskimos mayhave been baptized (Tikhmenev, 1939-1940, pt. II, pp. 297-298).Father Petelin also seems to have widened the scope of his activitiesto include the region north of the redoubt. It is likely that heascended the Nushagak on several occasions and it is known thathe visited the Kuskokwim for the first time in 1843 and receivedmany Eskimos into the church (Zagoskin, 1967, p. 285).We have already noted that the first reference to Tikchik in thevital statistics of the church at Alexandrovski Redoubt occurs in 1847when two middle-aged men presumably visited the redoubt and werebaptized. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say with certainty whena missionary first visited the village but there are indications in thevital statistics that this may have taken place as early as 1850, inwhich case it would have been Hieromonk Nikolai from NikolaevskiRedoubt on Cook Inlet who first established direct contact with Tikchik.He included the Nushagak in his area of jurisdiction in 1847when Father Petelin left the mission following the reduction of Alexandrovskito an odinochka in 1846. Hieromonk Nikolai resided atAlexandrovski for a year in 1850-1851 (Barsukov, 1897-1901, vol. 1,p. 371; DRHA, vol. 1, p. 247). Tikchik continues to be mentionedmore or less regularly in the statistics until 1882 but it seems virtu-