Sorrows in a Tough and Demanding Land

What is abundantly obvious is that life in Alaska in the early and mid-1800s was full of trials. Having only married his wife, Anna, in 1826, she fell grievously ill with cancer in 1835, and was sent far down the Alaskan coast to Sitka for medical treatment, before falling asleep in the Lord the next year.

"This same day, May 29th (1836), I received the news of the death of my wife on March 19 of this year in Sitkha. She did not obtain the restoration of her bodily health, but she was cured spiritually, and, by the Will of God, entered eternity. On this occasion, to give me solace, my two brothers Osip and Anton, came here aboard the above mentioned transport vessel. Osip had leave to visit his kin. Anton had the opportunity to do so as he was aboard in the line of duty, serving as First Office on the brig. ... This day, then for me, was marked by various events [in my life] which were met unexpectedly."

And barely one month later:

"On the night of July 7th the will of the One Whose Providence and [decisions on] Fate are unfathomable and Whose deeds are not to be grasped by Man, my house, where once I, within the circle of my family, was content and at times found happiness, in spite of all the lack, poverty and meagerness met in this desert which is Atka, went up into the air in flames. Thus, at two o'clock past midnight while there was no [light or] fire anywhere in the house at all, and everyone was asleep, it ignited. The fire started in the top story and spread to the foundation. Through the night, and while the wind was light, the fire burned so hot that one could not approach it to put it out. We salvaged very few belongings, as much as we could, just from the lower apartments, the rest, and all that was on the second story, burned just as the entire house structure did, which by daybreak was completely consumed. On the spot where the house used to be there is now but bare earth."

There is so much in those words, “in spite of all the lack, poverty and meagerness met in this desert which is Atka, went up into the air in flames”. Life in Alaska was already a trial, but some seasons of life are more full of mourning than others. And then, about half a year later, his journal reads, “February 5 (1837): by five o'clock in the morning, my parent, Egor Vasil'evich, died a natural death following suffering from illnesses.” Though this final blow was more to be expected than his young wife’s death, we now see a single St. Jacob, facing a future in Alaska alone.

Though our trials will be different than St. Jacob's, we can find encouragement in reading of his endurance in the face of struggle after struggle.