ndrew John Landstrom was born in Norbotten, Sweden in 1871. He arrived in the United States in 1910 and eventually made his way to Nome, to try his luck at gold mining. He first took a job with the Pioneer Mining Company, then went into the mining business on his own for the next several years.

In 1914 he met Elizabeth Jansson, who was born in Bengtsfors, Sweden in 1892. She immigrated to the United States in 1910, joined her brothers in Nome in 1912, and was employed as a cook at Andrew’s camp. She and Andrew were married in 1914 and soon moved to Seattle, where they lived until 1917. They then returned to Alaska and settled in Anchorage that same year.

From 1918 until 1936, Andrew was employed by the Alaska Railroad. In the fall of 1936 he retired to take over the full-time management of the Landstrom Apartments, an office building he and Elizabeth had purchased in Chickaloon and moved by railroad to Anchorage. They converted it into an eight-unit apartment house at the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue and H Street.

The Landstroms’ eldest daughter, Evelyn, was born in Seattle in 1915. Son Franklin was born in Anchorage in 1918 and a second daughter, Jean, was born in 1923. Andrew Landstrom died in 1943, and his wife took over the management of the apartment building.

In 1960, Elizabeth married Victor Johnson, a longtime friend of the family. The couple was honored as King and Queen Regent of the 1962 Fur Rendezvous by the Pioneers of Alaska. Mr. Johnson died in 1972. Elizabeth lived to be 101 years of age, passing away in 1994. Both Elizabeth and Andrew are buried in the Elks Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

The marriage of Evelyn Landstrom and Dr. Asa Martin united two pioneer Anchorage families and produced two children, daughter Alice Clare and son John Thomas. Dr. Martin, who was born in 1882, died in 1949 and is buried in Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, as is his wife, who died in 1991. Son Franklin Landstrom and his wife Mary had no children.

Daughter Jean Landstrom married Dominic Donatello and they had five children: Elizabeth Ann Donatello Sherwood; Mary Jean Donatello Hinds; Margaret Jo Donatello; George Christopher Donatello, who died in 2000; and Benjamin John. Dominic Donatello, who was born in 1918, died in 2002 and is buried in Anchorage Memorial Park along with his son, George. Some of the surviving Donatello children continued to operate a thriving family business, the Alaska Mill & Feed Company, which was started by their father, Dominic, in 1949.