ohn Casey McDannel was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1864. As a young boy he left home and headed west, stopping first in Kansas City, Missouri. He continued on to a mining camp in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and there he met Nellie Neal Lawing, who later became well-known in Alaska as “Alaska Nellie.” John Casey followed the gold trails in Nevada, and eventually in the rush to the Klondike, and in 1898 he traveled over the Chilkoot Pass and down to Dawson. In 1900 the Nome gold rush attracted him, but his luck was no better there than in Dawson. After leaving Nome, he returned to Nevada, where he again engaged in mining and also hotels. He was involved in the ownership of hotels in Tonopah, Columbia, Bullfrog and Goldfield, Nevada. In Goldfield he built the Casey Hotel, which was considered the largest and best in the state of Nevada at that time.

Alaska and the north were in his blood, and in 1915 he heard of the new terminus of the Alaska Railroad being built in Anchorage. He headed north that spring, and found a job with the Alaskan Engineering Commission in the commissary and mess hall. He later had the concession for the railroad dining cars and sleepers from Seward to Fairbanks until the Curry Hotel stopover was built. Undaunted, he opened the Twins Café in Anchorage, which name was later changed to the Merchants Café. He operated the restaurant in conjunction with the Twins Hotel at 931 4th Avenue. In 1923 John was asked to operate the railroad dining car for President Harding when he came to Anchorage and Nenana to drive the golden spike at the completion of the Railroad.

Mary Davis was born in Tredegar, Wales in 1878, and emigrated to Seattle. In 1913, she came to Juneau as a tourist, but ended up staying when she was employed as a housekeeper for Judge and Mrs. Jennings. In 1915 she embarked for Anchorage to work as a waitress with the AEC. It was here that she met John McDannel, and they were married in 1921. Mary had previously been married and had twin girls, Helen and Mary, reportedly the first set of twins born in Anchorage. They became part of the McDannel family. The couple had two more children, John Casey, born in 1922 and Lucy, born in 1923.

John Casey and Mary operated the Twins Café and Hotel until John’s death in 1930. Mary carried on by managing the Merchant’s Café and a small apartment house. She passed away in 1955. Both are buried in the Moose Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park.

One of the twins, Helen McDannel, married Calvin Osborne and they had five children: Thelma Lorraine, Linda Lee, Calvin M., Merla M. and Charles M. The marriage of her twin sister Mary McDannel and Pat Patterson produced three children: Michael George, Linda Pat and Casey Ira. The only son of John Casey and Marie, John Casey McDannel, who died in Bothell, Washington in April, 2006, was married to Marie Barber. Their children were John; Steve; Mary Christine, who died in 1970; and Deanne Marie. Daughter Lucy married Gilbert Whitehead, and they had no children.