rnest Ingram Amundsen was born in Lake Preston, South Dakota in 1886. At the age of nineteen he arrived in Valdez, Alaska seeking his fortune along with the many other boomers. After considerable moving around the territory, he came to the tent city of Ship Creek in 1915, bought a lot at 810 8th Avenue, and immediately built a log cabin. In late 1915 and early 1916, in need of funds, he and partner Joe Bell contracted with the Alaskan Engineering Commission to grade a portion of the railroad right-of-way.

In 1917 he moved to Halibut Cove to fish for herring and salmon, and when the herring run ended he moved to Kodiak where he operated a herring saltery. There he met a young Norwegian immigrant named Victoria Lampe, who was born in Lofoten, Norway in 1894 and arrived in Alaska in 1919. They tied the knot in marriage in 1922.

The couple moved to Anchorage in 1923 and occupied the log cabin that Ernie had built in 1915. Ernie was employed by the J.B. Gottstein Company, a wholesale grocer. They started a family, and suddenly the log cabin was no longer large enough. They purchased a partially built frame building and, after some additions, had a home large enough for the family. In 1932 Ernie became postmaster of Anchorage, and, after serving four years, joined the Anchorage Police Department as chief in 1936.

After a long bout with cancer, Ernie passed away in 1938. He left a widow and four children who suddenly found themselves without a source of income. Victoria immediately turned the home into a boarding house for school children and mothered four to six children in addition to her own for several years while also working various jobs outside the home. After her own children were raised, she discontinued the boarding portion and rented out rooms until she was well into her eighties. A true Alaska pioneer woman, Victoria was self-reliant, never turning back in the face of adversity. She passed away in 1986. Both she and her spouse are buried in the Elks Tract, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

Ernie and Victoria’s children were Iver, Ernie, Charles, and Betty Lou. Iver and his wife, Lois, had three children: Sheryl, Jacqui and Matt. Ernie and wife Mary Ellen’s two children were Eric and Victoria. Charles and his wife, Marion, had a son, Christopher and a daughter, Nancy. Betty Lou married Howard Webster and they had one son, Mitch.