The donor, William (John) Harris, Jr., was a grandson of Richard Tighe Harris, who is credited with co-founding the town of Juneau, and Kitty, a Tlingit woman from Hoonah, whose clan and surname are unknown. William John Harris, Jr., was born to William John Harris, Sr. and Helen Hudnut. Their children were: Bernice (Bunny), Mildred (Millie), Casey, Dick, Fred, Margaret, Pam, and Debbie, and William John Harris, Jr., who was born February 20, 1930. He grew up in Juneau, Alaska, where he graduated from Juneau Douglas High School in 1954. He died in Anchorage, February 24, 2016.

William John Harris, Sr. attended Chemawa Indian School in Oregon with his brother, Richard Tighe Harris, Jr. Both raised their families in Juneau. William John Harris later became a guide and painter in Juneau.

Richard (Dick) Tighe Harris, miner and prospector, was born near Cleveland, Ohio. October 31, 1833. In 1880, Harris contracted with Hall and Pilz in Sitka. Kowa ‘ee, a Tlingit man of the Auk Kwaan took Harris and Juneau to the Silver Bow Basin on Gold Creek, above present day Juneau, where there was a gold lode. The mining district was named Harrisburg, but then changed to Juneau. The Auk Kwaan had a fish camp in the town vicinity, and at the time were permanently located in Auke Bay, with lands up through Berner’s Bay, Admiralty Island, and down the Taku River. Harris claimed and operated his mines until 1885, when he lost most of them in a lawsuit.

During this period, Harris and Kitty married. They had two sons: William John Harris and Richard Tighe Harris, Jr. Their first son, also William John, and their only daughter died before her first Birthday. Kitty died at age 26, in 1893. Richard Tighe Harris, Sr. died in 1907.

[For a more extensive description of Richard Tighe Harris and family correspondence, see University of Alaska Anchorage archives. Richard Tighe Harris family papers, 1853-1969. Collection number: HMC-0131]