Ted Pedersen was born in 1905 on Samalga Island, Alaska. His father, Christian T. Pedersen, was a well-known and wealthy Norwegian whaler and fur trader; his half-Russian, half-Aleut mother died in 1906 when Ted was one year old and Ted and his sister went to live at the Jesse Lee Home in Dutch Harbor. He lived there until 1916, when his father hired him to work onboard the whaler, HERMAN. In 1921, Ted was sent to Mount HermonSchool in Massachusetts. Afterward, he worked as a lighthouse keeper at Cape St. Elias and Cape Sarichef, Alaska. Through the years, Ted married several times and continued to work as a lighthouse keeper and marine pilot. He retired in 1985 and died in Homer, Alaska on August 15, 1990. ; ; Miscellaneous Biographical Notes: ; Ted Pedersen sailed on many whaling and trading ships captained by his father. Ted and Elsa were close friends with Barrett Willoughby who later wrote about Ted's life at Cape Sarichef. According to Marian Dunn, Ted's first wife, Ted’s sister, Margaret, died when she was a young adult. Ted had numerous half brothers and sisters. Ted's father, C.T. Pedersen, was murdered in his home in California sometime after his 80th birthday. Ted's stepmother, May Olive Jordan, was institutionalized afterwards and died there April 22, 1982 according to Marian Pedersen Dunn.