Lillian Lewis was born in California gold country on December 15, 1889, in a small town called Sheep Ranch. Both of her parents had been born in that area and her father worked for Sheep Ranch Mine. When she was 20 she married Thomas P. Roust who owned “valuable mining claims in Alaska,” as reported in the newspaper. She was his second wife; the first lived just over a year with him and died in Candle City, Alaska. He was eleven years older than Lillian.

Roust was a Dane that had come to America in 1888 with his family and settled in Oakland, CA. He headed up to Alaska in 1903 to seek his fortune. The 1910 census has the pair living near Cape Nome in an area described as “Scattered prospectors and miners outfits on tundra between Jess Creek and Snake River.” Deering Alaska is also mentioned in letters home and on the backs of the photos in the collection.

The pictures show happy times enjoying the outdoor life in Alaska and some of the mining operations. By the 1920 census Lillian is listed as “married” but is working as a nurse in San Francisco. Roust had a 3rd wife by the 1930 census and not much is known about the divorce with Lillian.

Lillian eventually married a Mr. Cox and was well respected during her long tenure as the Superintendent of Nurses for the Tehama County Hospital in northern California. She died on May 28, 1968 in Alameda California.