Vladimir Stafeev was born in 1837, in Reval, Estonia. In his mid-20s he entered the service of the Russian-American Company and was sent to Alaska. In June 1864 he was appointed manager of the company post, Nikolaevskii Redoubt, now Kenai.

After the sale of Alaska to the United States, in 1868, and the purchase of Russian-American Company installations by the Hutchinson-Kihl Company, Stefeev was hired in May 1868 to operate their store at Kenai. He worked jointly with Captain James Wilson. Wilson dealt with the U. S. Army soldiers at Fort Kenai and Stafeev with the Kenaitsy (Dena’ina) Indians. He married a Kenaitsy woman, the daughter of a local toion (chief). They had one daughter.

Stefeev remained at Fort Kenai until about 1870. In 1872 he was at Kodiak, and for part of the time after 1874 he was in San Francisco. About March 1879 he was installed at Nuchek as agent of the Western Fur and Trading Company, better known as the W.F. & T. Company.

Stefeev died in 1905. He lies in the family plot, overlooking Kodiak, with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law.

From information found in the article “Tyonek In The 1880s: From The Diary of V.V. Stafeev” by Richard A. Pierce. The article is in the book Adventures Through Time: Readings in the Anthropology of Cook Inlet, Alaska. (F912.C66A38 1996)