D

Dorotich

Shortly after the original Jerisich family settled in Gig Harbor, they were joined by other immigrants from Croatia. Joseph Dorotich came from the Island of Brac to Gig Harbor via Canada. He married Caroline Jerisich (the Jerisiches’ eldest daughter) when she was 16 years old. They lost one child at birth but had nine more children who grew up in Gig Harbor: John, Annie, Clementina, George, Mattie, Jacob (Jake), Marie, Katherine & Amanda. In 1877, Joseph and Caroline, together with John Novak and Sam Jerisich, purchased a long stretch of waterfront property on the west side of the bay. The Dorotichs and Novaks platted their portions into town lots, which in time became the town of Millville, just down the road from the Gig Harbor Lumber Co. sawmill. In 1884, Joseph and Caroline built a house on one of the four lots they kept for themselves. Rooms were added as the family grew. This house still stands near the corner of Dorotich Street and Harborview Drive. On their other lots, they kept a cow, raised a garden, and planted many fruit trees: apples, pears and plums. One valiant plum tree, a descendant of the original orchard, still exists. They grew fruit for their own use and also to sell to neighbors. With an influx of people settling to the area, there was an increasing demand for residential and commercial property. As one of Gig Harbor’s early land developers, Joseph Dorotich sold plots of land to new arrivals and invested in a number of commercial ventures in Milllville. (see also, 1880 U.S. Census) HHMA, WFL, GHPHS

Duley

William J. Duley was a man with a tragic and distinguished past. When the Great Sioux Uprising began in 1862, Duley, his wife, and children lived on a settlement at Lake Shetek, Minnesota. On August 21st, the settlement was attacked by Dakota chiefs Lean Bear and White Lodge, with 100 warriors in tow. William was badly wounded, his 10-year-old son Willie and 4-year-old daughter Isabelle were massacred, and his pregnant wife, along with three other children, Jefferson, Emma, and baby Francis, were taken prisoner and held captive for three months. War erupted between white settlers and the Dakota Sioux until the U.S. Army intervened and secured the surrender of most of the Dakota bands. In the war’s aftermath, William was allowed a hand in an act of apocalyptic vengence. In the largest single-day execution in American history, 38 Sioux warriors were hanged on a huge scaffold at Mancato, Minnesota, the day after Christmas, 1862. Duley was the man who cut the rope that released the trap doors and launched the Sioux into eternity. One of the doctors who pronounced them dead was Alfred Burnham. 30 years later, William J. Duley was a Captain in the U.S. Army in charge of the Military Reserve lands that encompassed Gig Harbor and Millville – over 1,216 acres of bayfront property. The settlers residing in the area held William in high esteem and sought his counsel in their efforts to establish and grow the town of Gig Harbor. With his assistance, 134 people petitioned the U.S. Congress to sell the land to settlers already here in parcels of 10 acres at a price of $2.50 per acre. In 1895, that request was granted with the passage of U.S. House of Representatives Bill Resolution No. 342. Both William and his wife Laura are buried at Artondale Cemetery. (HH Museum blog, 4/4/12; and Wikipedia: “The Dakota War of 1862 HHMA, BK/73-74