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Jensen

Soren C. Jensen immigrated from the Island of Jutland, Denmark. He worked his way across the United States, marrying Julia Christopherson in 1907. They arrived in Rosedale, Gig Harbor in 1908. Soren was a successful blacksmith and orchard farmer. Soren and Julia had four daughters, all of whom achieved a post-high school education and entered into professions. Inga taught high school, Olga was a law librarian and an Administrative Assistant to the Pierce County Superior Court, Edna was a nurse, and Mabel taught school in Elgin and Woodland. GHPHS

Jerisich

One of three original founders of Gig Harbor, Samuel Jerisich established the harbor’s fishing industry. Born Simun “Sime” Jerisic, a Croat raised in Kotor, a Dalmatian city along the Adriatic coast of today’s Montenegro, Sam left his homeland for New York as a very young man. An adept sailor, he sailed from New York, around Cape Horn (Chile), to arrive in San Francisco by the age of 21. In San Francisco, the reputation of Dalmatian sailors proceeded him and he likely befriended this community during his four-year stay in the city. As the Gold Rush pushed northward, Sam set off for Canada on one of the many steamers carrying men seeking their fortune along the then-booming Pacific Northwest coast. He landed at Nanaimo, north of Victoria B.C., and entered the lucrative fishing business with his two partners, Peter Goldsmith (née Petar Zlatarich, a Croatian and fellow Dalmatian) and John Farragut (also recorded as “Farrago” and “Farrague”) from Portugal. The three men fished the length of Vancouver Island and throughout the Puget Sound. On Kuper Island, Sam met a Native American woman of the Penelakut First Nation, Anna Willet Henemat, who became his wife around 1866.

On one of their excursions deep into the Sound, Jerisich, Goldsmith and Farragut came across a fishing ground of great potential and, nestled nearby, a beautiful little harbor known to Native Americans as “Twa-wal-kut” – the same sheltered bay designated “Gig Harbor” by U.S. Expedition Commander Charles Wilkes in 1841.

After the birth of their first child, Sam, Anna and baby Caroline returned to Gig Harbor with Goldsmith & Farragut. They came to stay. In1867, there was a small community of Puyallup-Nisqually Indians who resided at the head of the bay. They spoke a Salish language related to Anna’s own native tongue, which helped ingratiate the settlers to their new neighbors. The Jerisichs’ first home was a one-room cabin on the east shore of the harbor. Later, they built a large house on a 160-acre homestead on the west side of the bay. Their home was surrounded by dense forest choked with underbrush. There were no trails, no roads.

Anna hunted bear and deer for food, split lumber, and picked berries. Sam felled trees to create space for a garden and there were plenty of fish in the harbor to eat. He built the harbor’s first dock, then a dogfish-oil rendering plant for fuel, and a smoke house to preserve the catch of fish for trade. If they needed provisions beyond what they could shoot, fish or grow, they rowed to Steilacoom, Olympia or the Hudson Bay Fort at Nisqually. They traded oil and smoked fish for candle tallow and knitting wool. Sam caught fish using nets that he and Anna made by hand.

The family grew and prospered. Anna and Sam had 8 children: John, Michael, Samuel Jr., Caroline, Melissa, Catherine, Julia and Mary. Not long after establishing their homestead, fellow Croatian fishermen John Novak and Joe Dorotich arrived. Joe married Jurisich’s daughter, Caroline. Together these men grew a commercial fishing industry that would give Gig Harbor its character. Sam passed away in 1905 and Annie in 1926, at the age of 82. (source: “First Croatian Fishermen on Vancouver Island,” by Dr. Zelimir Juricic [cousin of Samuel Jerisich]. Zagreb:Matica. 2001) GHPSH

Jerkovich

John Jerkovich, Sr. immigrated from Yugoslavia in the early 1900s. He was naturalized as a US Citizen in 1927 at the age of 29. He married Mary Castelan and they had four children: Tom, Nick, John M, and Mary Ellen. All three sons became commercial fisherman. John owned and skippered 5 boats: Washington, New Washington, Corregidor, Pacific Raider 86, and Pacific Raider 68. John's second son,Nicholas John Jerkovich, was born in 1927 and was a commercial fisherman and lifelong resident of Gig Harbor, Washington. His family fished the Puget Sound since the early 1900s. Known to his friends as "Brud," Nick was an active member of the fishing community for over 60 years. He started fishing at the age of 14 and fished from Alaska to California for mackerel, herring, anchovies, squid, sardines and salmon, as well as dragged for bottom fish. He built three boats: the "Nicky Lynn" (a gillnetter), and two purse seiners: the "Pacific Knight," and “Pacific Raider.” He also owned the seiner "Favorite" and skippered the "Sierra Madre" and "Glacier Bay." He also partnered in the "Pacific Venture" with brother Tom. He and his wife Patricia had four children: Jane, Nick Jr., Nancy & Julia. Nick passed his love for fishing on to his son Nick Jr. and his grandsons. He enjoyed having his entire family working together to prepare the boats each year. As Nick always said, "My life is my family and fishing." He was a life long member of St. Nicholas Catholic Church, a charter member of St. Nicholas Knights of Columbus Council 9238, Eagles Aerie 2809 and past board member of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, member of the Seine Vessels' Reserve, past president of the Gig Harbor Fisherman's Civic Club and of the CFU Lodge 695. Nick, Sr. died in 2003. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Mary Jerkovich, his daughter Jane Wilma Jerkovich and his brother Thomas Jerkovich. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Patricia M. Jerkovich, his son Nick Jerkovich Jr. and wife Nancy; daughters Nancy L. Jerkovich and Julie Dahl and her husband Byron; grandchildren Jill, Nickolas III and Marc Jerkovich; Haldor, Anders, Gunnar and Kjersti Dahl; brother John Jerkovich and his wife Pat; sister Mary Ellen Gilmour and husband Mark; uncle and aunt, Nick and Olga Castelan of Walnut Creek, CA, sister-in-law Elvy Jerkovich of San Pedro, CA and numerous nieces and nephews. Nick passed his love of fishing on to his son, Nick, Jr., daughter, Nancy and his grandsons, Nickolas III and Marc. He enjoyed having his entire family working together to prepare the boats each year. Nick, Jr. and his sons are carrying on the family tradition of fishing from Alaska to California. (source: croatians.com, American biographies)