Sinrock Mary, the Reindeer Queen

Portrait of Sinrock Mary

Archives, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Quick Facts

Significance:

Businesswoman and language interpreter

Date of Birth:

1870

Date of Death:

1948

Place of Burial:

Unalakleet, Alaska

Sinrock Mary is known for her legacy as a headstrong businesswoman and interpreter for expeditions along the northern Alaska coast and Russia. Her full name is Changunak Antisarlook Andrewuk, but is more commonly known as Sinrock Mary, the Reindeer Queen. At one point, her reindeer herd made her the richest woman on the Seward Peninsula.

Sinrock Mary was the daughter of an Inupiat woman and a Russian trader. She spent her childhood in St. Michael, a small island located on the southeast side of Norton Sound, off the coast of Alaska. At the time, the island was a trading post and saw the arrival of many foreign ships carrying with them Yankee whalers, Russian traders, rum runners, merchants, and missionaries. Her exposure to these people allowed her to gain language skills which would later provide her opportunities not afforded to most women. By the time she was a teenager, she spoke English, Russian, and Inupiat, including various regional dialects. Her mother, on the other hand, taught her traditional skills, including skin sewing and tanning, fishing, hunting small game, and harvesting and preserving wild foods. Most importantly, she taught her generosity. From an early age, she was able to live in both worlds.

In 1889, she married Charlie Antisarlook, a notable Inupiaq trader, and set off to Cape Nome. The couple met Captain Michael A. Healy of US Revenue Cutter the Bear who learned that the couple spoke English and recruited their help in taking the census of coastal villages of Northwest Alaska. When Captain Healy saw the hardships endured by Alaska Natives, he proposed a plan to the General Agent of Education, Sheldon Jackson. Together they planned to bring reindeer from Siberia and teach Alaska Native hunters to become herders and secure a more predictable food source. Captain Healy, Sheldon Jackson and Sinrock Mary traveled to Siberia where she was instrumental in brokering a deal between the cutter and the Siberian reindeer herders.

A government reindeer station was set up near Teller, AK and over four years about 1,300 reindeer came through the area. Charlie Antisarlook apprenticed with the program and eventually he and Mary were awarded 500 reindeer of their own. They were the first Alaska Native couple to have their own herd.

Charlie tragically lost his life during the 1900s epidemic, leaving Mary alone with the herd. As an Inupiat woman, the reindeer herd would have traditionally been passed on to her husband’s brothers. However, using “white man’s law” she was able to legally protect the ownership of her herd, not only from her in-laws, but also from the many schemers who heard of her recently widowed status. She was persistently being courted, as many men tried to take ownership of her herd.

Mary eventually did marry an Inupiat hunter who had no interest in her reindeer herd. She lived her days taking care of her reindeer and her community. Although she had no children of her own, she passed on her knowledge to her adopted children who were orphaned during the pandemic. She extended her kindness and friendship to those around her. She fed the hungry and sheltered the poor. Today she is remembered for her strong business sense, generosity, courage, and tenacity.