Savoia Homestead

Emil Savoia

Emil Savoia was born in Finland April 6,1886 (Death Certificate 1941 ). He came to the United States in 1917 from Canada where he had resided for an unknown period of time. Savoia was recorded as being a section laborer for the railroad. While he could speak English, he could not read or write it. His first wife died in childbirth around 1915, leaving him with one daughter, Anna.

Emil remarried on May I, 1920, to Eriika Pekkala. At the time, she was living in town in a house originally located at 726 E Street (Carberry and Lane). It is notable that one of the witnesses on their marriage certificate was John V anaja, a fellow homesteader and neighbor. Their interaction with others around the area and their presence at Green Lake was recorded several years before Emil actually applied for the patent to his land in 1924. A few months after his second marriage, Emil killed a fellow homesteader, John Partti, in August 1920. Partti had been a partner with Savoia in a clearing contract with the Alaska Road Commission. According to the local paper and Savoia's wife's testimony, Savoia was drunk and shot Partti in bed accidentally. The gun had misfrred while Savoia was removing it from the wall. Other rumored circumstances about the shooting never did come to light. A jury trial ruled the incident an accident, but Savoia was held for further sentencing, since there were no manslaughter laws in Anchorage at the time. No additional information on the outcome of Savoia's sentencing was found.

Emil Savoia went on with his life. Two years later, his wife gave birth to a daughter, his second child, Helen, on November 12, 1922. Frances, the third child, followed in November 1924. During that period, Savoia worked for the U.S. Railroad as a carpenter and was wellknown for his carpentry skills. He built one of the finest cabins in the area, consisting of two stories with bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen and living room downstairs.

Though known as a heavy drinker, he continued to support his wife and children, relying on the railroad job as his primary source of income. Along with their homestead residence, the Savoia family also owned the house in town occupied by Anna before her marriage.

In 1931, the day after the funeral of fellow-homesteader, Onni Tuomi, the Savoia family met with another tragedy. Apparently, Eriika (Mrs. Savoia) had put gasoline in the kitchen stove, mistaking it for kerosene. When she lighted it, the stove exploded, enveloping her and daughter Anna in fire. Emil, who had been resting upstairs, rushed downstairs and outside, where he found the victims. The other two girls had been outside at the time of the explosion and remained unharmed. Emil rushed both women to the hospital, but neither survived their burns. The twostory cabin was also damaged beyond repair.

Following the fire, Emil's drinking became heavier. He and his daughters moved into town, and he continued to work with the railroad to support them. Eventually, about 1938, Frances moved to Wasilla to finish her education and Helen to Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula. These events coincided with the first time Emil subdivided and sold pieces of his property around Green Lake. He also worked to rebuild a cabin similar to the original cabin he had built at Green Lake. At the time of sale to the United States government, that cabin remained unfinished, with only the outside structure of the first story being completed. The military received permission to finish the building (whose style looks very similar to the first Savoia cabin), and it serves today as the Green Lake Chalet on the Air Force Base.

Savoia died in 1941 from alcohol poisoning. His daughters took over the property and sold it to the government in 1942. At the time, they were both married; Frances married Arnie Lahti and moved to Palmer, while Helen married a Mr. Cooper (first name unknown) and Lived at Cooper's Landing. By then, the property around Green Lake had been subdivided several times, though only about I0 acres total had been sold. Emil was buried between his wife and first daughter at the Anchorage cemetery. No headstone marks his grave.