Alice Jesse Weber
Photo 2313.0347: Alice Jess Weber, circa 1940
Rossland’s history is full of many notable characters. For the past year, we’ve been focused on learning more about some of the noteworthy women that make up the vibrant fabric of our city. In many cases, these characters are larger than life, and their stories are sometimes more fiction than fact.
Photo 2313.0348. Alice Jess, circa 1940
One of the more mysterious characters is the eccentric Rossland old-timer, Alice Jesse Weber. She was known by many different names - Old Lady Jess, Old Jess, Jessie, Alice Jess. In our archive, an account by Dagmar Hanson (née Holm), collected by Allan “Porky” Martin, who was a great supporter of the Museum, has allowed us to piece together a history of Alice Jesse Weber.
It was on a visit to the Museum in June 1996 that the subject of “Old Lady Jess” came up. “Dagmar Hanson felt uneasy about how old Jess was depicted on the mural painted on the wall,” explained Al. “I asked her if she would make some notes as Jess lived very close to the Holm family at 1270 Dunn Crescent.”
Dagmar wanted to set the record straight. Here are her notes, and Alice Jesse Weber’s story:
The unknown story of Alice Jesse Weber, resident of Rossland since the late 1890s
Written by Dagmar (Holm) Hanson
“Alice Jesse was ridiculed for many years as most of the strangers and citizens did not know how she became an eccentric figure…I wish to let everyone know that when I and my brothers were children we grew up living next to her home and understood what hardships she had gone through to become the eccentric character people knew her as. Alice Jesse Weber was raised in an orphanage in Kansas, USA. When she grew to be a young woman she moved out into the world to make a living.
“During the turn of the century and birth of the Great Gold Rush she came to the western part of North America from California to Alaska. As she used to relate her story to mother and father and us kids, she was married to a Mr. Weber in Seattle and had a beautiful daughter. Their marriage did not work out and I can’t remember all the details, but she left her family and drifted across the border into British Columbia finding her way into Rossland, BC. There she found employment in hotels as so many young women did. The women were trying to save their money, but when these women were approached by investors that they could invest their money and make them rich what happened was that the investors used the money for their own purpose and Jesse was one who found that she had been robbed of her savings and of course one can understand that it affects one’s health etc.
“Jesse became ill with a nervous breakdown for a length of time, but then regained her health so she could carry on with her life, but not working in hotels etc. She found work cleaning offices for doctors, lawyers and some private homes and became very miserly and put her money in the bank… When I was growing up into my teens she was very concerned about my safety. She used to tell me to be very careful not to speak to strangers or accept gifts from strangers… She used to correspond with a niece in Covington, Ohio, USA. When she became ill in about February 1948 she managed to get my father to help her get Doctor Topliff so he took her to the hospital and she passed away from pneumonia. I do regret not being able to sit in on the reading of her will.
“Alice Jesse always came to our home to fetch fresh drinking water and she enjoyed many lunches with us over the years.”
- Dagmar Hanson, November 5th, 1996
“Jess made her daily trips to town to pick up reject fruit and vegetables behind the grocery store when they would no longer be sold. She also picked up meat and bones to make soup. These were also fed to her many cats. Instead of carrying everything she would pull a cardboard box with a rope. Before my dad left for the Air Force we lived on Columbia Avenue at the bottom of Black Bear Hill. She quite often offered to share some of the rejected fruit, apples, pears or plums with the neighbourhood children.”
- Alan Martin, 1996
“Funeral Held Yesterday: Early Day Pioneer Passes At Age Of 92
“With the passing of Alice Jess last Thursday afternoon another link with Rossland’s early days was severed. Little is known concerning the life of the aged resident although few figures were seen more often on the streets of this city. When she arrived here from the United States, the railways had not yet pushed their way into the young mining camp. The trip from Northport was made by horse and buggy and she told of coming to town over the wagon road that lead [sic] down the bluff past the J.W. Hunter residence.
“She was born on a farm in Juneau, Wisconsin, in 1860 and had one brother who pre-deceased her about 15 years ago. The only relative known to be surviving is a niece, Mrs. Vera Duncan of Covington, Ohio.
“It is believed she came here prior to 1895 and took up residence just west of the city where she had made her home ever since. At the time she was employed in a hotel on Columbia Avenue which in recent years has become the Ewing Apartment building. During her 57 years here she saw Rossland change from a mining camp to a boom town. Then followed a recession when the city hovered on the brink of becoming a ghost town but was saved when increased activity at Consolidated’s Trail plants found many workers flocking to Rossland to make their homes here. Although she was not one to reminisce ‘Jessie’ had witnessed many things since first coming to this young mining town. The boom was on - miners and prospectors were coming and going by the score. The town was ‘wide open’ - there was gambling and drinking, fights and murders before law and order was established. She saw the city incorporated, witnessed the havoc wrought by the big explosion at the mines, saw fire literally wipe out first one side of Columbia Avenue then the other. She was here when the first schools opened - when Father Pat started his preaching mission and when Olas Jeldness was performing unheard of feats on a pair of skis. There was ‘Fightin’ Joe’ Martin, T. Mayne Daly, Smith Curtis, Joe Deschamps, Jack Kirkup, ‘Judge’ Plewman, Billy Esling, and hundreds of others, Jess knew them all. She was here when they came and saw many of them go. Her death last Thursday at the age of 92 wrote finis to another chapter in Rossland’s history.”
- The Rossland Miner, February 14th, 1952
The Rossland Miner published an obituary for Alice Jess on Feb 14, 1952. Note a few discrepancies (e.g. birthplace) between this account and Dagmar’s.
Alice Jess’s death certificate (accessed from BC Archives) was filled out with information provided by the funeral director, which suggests she died alone. The many blank lines on the form indicate how little her contemporaries knew about her life. Her birthdate, her parents’ names, her places of work - none of this information was recorded in Jess’s death certificate.
Contribute your own memories/experiences of Old Lady Jess:
The form below will email us your message. If you prefer to speak to us directly or have other questions or comments about this page, please call (250) 362-7722 or email the archives directly at archives @rosslandmuseum.ca