Letters From the Governor’s Wife : A View of Russian Alaska, 1859-1862
When Johan Furuhjelm was offered the governorship of Russian America in 1858, the 37-year-old Finnish officer found himself in a quandary. He needed a wife to support him in the new post, with its mix of mercantile and administrative responsibilities, and there were no suitable candidates in the remote Siberian port where he was harbourmaster. Fortunately, on his trip back west to receive his orders, Helsinki society came to his aid, choosing for him a young woman of good family and international background, Anna von Schoultz.