Yule Kilcher

Yule Forenorth Kilcher (born Julius Jacob Kilcher; March 9, 1913 – December 8, 1998) was a Swiss-born American homesteader who was a member of the Alaska state senate from 1963 to 1966. He moved from Switzerland to Alaska in 1936 where he then lived permanently, after returning to Switzerland for a short time in 1939, outside of Homer, Alaska. Life Yule Kilcher was born Julius Jacob Kilcher (the first name is sometimes given as Jules) on March 9, 1913, in Laufen, Switzerland, which was then in the canton of Bern (now in the canton of Basel-Landschaft), to Edwin Kilcher and Lina Kilcher (née Alter). His place of origin was Nunningen in the canton of Solothurn. He grew up with four siblings in Zuchwil near the canton's capital, Solothurn. After the matura at Kantonsschule Solothurn, he studied comparative philology and archeology in Berlin, Bern, Grenoble, and Aix-en-Provence. In an autobiography he sent in 1963 to the newspaper Solothurner Zeitung, Kilcher wrote that he then worked as a journalist in North Africa, Poland, the United States, and in Scandinavia, where he also worked as a logger. In Sweden and in the Carpathian Mountains, he learned to build log houses. In 1936, Kilcher went for the first time to Alaska, intending to "found an idealistic community" there. In Alaska, he changed his name to Yule Forenorth Kilcher. He received 160 acres of land to homestead. This land was in the Kachemak Bay area, outside of Homer, Alaska. In 1939, Kilcher went back to Switzerland for a short time, intending to persuade likeminded people to emigrate to Alaska. From 1940, he lived permanently in Alaska. In 1941, he married Ruth Helen Weber, originally from Pratteln, who was an American citizen. They had eight children who were all raised on the family homestead: Mairiis "Mossy", Wurtilla Dora "Wurzy", (Linda) Fay, Attila Kuno "Atz", Sunrise Diana Irene, (Edwin) Otto, Stellavera Septima and Catkin Melody. Kilcher sought a self-sufficient, natural lifestyle. The family lived without electricity and running water.