Born 1918, Adeline Smith was one of the last two native speakers of the Klallam language who spoke Klallam as their first language. Throughout her life she worked on Klallam language preservation as well as advocating for the restoration and preservation of Lower Elwha Klallam sites. She created the first Klallam dictionary and alphabet with the help of linguistics professor Timothy Montler.

Adeline was the largest contributor to the Klallam dictionary, providing over 12,000 words. She also transcribed Klallam language recordings from 1942. Smith wrote accounts of Klallam history and stories until her passing in 2013. She had trained new teachers in Klallam language and culture, both of which are taught in tribal and public schools in Port Angeles at all levels thanks to her efforts.

Agnes James was the daughter of Charles Jules, the last of the hereditary Snohomish leaders to be appointed by the United States government to hold an official position as the representative of his community.

Agnes made sure that the younger generations of her family knew the family they came from. She was one of four women who used to stand beside the priest at Mass, translating his words into Lushootseed for the congregation. Agnes was known to give young people spiritual guidance, helping revitalize the longhouse way of life that had been dormant for years.

Agnes was famous for her cedar dolls, which can be seen in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Burke Museum. Towards the end of her life, it was a sorrow to Agnes that only two friends remained with whom she could speak Lushootseed: Marya Moses and Ethel Sam. We are consoled on her behalf to see Lushootseed living on, an important way of life for the Tulalip Tribes.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
IaIacut
Agnes Jules James
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Born 1887, Amy Williams Allen was enrolled Jamestown S’Klallam where she was married to Joseph Allen, Sr. They had seven children. Amy was the last living speaker at Jamestown with Klallam as her first language, she was also a top contributor to the Klallam Dictionary, contributing over 500 items. She is the grandmother to current Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Chairman, William “Ron” Allen.

Biography Courtesy of:
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

Photo Courtesy of:
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

Annie Jack Daniels was Duwamish and Muckleshoot and was born around 1880. She lived at Muckleshoot. She was recorded by Leon Metcalf in the 1950’s. He recorded close to three hours of Annie Jack Daniels. She told traditional narratives, sang songs, and left messages for her people who knew Metcalf. She spoke some English and spoke Ichishkíin/Sahaptin (Yakima/Yakama), but mostly she spoke Lushootseed.
xʷduʔabš yəxʷ bəqəlšułabš tsiił tuAnnie x̌ulup Jack Daniels.
tuwəliʔi(l) č’it ʔə tə padac yəxʷ ti təqačiʔ sbək’ʷačiʔ dᶻaladub yəxʷ ti təqačiʔačiʔ.
tułałlil ʔal tə bəqəlšuł. ʔuƛ’iq’ucidtəb ʔə tiił tuLeon Metcalf ʔal tiił 1950s.
ʔuƛ’iq’id ti č’it ʔə tə łixʷ dᶻəl ʔə tu Annie Jack Daniels.
ʔux̌ʷiʔabəb gʷəl ʔut’ilib gʷəl ʔułəgʷłšid tiił tuʔiišəds ʔuhaydxʷəs ti Metcalf ʔə tə syəcəb.
pastəducidəb ʔə tə miʔmuʔad, gʷəl ʔuc’awqʷucidəbəxʷ.
tux̌ʷ, xʷəlšucidəb ʔə tə ʔiłqa.

She was recorded sharing traditional stories such as: Blue Jay, Elk and Bear, and Sparrow.
tuƛ’iq’ucidtəb ʔux̌ʷiʔabəb ʔəsʔistəʔ ʔə ti skaykay, yəxʷ ti kʷagʷičəd yəxʷ sčətxʷəd, yəxʷ ti spicx̌ʷ.

Biography Courtesy of:
Puyallup Tribal Language Program and Elise Bill-Gerrish

Photo Courtesy of:
Elise Bill-Gerrish and the Bill family

Bill James was appointed hereditary chief in 2010 for his life-long work teaching Lummi history, culture, and language. James was a language, culture, and art teacher and a master weaver. He taught the Lummi language at Northwest Indian College. In 1989-90, James compiled a dictionary used by all college classes at Northwest Indian College. The dictionary contains about 2,000 cross-referenced entries. James, along with his mother Fran James, are credited with reviving and continuing the traditional weaving of the Lummi people.

Bruce Miller played a major role in reviving the Twana language and culture. He was an artist, teacher, historian, storyteller, master weaver, carver, veteran, and spiritual leader. He retold stories that were passed down by older relatives and could recall 120 traditional stories. Miller spoke and taught the Twana language. In 1982, he organized the building of the first traditional longhouse on the Skokomish Reservation in more than 110 years, reintroduced the winter longhouse ceremonies and first elk ceremony. Miller said “…my concern was for the generations to come rather than myself… I think it's our responsibility as elders to nourish this appreciation of what our ancestors had to offer and to learn something about it.”

Charlie Edwards, born 1866, worked with ethnographer Wayne Suttles, who stated that Edwards was “probably the last speaker of the Samish dialect.” Edwards was also a master carver and has many carvings in display at museums. Charlie was a witness in the U.S. Court of Claims case of Duwamish et al vs. United States in 1926.

David’s mother, Agnes Sese Spencer (Tulalip), died six days after his birth in 1937. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Katrina ‘Kwi-tee’ (Tulalip) and her husband Ambrose Bagley (Duwamish). In their household, both the Northern and Southern Lushootseed were spoken by their grandparents. The three grandchildren learned the Lushootseed language. David admitted after the death of his grandmother, Kwi-tee (1950) and the death of his grandfather, Ambrose (1956) that he had forgotten much of the Lushootseed Language.

David started to relearn the Lushootseed in the summer of 1991 from his language mentor, Toby Langen. He worked part-time with the Lushootseed department for at least five years. While working for the department and after his employment – David crafted numerous Lushootseed stories, poems, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, and songs. One of his personal Lushootseed projects included a compiled Lushootseed word concordance of traditional stories by our late tribal elders. David still considers himself a lifetime student of the Lushootseed Language.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
saʔsiʔ / dub-bəš
David Spencer, Sr.
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Dewey Mitchell was born in Rockport, WA in the upper Skagit watershed to Major Sious (Skagit) and Annie Charley (Skagit). He was one of six children and only Dewey and younger sister Lily lived to a greater age. The name Major was interpreted as “Mitchell” by (BIA) census people when asking Annie her husband’s name as she only spoke Lushootseed. Major died in c.1904 and Annie remarries to Sam Meigs (Tulalip/Snohomish) and moves with her 6 children to the Meigs household on the Tulalip Reservation.

Dewey attended the Tulalip (Indian Training) Boarding School where there were classes the first half of the day and then he worked the afternoons for his board at farm chores, janitorial, and laundry work. Dewey remembered the discipline, rules and regulations and that he only went home a few times during the year due to limited transportation. Dewey’s first language was Lushootseed and while it might not have been spoken much at the Boarding School, he would need to remember his Lushootseed when he visited his mother. He placed a high value on the education he received as it prepared him for adult life, realizing, at the time, that education for Indians was hard to come by. He worked for a living from age 16 on, including fishing for salmon on the Skagit River as well as logging at lumber camps. Dewey met Winifred Fryberg (1899-1996) of Tulalip while they were both attending the school. They married in 1921 and remained married for over 60 years. They moved to the Swinomish Reservation in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s where their children (Barbara, Jeanette, and Raymond) were raised. He enjoyed life with his family as well as playing baseball (and later was a baseball announcer), and canoe racing in one of the four very successful Swinomish cedar dugout canoes that held eleven pullers each. One of these canoes was the “Question Mark” built by Charlie Anderson, Vi Hilbert’s fatherⁱ now housed in the (National) Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VAⁱⁱ.

Dewey was a prominent person in the Swinomish community, respected as a carrier of tradition and frequently called upon to speak at funerals and gatherings because of his wisdom. He was instrumental in chartering the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and served his community as a member of the Swinomish Tribal Senate from 1936 to 1981 and as the Swinomish Tribal Chairman from 1962 to 1971.

He weathered great changes at Swinomish and the world at large and helped others to do the same. He gave great care to the areas of health, education, and housing. As a skilled carpenter, he assisted in the building of the first homes in the Swinomish village, moving the people he dearly loved from their first dwelling places and float houses into homes with lights and running water. In 1966 Mitchell became the Swinomish Home Visitor and Youth Councilor, a role he held until his death, ensuring daily that tribal children attended school on a regular basis. There are many stories from the Swinomish youth of those days getting a knock on their door from Dewey as he went door-to-door to check why they were late getting to school. He sought to improve school attendance, and encouraged more and more of our young people to graduate from high school and to go on to further their education. In his position with the LaConner School District, he was able to help bridge the communication gap between the Indian people and the school system.

He frequently helped his cousin, Vi Hilbertⁱⁱⁱ, with transcriptions and translations of other people's Lushootseed stories but recorded material of his own only after some coaxing. The results were the Basket Ogress legend^iv, an account of the Naming Ceremony^v, and an hour-long lesson on the Lushootseed concept of x̌əč, the intellect or mind.

Todd A. Mitchell, Grandson:
Environmental Director, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
October 2023

ⁱHilbert, Vi (1918-2008) by Janet Yoder, Posted 11/29/2004; https://www.historylink.org/File/7130
ⁱⁱ"Question Mark" Salish Racing Canoe; https://test.marinersmuseum.org/object/CL339;
ⁱⁱⁱVi Hilbert and Dewey Mitchell were 1st cousins as Hilbert recounted that her father, Charlie Anderson, and Dewey’s mother, Annie Mitchell, were brother and sister (Pers. Communication, 9/2007).
^ivBeck & Hess, 2015. Tellings from Our Elders, Lushootseed syəyəhub; 2: Tales from the Skagit Valley, as told by Susie Sampson Peter, Dora Solomon, Mary Sampson Willup, Harry Moses, Louise Anderson, Martin Sampson, Dewey Mitchell, and Alice Williams. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
^v5 Elders Share Their Wisdom (Lushootseed), Video of 5 Elders sharing their wisdom in English and Lushootseed. This video compilation was prepared for the 10th Annual Lushootseed Language Conference, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXogm1wvtk

Earnest Barr was born in 1919. Earnest “Ernie” šidut Barr ti ʔuwəliʔi(l) ʔal ti padac yəxʷ ti x̌ʷəl sbək’ʷačiʔ dᶻaladub yəxʷ ti padac yəxʷ ti x̌ʷəl.

He was Snoqualmie. He was raised in Preston, Washington and lived at Muckleshoot. He was a Chief of the Snoqualmie people. Zalmai recorded him sharing many stories such as: Ant and Bear, Little Silver Salmon, Rabbit and Brown Bear, and Skunk.
sdukʷalbixʷ ti tušidut. tuƛ’ax̌ʷad ʔal tə Preston, wašətəb gʷəl tuɫaɫlil ʔal tə bəqəlšuɫ. tusiʔab ʔə ti sdukʷalbixʷ. ʔuƛ’iq’ucidtəb ʔə ti ʔəswəli ʔux̌ʷiʔabəb ʔəsʔistəʔ ʔə ti bəčlulaʔ yəxʷ sčətxʷəd, yəxʷ ti skʷikʷ(ə)xʷic, yəxʷ ti k’ʷəčədiʔ yəxʷ sčatqłəb, yəxʷ ti sq’əbiyuʔ.

Ernie said while he was recording these stories in Lushootseed, he said he didn’t know why he was recording these stories because no one will understand them.
tucut ti šidut ʔal ti suƛiq’ucidəbs ʔal ti txʷəlšucid, xʷiʔ gʷədsəshaydxʷs ʔəsx̌id ti dəxʷuƛ’iq’ucidəbs ʔə ti sx̌ʷiʔab gʷati xʷiʔ ləƛ’əlabut kʷi gʷat ʔə tə txʷəlšucid.

“If I had known them days, what I know now, boy I would have had everything down pat. Everything.”
“ʔəbil’əxʷ čəd tuləhaydxʷ ti dsəshaydxʷ ʔal ti sləx̌il ʔal ti tudsč’ač’ašil, gʷətalx̌dubut čəd ʔə tə bək’ʷ stab. bək’ʷ stab.”

Biography Courtesy of:
Puyallup Tribal Language Program

Photo Courtesy of:
John Barr and the Barr family

One of Hagan Sam’s ancestors was a hereditary leader of the main Snohomish village in the 1820s or ’30s when the only known tsunami to have occurred in Puget Sound killed large numbers of Snohomish people. Hagan’s grandfather sʔadacut was a traditional healer whose work among the community is talked about even today. His father, Casimir, was a celebrated storyteller, against whose memory our storytellers are still measured. Hagan Sam would go on to provide testimony in federal court that helped secure tribal fishing rights and illuminate for succeeding generations the importance of the Killer Whale for the people of Tulalip.

In the work that he did with linguist Thom Hess, Hagan Sam carried on his family’s work of upholding the traditional culture and being of use to the community. He kept the language of his telling’s relatively simple for beginners, but in doing so he did not betray the high art of which he was a master. These telling’s are abounded in examples of the narrative strategies that have kept the Lushootseed story community alert and alive through the centuries.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
ʔadacut
Edward Hagan Sam
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

A firm believer that it takes a village to raise a child, Lizzie Krise played an active role in helping to raise many children at Tulalip. Lizzie fed the children from her own garden and farm animals. At every gathering, you could find her in the kitchen. Experiencing life as a series of teachable moments, she was herself an embodiment of all teachings.

It was to Lizzie that the tribal chairman recommended the young linguistics student Thom Hess when he first came to Tulalip. Lizzie had the courage to take a chance on working with this young man who appeared out of the blue, and her decision set in motion the preservation of our language. The recordings that Thom Hess made with Lizzie are still in use in our Lushootseed classrooms today. Her gentle voice and laughter testify to a warm working relationship, and she takes pains to speak slowly, as though she could envision all the young ears that would be trying to follow her speech down through the decades. Through Lizzie, Thom was introduced to the two people who became his greatest advisers and teachers, Martha and Levi Lamont.

Click here to read more about
salalt’səb / kʷət̕ɬibubc
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Krise
Biography Courtesty of
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

In 1904 Harriette hayalc̓aʔ Shelton was born to Chief William Shelton (1869-1938) who was of Snohomish, Skay-whah-mish, Puyallup, and Wenatchee ancestry and Guemes Island’s Ruth (siastənu) Sehome (1857-1958) of the Klallam and Samish tribes. Chief William Shelton was a renowned storyteller, carver, and ambassador to the world for native peoples. His daughter, hayalc̓aʔ, carried on the traditions of her father.

Among Harriette’s many accomplishments was that of helping revive traditional dances, the Lushootseed language, and tribal appreciation for a proud past. In addition, Harriette served as the second female elected to the Tulalip Tribes’ Board of Directors (and first Tribal Council Chairwoman), and she took a lead role in reestablishing the ancient First Salmon Ceremony at Tulalip.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
hayalc̓aʔ
Harriette Shelton Dove
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Harry Moses was born on November 15th, 1878 in the town of Marblemount, up the Skagit river valley.

Harry and his wife Jessie had eight children, William Moses, Zatha Moses, Regina Moses Dallaire, Persina H. Moses, Mahcina L Moses, Rydnillo W. Moses, Anna B. Moses and Arnold C. Moses. Harry’s father was Will-Ab-To-Chub Charley Moses who was born in 1853. His mother was Sha-Sha-Bow-Lits-A or Mary, she was born in 1852. Jesse’s father was Bon-Quah-am. The Moses family were heavily involved with their relatives and fellow members of the Shaker church. Vi Hilbert wrote that her, and her parents visited often, because her parents enjoyed each other’s company. She wrote, “I loved to listen in. Harry had a wonderful sense of humor, which was well known. He loved to tell stories and his audience knew that they could count on him to embellish the facts, with a twinkle in his eyes.”.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Born in 1910, Hazel Sampson was the granddaughter of Chief James Balch, the founder of Jamestown and namesake for the town and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. Hazel learned English as a second language. In 1943, Hazel and her husband become one of the founding families of the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation. Belonging to the Jamestown and Lower Elwha tribes, she associated closely with all three S’Klallam bands.

Hazel Sampson was important to the Klallam language preservation work. Timothy Montler, a professor of linguistics, and Lower Elwha Klallam tribal member and language teacher Jamie Valadez began work to preserve the Klallam language in 1990. They published several guidebooks, lesson plans, and the first Klallam dictionary. Citing tradition, Hazel Sampson chose not to be named as an official member of Montler and Valadez’s project. The project researchers believed Hazel had a better understanding of the Klallam language than her husband and other project members. Hazel Sampson was the last surviving native speaker of the Klallam language. Hazel passed in 2014 at the age of 103 and is survived by five generations of descendants.

Ms. Ross lived at Swinomish and assisted Vi Hilbert teaching Lushootseed language classes. She taught preschool classes and helped with the audio recordings of the language lessons.

Biography Courtesy of:
Lushootseed Research Institute

When professor of linguists at University of North Texas Timothy Montler began working on Klallam language preservation, he teamed up with Lower Elwha Klallam tribal member Jamie Valdez. Valdez helped the Lower Elwha tribe start their language program. Jamie has been a Klallam language teacher at Port Angeles High School since 1999. Montler and Valdez worked together with elders to create Klallam language materials and teaching tools.

Jerry was born in Tolt River and lived his entire life in Carnation, WA. Jerry was an active man with a passion for culture and history. Jerry was an advocate of information about the history and traditions of his people. As an artist, Jerry would often provide replicas of historical artifacts for anthropologists. Jerry Kanim spoke Lushootseed fluently and wanted all tribal people to learn their language. Jerry provided traditional narratives that were recorded and became the primary content of a book published in 1968 - Southern Puget Sound Salish: Texts, Place Names, and Dictionary. Jerry shared stories such as: Star Husband, Transformer, Basket Ogress and the story featured in this book Bear and Rabbit.

Born 1901 in Mud Bay, Joyce Cheeka was taken to the Tulalip Indian School at ten years old in 1911. Joyce was forbidden and punished for speaking her language and practicing her culture. Yet, it was in boarding school where she learned to make friends from different cultures and to serve as a bridge between them. Cheeka attended Willamette University, and later became a lecture and professor at the University of Washington for Salish languages. She gave important interviews to the Washington State History Society.

Joyce also served as a consultant to the Evergreen State College while they developed their Native American Studies program. In 1965, Joyce was named Washington State Mother of the Year by American Mothers. Excerpts from Joyce Cheeka’s memoir titled “As My Sun Now Sets” were turned into a play performed by the Seattle Children’s Theater in 1994, titled The Rememberer. Today, the The Rememberer is performed across the country.

Lawrence Webster was born at Suquamish in 1899 at Old Man House. He was Suquamish and Makah. He resided at Indianola on the Suquamish reservation.
tuwəliʔi(l) ti tuLawrence Webster ʔal tə xʷsəq’ʷəb ʔal ti padac yəxʷ ti təqačiʔ sbək’ʷačiʔ dᶻaladub yəxʷ ti x̌ʷəlačiʔ yəxʷ ti x̌ʷəl ʔal tə old man has. suq’ʷabš yəxʷ bəq’aʔahabš. ʔułałlil ʔal ti dəxʷsisa ʔal ti swatixʷtəd ʔə tə suq’ʷabš.

Lushootseed was his first language. When he was young, he was taken to St. George’s Indian Boarding School and then Cushman Indian Boarding School where he graduated in 8th grade. When he went home, Lawrence spoke Lushootseed to his mother and other elders, but he did not speak the language with his children because of the abuse at the Boarding Schools.
txʷəlšucid ti dᶻixʷ sx̌udx̌uds. ʔal ti tusč’ač’ašils, ʔuʔux̌ʷtxʷ txʷəl x̌alalʔtxʷ ʔə St. George gʷəl huy ʔuʔux̌ʷ txʷəl Cushman x̌alalʔtxʷ gʷəl ʔuhuytxʷ ʔal tə təqačiʔaladxʷ ʔə tə liləgʷəbalʔtxʷ. ʔal ti sut’uk’ʷs, ʔutxʷəlšucidəbid tsi sk’ʷuys yəxʷ tiił sləluƛ̓təd, tux̌ʷ xʷiʔ gʷəsuxʷdigʷidtəb tiił bədədəʔs ʔə tə txʷəlšucid gʷati ʔuq’p’alikʷtub ʔal tiił x̌alx̌alalʔtxʷ.

Lawrence Webster made very important contributions to the Lushootseed Dictionary about the Suquamish dialect.
ʔəsq’ič ti ʔuʔabalikʷ ti Lawrence Webster txʷəl ti Lushootseed Dictionary ʔə tə suq’ʷabšucid.

Biography Courtesy of:
Puyallup Tribal Language Program and Cassandra George Fowler

Photo Courtesy of:
Suquamish Museum

Louise assisted scholars including Thom Hess, Brent Galloway, and Allan Richardson with their field studies to record and document the language, place names and cultural traditions. I am attaching some notes from Laurel Sercombe (with her permission) who oversaw the Vi Hilbert archives in the Ethnomusicology department at the University of Washington.

Biography Courtesy of:
Lushootseed Research Institute

Photo courtesy of:
Lushootseed Research Institute

Martha is known as a person who devoted herself to preserving treasures from the past and during her life she welcomed and supported important changes. While many tribal members disapproved of work to make Tulalip better known to the non-reservation world, Martha welcomed these changes. She was active within the 1910 Shaker Church and was an assistant minister of the Tulalip church until the last decade of her life.

Perhaps because she never learned to read or write, Martha was an enthusiastic participant in projects to tape-record traditional teachings. She spent extended periods ten years apart working with different collectors, to whom she told some of the same stories. Thus, her legacy gives us a rare chance to investigate change and stability in the syəhub tradition. In her enthusiasm for the new recording technology, Martha has enabled us to travel more deeply into our heritage than we could have imagined.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
səswix̌ab
Martha Williams Lamont
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

At the young age of 2, Martin Sampson moved to the Swinomish Reservation where he attended the Swinomish Day School. Sampson graduated from the Chemawa Indian School in Oregon in 1908. He then studied at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia.

Martin served in the U.S. Army in the Spruce Division of the Aviation Corp. After his military service, Sampson joined the Northwest Federation of American Indians, became a champion for the restoration of treaty rights, and served as the secretary on the Swinomish Tribal Council. He would later serve on the Swinomish Tribal Senate as a senator and tribal chairman. Furthermore, Martin Sampson played an active role in regional canoe races. He published stories of Native ways of life in local newspapers and discussed fishing rights and traditional ways on television and radio programs. Sampson also helped write several books on tribal history and legend in the 1960’s and 70’s. He continued to share songs and stories with audiences until his passing.

Photo courtesy of:
Lushootseed Research Institute

Raymond Moses carried the ancestral name of his father and grandfather, Teatmus. His father, Walter Moses, was of the Suiattle Tribe and his mother, Marya Jones, was of the Snohomish. His grandparents were Billy and Julie Moses of the Suiattle, and Bill and Nancy Jones of the Snohomish. He was proud of his heritage and traditional identity, which is tied to the grandparents. Raymond urged his people to learn, preserve, and protect the history of who they are, where they came from, and oral traditions. He said, “We must preserve what we have, what is left, with respect.” To him, that meant carrying the traditions forward without changing them to suit modern times.

He would bring out the teachings of the elders and the values they held. Language, history, and traditions are all part of the sduhubš people. Even as they have been removed from the people, because of the work of Teatmus and others like him, we can learn the dignity of these things. He truly believed for his people that learning and living the traditions would carry them through the hard times and make them stronger, as they did for him.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
tiatmus
Raymond Moses
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Ruth Sehome Shelton, siastənu, is known for being an indigenous historian who engaged people in the oral history of the Puget Sound region. Born in 1857, Ruth Sehome Shelton siastənu was raised in one of the last Samish longhouses on Guemes Island. Her father siʔhumʔ, commonly known as General Pierce, was of the Dungeness Klallam and of the Lummi, and her mother was c̓iʔsxʷatulic̓a of the Samish.

Being born only two years after the signing of the Point Elliot Treaty, siastənu lived through many cultural shifts. siastənu spoke S’Klallam-Samish, Snohomish Lushootseed, Chinook Jargon, and learned English as a teenager while living with her sister and brother in law, an Indian agent. Local ethnographer Wayne Suttles noted the importance of her command of English to the recording of the tribal history.

Ruth’s descendants carry on her legacy, preserving the language and culture for future generations. Her way of telling stories and narratives brought life and meaning to the history of her people.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
siastənu
Ruth Shelton
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Born 1907, Sindick Jimmy was the last remaining native speaker of the Nooksack language who passed in 1977. Jimmy worked closely with linguist Brent Galloway to compile a Nooksack dictionary. Sindick Jimmy made great contributions to the book Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language by Allan Richardson and Brent Galloway.

Born in 1863, gʷəqʷulc̓əʔ, Susie Sampson Peter, spoke the highest forms of the Skagit language, a northern dialect of dxʷləšucid. Her mother was pačtalo, and her father was an Indian Doctor known as sbaqʷabaʔl, or Dr. Bailey. Born eight years after treaty times, she endured great changes. She understood that the life she was taught would not be learned by future generations.

As a historian, she welcomed the opportunity to preserve the language and culture through recorded oral traditions of history, storytelling, and song. From recordings, she recounts the subtle nuances of cultural shifts. Her father raised her to be a keeper of the culture. Boarding schools marked the decline of their way of life. At the schools, Indian children were taught the ways of the settlers and forbidden to speak tribal languages.

gʷəqʷulc̓əʔ became worried that the next generations would not learn the language and therefore welcomed the chance to preserve it. Linguist Leon Metcalf worked to record the oral traditions of tribal elders. It is said that upon meeting him she asked what took him so long to get there. gʷəqʷulc̓əʔ decided to leave her knowledge for the coming generations in the recordings made with Metcalf.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

Click here to read more about
gʷ`əqʷulc̓əʔ
Susie Sampson Peter
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Vi Hilbert was born 1918, in Upper Skagit, to Charlie and Louise Anderson. Vi was a mother of three, a storyteller, linguist, a fluent speaker in Lushootseed and co-author of the second Lushootseed dictionary, advisor on the first one and an educator. As a child, both Vi’s mother and father spoke only Lushootseed to her. When her parents went to the Yakima reservation to pick hops and fruit, Vi attended boarding schools located in Tulalip and Salem, OR.

In 1967 Vi was introduced to Dr. Thom Hess, who was writing a grammar book of Lushootseed, then called Puget Salish. In 1972 Vi attended a Lushootseed class that Hess had taught at the University of Washington and passed all the tests easily. The next year, Hess had arranged it so that Vi taught the class. Together Thom and Vi had written lesson plans for daily language classes, a textbook and her first Haboo Book of traditional stories that were told by her elders. Vi taught at the University of Washington for 15 years before retiring in 1988. Vi was named a Washington state living treasure in 1989. She created Lushootseed Press, which publishes lessons, dictionaries, and story collections.

Vi passed away at the age of 90 in 2008, and her legacy still lives on in her traditional stories and language work.

Biography Courtesy of:
Tulalip Lushootseed Department

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taqʷšəblu
Vi  Hilbert
Lushootseed
The Language of Puget Sound

Born in Orcas Island, Underwood Sr. learned Samish from his grandfather, David Tom, and Saanich from his grandmother, Cecilia (Sam) Tom. Victor did not speak English until he left Orcas Island at the age of 16. Samish Tribe chairman Ken Hansen learned of a man living in British Columbia who still spoke Samish fluently. Hansen and anthropologist Sally Snyder interviewed him in 1983 and recorded Samish story The Maiden of Deception Pass from Underwood. Victor also worked with linguist Brent Galloway to preserve his knowledge of the Samish language.

Born in 1868, William Shelton was of Snohomish, Skay-whah-mish, Puyallup, and Wenatchee ancestry. Shelton was the last hereditary Snohomish chief, storyteller, wood carver, teacher, chief of police, and cultural leader. His parents hoped he would become a tribal leader and Indian doctor. While his parents did not send him to the Tulalip mission school (that would later become the Tulalip boarding school), he ran away and enrolled himself in order to learn the English language and culture. Shelton was allowed to operate the old Tulalip mill and began carving. Wanting to carve a story pole and build a longhouse, Shelton wrote to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for permission. The government agreed to allow for a Treaty Day in 1911 and in 1914 the construction of a longhouse.

William’s life work was to gather, preserve and share his people’s traditions. Throughout his life, he carved four story poles and published a book of traditional stories. Shelton wrote, “My mission is to help them [the children] learn and perpetuate our customs, [and]… explain to my people how important it is to leave a record of our Indian learning before we are all gone. That is what I have tried to do with my…poles.”