Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget SoundDenny, Emily Inez
History
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
Denny, Emily Inez
Indians of North America -- Northwestern States; Oregon Territory -- History; Washington (State) -- History
When a little girl she wore deerskin robes or long coats and a collar of
shells; in those days her tribe made three kinds of robes, some of
"suwella," "shulth" or mountain beaver fur, and of deer-skins; the third
was possibly woven, as they made blankets of mountain sheep's wool and
goat's hair.
Angeline was first married to a big chief of the Skagits, Dokubkun by
name; her second husband was Talisha, a Duwampsh chief. She was a widow
of about forty-five when Americans settled on Elliott Bay. Two
daughters, Chewatum or Betsy and Mamie, were her only children known to
the white people, and both married white men. Betsy committed suicide by
hanging herself in the shed room of a house on Commercial Street, tying
herself to a rafter by a red bandanna handkerchief. Betsy left an
infant son, since grown up, who lived with Angeline many years. Mary or
Mamie married Wm. DeShaw and has been dead for some time.
It has been said that some are born great, some achieve greatness, while
others have greatness thrust upon them. Of the last described class,
Angeline was a shining representative. Souvenir spoons, photographs, and
cups bearing her likeness have doubtless traveled over a considerable
portion of the civilized world, all of the notoriety arising therefrom
certainly being unsought by the poor old Indian woman.
Newspaper reporters, paragraphers, and magazine writers have never
wearied of limning her life, recounting even the smallest incidents and
making of her a conspicuous figure in the literature of the Northwest.
It quite naturally follows that some absurd things have been written,
some heartless, others pathetic and of real literary value, although it
has been difficult for the tenderfoot to avoid errors. Upon the event of
her death, which occurred on Sunday, May 31st, 1896, a leading paper
published an editorial in which a brief outline of the building of the
city witnessed by Angeline was given and is here inserted:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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