Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Kate is a Writer of Western Subjects
Kate is a pseudonym for Kaiitcin White Lily, a descendant of the Old Chief T'ell-kaiit-cin (the old headman of the White Flowers Clan). Kate writes about the clan at http://indians-northwest-california.com
About Lucy Rogers Young Wailakki Wintu Woman
Lucy ROGERS Young, was usually referred to as Lucy Young in papers written about her. She would eventually marry Sam Young, the foster-son of the woman doctor “White Lily” in her LATER life (after she was 80 or 90) .
Lucy was born the daughter of Y’ell-taci and T’ell-t’etz in approximately 1846. So, she would have been six (6) years old when the massacre occurred near the present town of Hayfork, California - the genocide event which came to be known as the Natural Bridge "incident". It is from the stories of the natural bridge that many clues have evolved to illuminate the story of Lucy's life. We know the story of Lucy because she was a survivor of the bridge incident, and because she was a niece of our uncles and grandparents also. She was a niece of the White Lily couple known as D'oan-ell (Saccah) and Kaiit White Lily. She was also the niece of K'u-u'nig-ellen (aka Ellen), who lived in the White Lily home at the North Fork of the South Fork of the Eel River in southern Trinity County.
.
Lucy ROGERS Young was the grandchild of the old chief known as T’ell-kaiit-cin (the highest/eldest member of the White Lily Clan) T’ = Thuh + ell (highest or eldest member of the family) + kaiit (flower or lily) + cin (meaning white or no-rainbow-color)
.
The story of Lucy's childhood is yet to be told in detail, but we can say that before the intrusion of the Euro-Americans, life for the White Lily clan was almost idyllic. We might describe it as being close to what Eden is imagined to be. There was always plenty of wild game, plenty of acorns and other plant life to make into flour, sauces, and soups, and there were fields of fruit in the form of berries, grapes, and other plan life. There were two runs of salmon each year, to keep the smokehouses and granaries filled. There were smaller fish and a wide variety of water fowl, and other water creatures. Favorite places were chosen to camp in at the most appropriate time each year. Life was based on a "round of the year", with each season bringing its particular kind of food and particular kinds of work to be done in that season.
.
Lucy was born about 1846 and she was only about six (6) years old when she first saw a white man. She had heard of them sooner, because word traveled from village to village and clan to clan along each trail of the runners. Lucy would have heard to the white man from an early age because white men had been in the areas of all the large rivers since Lucy was only two years old. The Gold Rush has brought the white men (see-chee-yap-aye-too) to the region and they were coming up every stream. When Lucy was only an infant, her family had been camped where the two large rivers come together, when a small group of white men had arrived to disrupt their camp. It had been in the cold of winter and the men appeared to be in very poor condition and by signs they had indicated they were lost and that they were looking for the big water toward the setting sun. Two of Lucy's uncles had tried to tell them the easiest and fastest way to travel, but even when they tried to show them, the men did not seem to believe the uncles. Instead, they continued on the very rough country which is along the river. Lucy's family told the story for many years, thinking that it might have been best if they had tried to eliminated those cold, miserable, men. It seems that once they had come, in another season or two, many more were to follow and to steal the fishing holes, and kill the game with boom sticks, and to steal women and children.
.
Lucy's life took a huge bend in the road when she was only six years old. She and her family were camped in a favorite place in what is now Trinity County, in a long valley which had creeks which fed into a river that is now known as the South Fork of the Trinity River. It was in the third week of April when everything changed. Forever. White men surrounded the large encampment and at dawn's light, proceeded to shoot at everyone who moved within the village. Lucy and two of her sisters (perhaps cousins) survived the killing. Her mother also survived.. Additionally, an infant girl is known to have survived and was taken to Weaverville by one of the vigilante party, and a boy cousin who was about 8 or 9 years old survived. That boy was taken in by another wintu family and became known in later years as Buckskin Bob. Bob became a hunter and a guide for the white men who had taken over the land by the time he was fully grown.
.
For the next few seasons after the attack on the village, Lucy and her mother and little sister lived like wild animals in the woods. Over the years, as she grew from age 6 to 16, Lucy pretty much was on her own. She and her mother and sister tried to stay together, but they were always running from the men who wanted to "own" them. For some time, we know that she and her mother, who was called Y'ell-taci, did come to live in what became the village of Hayfork, near where the slaughter of her immediate and extended family had taken place. Eventually, over a period of years, little sister was lost to them, and may have been taken down to the lowlands where Indian Slave Trading was a big business. Eventually, mother died right there in the village or settlement of Hayfork. When she became of age, Lucy would be taken in by Abe Rogers and she would suffer through several pregnancies with him.
.
South Fork is the longest continuous mountain ridge in the region and had no gold deposits, so it was a safer place for Indians, but only if they were under the protective umbrella of a white man. Abe Rogers, Greenleaf French, Amos and Enos (Commodore) Peabody are known to have been among the very first white men to penetrate Wailakki territory in the region known as South of the South Fork. Abe Rogers was that umbrella for the White Lily Clan; this is because he was living with Lucy and raising their children from the 1870s through approximately 1905
.
Lucy stayed with Abe from approximately 1870 (that we can document) until about 1900-1905, when apparently he and she both became too old to stay together anymore. Abe was about 14 years older than Lucy and would have been fairly aged when Lucy left his home and hearth. She did not go far, but continued to live in the mountain area, just to the east and over a ridge from Zenia. Her Uncle and two aunts were living at the Salt Fork of the North Fork of the Eel River, and she began to spend more time caring for them as they aged. She traveled around the mountains and small valleys on horseback and took her living from the wildlife and plants in the area. She was finally free to live in nature again, after all the years of being housewife and mother. She would stay with the older members of her family until the last one died in about 1927. In those later years at the Salt Creek, Lucy was joined with Sam Young, a "cousin" who had been raised by her Aunt Kait White Lily. Between the two of them, they made a nice household for the older relatives and kept them fed and comfortable.
.
Lucy and Sam moved to the Round Valley Reservation (sometime after 1920 or perhaps even after 1927) - we think they may have moved there with the remaining aunt Ellen, taking care of her until she died about 1927). The Methodist church insisted that Lucy and Sam get married if they wanted to live together there and to be right “in the face of God”. The Methodist church had been put in charge of operating and setting the rules for Indian Reservations several years earler, and their word was law.
.
Lucy Young, in her later years, became a principal informant to anthropologists For more than thirty years, she had lived at what is now Zenia, with her husband, Abe Rogers.
Lucy was born the daughter of Y’ell-taci and T’ell-t’etz in approximately 1846. So, she would have been six (6) years old when the massacre occurred near the present town of Hayfork, California - the genocide event which came to be known as the Natural Bridge "incident". It is from the stories of the natural bridge that many clues have evolved to illuminate the story of Lucy's life. We know the story of Lucy because she was a survivor of the bridge incident, and because she was a niece of our uncles and grandparents also. She was a niece of the White Lily couple known as D'oan-ell (Saccah) and Kaiit White Lily. She was also the niece of K'u-u'nig-ellen (aka Ellen), who lived in the White Lily home at the North Fork of the South Fork of the Eel River in southern Trinity County.
.
Lucy ROGERS Young was the grandchild of the old chief known as T’ell-kaiit-cin (the highest/eldest member of the White Lily Clan) T’ = Thuh + ell (highest or eldest member of the family) + kaiit (flower or lily) + cin (meaning white or no-rainbow-color)
.
The story of Lucy's childhood is yet to be told in detail, but we can say that before the intrusion of the Euro-Americans, life for the White Lily clan was almost idyllic. We might describe it as being close to what Eden is imagined to be. There was always plenty of wild game, plenty of acorns and other plant life to make into flour, sauces, and soups, and there were fields of fruit in the form of berries, grapes, and other plan life. There were two runs of salmon each year, to keep the smokehouses and granaries filled. There were smaller fish and a wide variety of water fowl, and other water creatures. Favorite places were chosen to camp in at the most appropriate time each year. Life was based on a "round of the year", with each season bringing its particular kind of food and particular kinds of work to be done in that season.
.
Lucy was born about 1846 and she was only about six (6) years old when she first saw a white man. She had heard of them sooner, because word traveled from village to village and clan to clan along each trail of the runners. Lucy would have heard to the white man from an early age because white men had been in the areas of all the large rivers since Lucy was only two years old. The Gold Rush has brought the white men (see-chee-yap-aye-too) to the region and they were coming up every stream. When Lucy was only an infant, her family had been camped where the two large rivers come together, when a small group of white men had arrived to disrupt their camp. It had been in the cold of winter and the men appeared to be in very poor condition and by signs they had indicated they were lost and that they were looking for the big water toward the setting sun. Two of Lucy's uncles had tried to tell them the easiest and fastest way to travel, but even when they tried to show them, the men did not seem to believe the uncles. Instead, they continued on the very rough country which is along the river. Lucy's family told the story for many years, thinking that it might have been best if they had tried to eliminated those cold, miserable, men. It seems that once they had come, in another season or two, many more were to follow and to steal the fishing holes, and kill the game with boom sticks, and to steal women and children.
.
Lucy's life took a huge bend in the road when she was only six years old. She and her family were camped in a favorite place in what is now Trinity County, in a long valley which had creeks which fed into a river that is now known as the South Fork of the Trinity River. It was in the third week of April when everything changed. Forever. White men surrounded the large encampment and at dawn's light, proceeded to shoot at everyone who moved within the village. Lucy and two of her sisters (perhaps cousins) survived the killing. Her mother also survived.. Additionally, an infant girl is known to have survived and was taken to Weaverville by one of the vigilante party, and a boy cousin who was about 8 or 9 years old survived. That boy was taken in by another wintu family and became known in later years as Buckskin Bob. Bob became a hunter and a guide for the white men who had taken over the land by the time he was fully grown.
.
For the next few seasons after the attack on the village, Lucy and her mother and little sister lived like wild animals in the woods. Over the years, as she grew from age 6 to 16, Lucy pretty much was on her own. She and her mother and sister tried to stay together, but they were always running from the men who wanted to "own" them. For some time, we know that she and her mother, who was called Y'ell-taci, did come to live in what became the village of Hayfork, near where the slaughter of her immediate and extended family had taken place. Eventually, over a period of years, little sister was lost to them, and may have been taken down to the lowlands where Indian Slave Trading was a big business. Eventually, mother died right there in the village or settlement of Hayfork. When she became of age, Lucy would be taken in by Abe Rogers and she would suffer through several pregnancies with him.
.
South Fork is the longest continuous mountain ridge in the region and had no gold deposits, so it was a safer place for Indians, but only if they were under the protective umbrella of a white man. Abe Rogers, Greenleaf French, Amos and Enos (Commodore) Peabody are known to have been among the very first white men to penetrate Wailakki territory in the region known as South of the South Fork. Abe Rogers was that umbrella for the White Lily Clan; this is because he was living with Lucy and raising their children from the 1870s through approximately 1905
.
Lucy stayed with Abe from approximately 1870 (that we can document) until about 1900-1905, when apparently he and she both became too old to stay together anymore. Abe was about 14 years older than Lucy and would have been fairly aged when Lucy left his home and hearth. She did not go far, but continued to live in the mountain area, just to the east and over a ridge from Zenia. Her Uncle and two aunts were living at the Salt Fork of the North Fork of the Eel River, and she began to spend more time caring for them as they aged. She traveled around the mountains and small valleys on horseback and took her living from the wildlife and plants in the area. She was finally free to live in nature again, after all the years of being housewife and mother. She would stay with the older members of her family until the last one died in about 1927. In those later years at the Salt Creek, Lucy was joined with Sam Young, a "cousin" who had been raised by her Aunt Kait White Lily. Between the two of them, they made a nice household for the older relatives and kept them fed and comfortable.
.
Lucy and Sam moved to the Round Valley Reservation (sometime after 1920 or perhaps even after 1927) - we think they may have moved there with the remaining aunt Ellen, taking care of her until she died about 1927). The Methodist church insisted that Lucy and Sam get married if they wanted to live together there and to be right “in the face of God”. The Methodist church had been put in charge of operating and setting the rules for Indian Reservations several years earler, and their word was law.
.
Lucy Young, in her later years, became a principal informant to anthropologists For more than thirty years, she had lived at what is now Zenia, with her husband, Abe Rogers.
Something About Me:
"my life mission is ... To form newer and larger circles as I travel down roads not taken before... To Be joyful. To Make connections. To Help others make connections. To live a glorious life." :
Realizing that I need to be fulfilled as an individual, as so do all others. AND that. we need to transcend our individualities and become, in our spirits, integral parts of something that is greater.
That greater thing, whether social circle, or society, or culture, or cosmos, will live and still contain what we did after our individual lives have ended. " (paraphrased from a sermon by Unitarian Minister, Dick Allen)
a favorite song verse
... Roots hold me close,
.Wings set me free
.Spirit of Life
.Come to me, Come to me
excerpt from "Spirit of Life" in the Unitarian Singing the Living Tradition, (Words and Music by Carolyn Dade, 1981 copyright)
About Unitarian Universalistm
http://www.uua.org/images/video/129741.shtml?%3Cp%3ELearn+more+about+Unitarian+Universalism+by+watching+%22Voices+of+a+Liberal+Faith%2E%22%3C%2Fp%3E
"my life mission is ... To form newer and larger circles as I travel down roads not taken before... To Be joyful. To Make connections. To Help others make connections. To live a glorious life." :
Realizing that I need to be fulfilled as an individual, as so do all others. AND that. we need to transcend our individualities and become, in our spirits, integral parts of something that is greater.
That greater thing, whether social circle, or society, or culture, or cosmos, will live and still contain what we did after our individual lives have ended. " (paraphrased from a sermon by Unitarian Minister, Dick Allen)
a favorite song verse
... Roots hold me close,
.Wings set me free
.Spirit of Life
.Come to me, Come to me
excerpt from "Spirit of Life" in the Unitarian Singing the Living Tradition, (Words and Music by Carolyn Dade, 1981 copyright)
About Unitarian Universalistm
http://www.uua.org/images/video/129741.shtml?%3Cp%3ELearn+more+about+Unitarian+Universalism+by+watching+%22Voices+of+a+Liberal+Faith%2E%22%3C%2Fp%3E
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