Interwoven Lives: Indigenous Mothers of Salish Coast Communities - Paperback

by Candace Wellman (Author)

In this companion work to Peace Weavers, her award-winning first book on Puget Sound's cross-cultural marriages, author Candace Wellman depicts the lives of four additional intermarried indigenous women who influenced mid-1800s settlement in the Bellingham Bay area. She describes each wife's native culture, details ancestral history and traits for both spouses, and traces descendants' destinies, highlighting the families' contributions to new communities.

Jenny Wynn was the daughter of an elite Lummi and his Songhees wife, and was a strong voice for justice for her people. She and her husband Thomas owned a farm and donated land and a cabin for the second rural school. Several descendants became teachers. Snoqualmie Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of the most powerful native leader in western Washington, married a cattleman. After her death from tuberculosis, kind foster parents raised her daughters, who ultimately grew up to enhance Lynden's literary and business growth. Resilient and strong, Mary Allen was the daughter of an Nlaka'pamux leader on British Columbia's Fraser River. The village of Marietta arose from her long marriage. Later, her sons played important roles in southeast Alaska's early fishing industry. The indigenous wife of Fort Bellingham commander George W. Pickett (later a brigadier general in the Civil War) left no name to history after her early death, but gifted the West with one of its most important early artists, James Tilton Pickett.

Interwoven Lives was a finalist for the 2020 Willa Literary Award, scholarly nonfiction.

Front Jacket

In this companion work to "Peace Weavers," her award-winning book on Puget Sound's cross-cultural marriages, author Candace Wellman depicts the lives of four additional intermarried women who influenced mid-1800s settlement in the Bellingham Bay area. She describes each spouse's culture and family history and highlights descendants' contributions to new communities. Her research reveals new details about the Northwest life and family of Captain George E. Pickett, future Confederate brigadier general.

The women in this volume came from four distinct homelands. Jenny Wynn, Lummi, married to a Quaker blacksmith, left her community generations of teachers. Elizabeth Patterson, Snoqualmie, married a cattleman, and her daughters significantly impacted rural Whatcom County's development. Mary Allen, Nlaka'pamux from British Columbia's Fraser River Canyon, married a gold miner and her sons played roles in the history of Southeast Alaska. Though she died young, Alaskan native Mrs. George Pickett, wife of Fort Bellingham's commander, gave birth to one of the West's most important early artists, James Tilton Pickett.

Candace Wellman won the 2018 WILLA award for scholarly nonfiction from Women Writing the West for "Peace Weavers."

Praise for Candace Wellman and "Peace Weavers":

"Candace Wellman's years of painstaking research and work with local families have brought to the fore these crucially important histories of Indigenous-settler relations in the far Northwest, and challenge much of the received wisdom about the workings of colonialism in this place."--Coll Thrush, author, "Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place"

"Wellman demonstrates that to erase or simplify the contributions of Native women and their intermarried families is to leave major gaps in Western history."--Western Historical Quarterly