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Walter George Wright | |
|---|---|
| Died | 1949 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Historian |
Walter George Wright (died 1949) was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian from the community of Kitselas, near Terrace, British Columbia, whose extensive knowledge of oral history was published posthumously in book form as Men of Medeek.
Wright held the name Niistaxo'ok, an hereditary name-title associated with chieftainship of the House of Niistaxo'ok, the clan Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan) house-group (or matrilineal extended family) of the Gits'ilaasü (a.k.a. Kitselas) tribe. In the Prologue to Men of Medeek he summarized his chiefly position as follows:
"I have 'Power' on both sides of The Big Canyon [i.e. the Kitselas Canyon]. On the right hand side I have the power of my Chieftainship. For many generations Neas-D-Hok [i.e. Niistaxo'ok] has had that right. On the left hand side I carry the 'Power' of Neas Hiwas, for in my generation there is no Chief of that name."
This is a reference to Niishaywaaxs, a house-chief name belonging to another Kitselas Gispwudwada house from the other side of Kitselas Canyon. Niishaywaaxs had also been held by Wright's grandfather, whom he credited with teaching him the oral histories recorded in the book.
Wright was a river-boat pilot on the Skeena River, helming the Hudson's Bay Company sternwheelers, Mount Royal and Hazelton, work he performed until his eyesight began to fail. In later years he was blind. He was also an Envoy in the Salvation Army.
Wright dictated Men of Medeek to Will Robinson, a local justice of the peace, in 1935–36, but it was not published until 1962, after Wright and Robinson had both died. The oral clan histories (adawx) he tells include narrations of the coming of the Gispwudwada people to Kitselas Canyon and intersect with the exploits of Tsimshian Laxsgiik (Eagle clan) chiefs such as Ligeex of the Gispaxlo'ots and Gitxon of Kitselas. The word "medeek" (midiik) is the Tsimshian word for grizzly-bear, one of the crests ("totems") of Wright's branch of the Gispwudwada. (Medeek (a.k.a. McDeek) Avenue in Terrace is so named because of Wright's totemic affiliation.)
Wright also recorded narratives in the 1920s and later with the trained Tsimshian ethnologist and chief William Beynon.
Wright had seven sisters, whose marriages were arranged so as to create matrikin and potential heirs (matrilineal nephews) in a variety of surrounding First Nations communities that figure in the adawx told in Men of Medeek, including Hartley Bay, Lax Kw'alaams, and Kitamaat. (Wright's obituary referred to him as originally "hailing from Kitimaat," though we know the key parts of his ancestry were Kitselas.) One sister, Eliza, married Tom Thornhill, the first white settler in the Kitselas area. Wright died November 14, 1949, at the purported age of 84 years, although when he dictated Men of Medeek (1935–36) he gave his age as 65. Other sources put his age at death as 104. A newspaper report on his funeral services identified "the new chief of the Kitselas people," Wright's picked successor, as Wright's sister's son, Walter Nyce, of Kitamaat, B.C.
According to another account of the chiefly succession, Wright, late in life, visited his sister Rhoda Wright Bates, a Hartley Bay resident, at a Skeena River cannery where she was performing seasonal labour and asked that his matrilineal great-great-nephew Clarence Anderson, her grandson, then 14 years old, be taken "back with him to be trained," also prearranging Clarence's eventual marriage; Anderson eventually succeeded to the name Niistaxo'ok. (This version is from a published account by Anderson's wife, the anthropologist Margaret Seguin Anderson and daughter Tammy Anderson Blumhagen.)
Will Robinson's will urged his family to publish the remaining portion of the Wright manuscript, titled Wars of Medeek. This proviso was forgotten until Robinson's granddaughter Enid DuPuis rediscovered Robinson's papers. Another grandchild, Barry Robinson, then contacted Glenn Bennett, Chief Councillor of the Kitselas Band, and was put in touch with Wright's grandson, Ralph Wright, himself a former Chief Councillor who had remembered hearing the stories orally from his grandfather. A limited edition comprising both Men of Medeek and Wars of Medeek was published by Barry Robinson in 2003 and gifted to the Kitselas Nation along with some 50 presentation books given to the Chiefs and dignitaries. All the original documentation and copyrights were given to the Kitselas Nations in 2003 by Barry Robinson.
The Tsimshian are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only reservation in Alaska.
The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada. Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose names mean "inside the River of Mist", and "people of the River of Mist," respectively. The river and its basin sustain a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and vegetation, and communities native to the area depend on the health of the river. The Tsimshian migrated to the Lower Skeena River, and the Gitxsan occupy territory of the Upper Skeena.
The Gispwudwada or Gisbutwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitxsan nation and the Gisḵ'ahaast/Gisḵ'aast Tribe of the Nisg̱a'a. The Nisg̱a'a also call this group the Killerwhale Tribe, though the Gitxsan use the term Fireweed clan; Gisgahaast means literally "people of the fireweed."
The Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named groups among the neighboring Gitksan and Nisga'a nations and also to lineages in the Haida nation.
The Kitkatla or Gitxaala are one of the oldest First Nations whose unceded territories are now occupied by the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla, on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Island off the coast of northern B.C. Because of their location, the Gitxaała have sometimes been called Porcher Island Indians. They were also, in the early contact period, called the Sebassa tribe, for their paramount chief at the time, Ts'ibasaa. The name Kitkatla derives from the name Gitxaała, from git- and kxaała, since they are the farthest from the mainland. Another name that inland-based neighbors use in reference to the Gitxaała is, 'Gitlaxmoon in recognition of their coastal presence on the islands and inlets of this rugged piece of coastline. Gitxaała don’t refer to themselves as Gitlaxmoon or as Ts’msyen.
Kitsumkalum is an original tribe/ galts'ap (community) of the Tsimshian Nation. Kitsumkalum is one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada. Kitsumkalum and is also the name of one of their Indian Reserve just west of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, where the Kitsumkalum River flows into the Skeena River. Archaeological evidence places Kitsumkalum with property holdings (laxyuup/territories) in the Kitsumkalum Valley, down the Skeena River to the coast, the Zymagotitz River, areas around Lakelse Lake and many special sites surrounding coastal and inland areas of the North West Coast prior to 1846 and as far back as 5,000 years BP.
Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaasü are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, in northwestern Canada. The original name Gits'ilaasü means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon, which is on the Skeena River. It was once a great trading nexus, just outside and upriver from the city of Terrace. It is the most upriver of the 14 tribes and it borders the territory of the Gitxsan nation.
The Giluts'aaẅ are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Giluts'aaw means literally "people of the inside". Their traditional territory is the area around Lakelse Lake, near present-day Terrace, B.C., at the Skeena River.
The Ginadoiks are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Ginadoiks means literally "people of the rapids". Their traditional territory is the watershed of the Gitnadoiks River, a tributary of the Skeena. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.
The Gispaxlo'ots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gispaxlo'ots means literally "people of the place of elderberries." Their traditional territory includes an area on the Skeena River between present-day Terrace and Prince Rupert. Since 1834, when a Hudson's Bay Company trading fort was established at Lax Kw'alaams, they have been based there. Their chief Ligeex permitted the HBC to build on Gispaxlo'ots territory.
The Gitando are the youngest of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" First Nation of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia. The name Gitando means the people of weirs. Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Exstew River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, the Gitando have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, following establishment of a Hudson's Bay Company trading fort there. They are closely related to the Gispaxlo'ots, another of the Nine Tribes, who have an adjacent territory.
The Gits'iis are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C.
The Gitwilgyoots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gitwilgyoots means literally "people of the place of kelp." Their traditional territory includes several areas around the estuary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.
The Gitzaxłaał are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams, B.C. The name Gitzaxłaał means literally "people of ." Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Ecstall River, a tributary of the Skeena River, including the now abandoned town, Port Essington, B.C. They also own areas on Dundas Island. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there.
Port Essington was a cannery town on the south bank of the Skeena River estuary in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between Prince Rupert and Terrace, and at the confluence of the Skeena and Ecstall Rivers. It was founded in 1871 by Robert Cunningham and Thomas Hankin and was for a time the largest settlement in the region. During its heyday it was home to an ethnic mix of European-Canadians, Japanese-Canadians, and members of First Nations from throughout the region, especially Tsimshians from the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum tribes. In the Tsimshian language, the site of Port Essington is called Spaksuut or, in English spelling, "Spokeshute", which means "autumn camping place". This also became the Tsimshian name for the town of Port Essington, and was conferred on Spokeshute Mountain, which stands above and behind the community. It sits on the traditional territory of the Gitzaxłaał tribe, one of the nine Tsimshian tribes based at Lax Kw'alaams. In 1888, the anthropologist Franz Boas visited Port Essington, interviewing Haida and Tsimshian individuals and establishing a working relationship with Odille Morison, the Tsimshian linguist, who lived in Port Essington.
William Beynon (1888–1958) was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and an oral historian; he served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who studied his people.
Ligeex is a hereditary name-title belonging to the Gispaxlo'ots tribe of the Tsimshian First Nation from the village of Lax Kw'alaams, British Columbia, Canada. The name, and the chieftainship it represents, is passed along matrilineally within the royal house called the House of Ligeex. The House of Ligeex belongs to the Laxsgiik.
Kitselas Canyon is a canyon carved by the Skeena River in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. Off BC Highway 16, the landmark is by road about 185 kilometres (115 mi) west of Smithers and 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Terrace.
Kitselas First Nation is the band government of the Kitselas subgroup of the Tsimshian. The band government is based at Gitaus in the Skeena Valley in the Skeena River valley to the northeast of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, Canada. Though there is no Tsimshian tribal council, they are a participant in the Tsimshian First Nations treaty council.
Tom Thornhill (1855–1910) was an English settler and one of the first non-Indigenous residents in the Skeena River Valley, British Columbia. He is the namesake of Thornhill, an unincorporated community located east of Terrace. Thornhill is celebrated for his significant role in early settlement and as a representative of the unique cultural interconnections between European settlers and Indigenous peoples in the late 19th century.
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