Two of the themes behind the story of A Trip and A Tumble, book V in The Tales of Chetzemoka, are the immense complexity between Puget Sound tribes, and the marriages that occurred between aboriginal women and early settlers. The following excerpt is from A Trip And A Tumble's Appendix VI, which relates some of the historical background behind the story:
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"…One high-ranking woman born in 1846 who later married a white settler had a collection of titles which would put European royalty to shame: Tacee ("Little Bird"), Raven Phratry, frog emblem, Kiks-uddy clan, Tee-Hit-Ton family, Wrangell Tribe of the Tlingit Nation. She was a niece of the powerful Tlingit chief Shakes, yet her high birth did not protect her from being captured into slavery by the Haida when she was a young girl. Tacee was lucky to have family wealthy and powerful enough to pay her ransom and return her to her own people before she permanently lost her status. However, for the rest of her life she remained terrified of the Haidas. Traveling with her brother to Victoria by canoe, whenever she thought Haidas might be near she was so frightened she hid under blankets. Sometime in the mid 1860's Tacee met a settler from Pennsylvania named John Reed and they were married by native custom (their official church marriage was in 1872.) She lived with Reed in a comfortable home, but whenever her husband had to go away she would take their children and hide in a cave in a nearby rock cliff because she remained so afraid of Haida raiders.[1]
[1] Jones-Lamb, , Karen. Native American Wives of San Juan Settlers. Bryn Tirion Publishing, 1994, pp. 7—8.
Pictures of Tacee "Little Bird", her husband, and their children, from Native American Wives of San Juan Island Settlers.
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Praise for A Trip And A Tumble:
"I love following these characters on adventures in the 1880s. Also love the historical footnotes at the end each book. Can't wait to read the next one!"
—Catherine Lash
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