1907: Grandma Nye outdoes them
My rule of thumb that 1890 was, as some historians have said, “the closing of the frontier”, holds up when we see how quick a lot of Settlers lost familiarity with Chinook Jargon.
No big surprise, then, that it was the elder ladies at this birthday party who busted out the Chinook singing.
They’d had the longest life experience of the language, you can imagine.
BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Several of the friends of Mrs. Margaret Peterson assembled at her home Thursday afternoon to celebrate her eighty-first birthday. Many presents were bestowed upon her, and the hours were spent in a pleasant manner, light refreshments being served during the afternoon. Mrs. Peterson, at the request of her friends, sang an old Swedish song, and “Grandma” Nye, not to be outdone, contributed to the entertainment by singing a song in Chinook, which was greatly appreciated by the ladies present, though few could understand the language.
Those present were: Mrs. J.G. VanOrsdel, Mrs. Sarah Richmond, Mrs. A.B. Muir, Mrs. M.J. Cosper, Grandma Nye, Mrs. J.C. Gaynor, Mrs. H. Boals, Mrs. Martha Stafrin and Mrs. A. Bowman.
— from the Monmouth (OR) Polk County Observer of November 19, 1907, page 1, column 2
We’ve run into the Cosper family before, who are among the oldtimers recalled as joking around with Grand Ronde Indians in Chinuk Wawa.
Grandma Nye was mentioned often in the local press.
She was the matriarch of one of the two families that had four generations alive at one time in Monmouth.
