1895, Seattle: “1753 — Ankuti. 1895 — Okoke Sun.”
Bit of a boo-boo there!
The Dennys in 1857 (image credit: HistoryLink)
Seattle pioneers David and Louisa (Boren) Denny had only been married 42 years, not 142.
But their “oldtimer” status was uncontested, and it was celebrated at their lavish anniversary party by actors speaking Chinuk Wawa with David:
The old pioneers were not forgotten, for happily blended with the luxurious surroundings of modern civilisation were to be found evidences and representations of life in the forests of Elliott bay forty odd years ago. The contrast was striking, and formed a good text for a sermon. The friendship that always existed between the Dennys and the Indians was also remembered and represented by sixteen young people, who, made up as Indian braves and squaws, appeared in a “Tamanus,” or council, and had a pow-wow In Chinook with their good white father, who answered in the same language. This feature of the evening’s entertainment was strikingly novel, especially to the more modern tenderfoot who crossed the plains comfortably in a Pullman sleeping car. Those who appeared in Indian costume were: Mrs. A. Denny Lindsley, Miss Winnie Lindsley, Misses Florry, Clara and Maud Billingham, Mrs. J. Bryan Crow, Miss Bertie Bryan, Mrs. Cora Gormley Cotterill, Mrs. Nellie E. Denny, Mrs. Charles Walker, Mr. Lawrence Lindsley, Mr. Ernest Bryan, Mr. Harry Hicks. Mr. Paul Harper and Cap D. T. Davis, the last personating the chief. All were dressed in brilliant colors, paint and feathers, the squaws being especially line, nearly all possessing very long hair, which was worn flowing.
— from “1753: Ankuti – 1895 — Okoke Sun”, in the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer of January 27, 1895, page , column 2
That word “tamanus” = t’əmánəwas = ‘guardian spirit’ in normal Jargon. The word got used mighty oddly as a borrowing into Settler-colonizer English, as happened with many other Chinookisms.
