More about Moose Dixon of northern Secwépemc land
Thanks to Leo Barker again!
We’ve heard from Moose Dixon of northern Secwépemc (a.k.a. “Shuswap” Salish) territory; he was a frequent Chinook Writer of 1890’s British Columbia.
Image credit: Williams Lake Tribune
Leo spotted a clue at Ancestry.com that explains one letter in Jargon that we have from a “Casimir” Dixon.
It appears Casimir was Moose’s baptismal name! Casimir was a frequently bestowed name in the region back then, surely relating to the presence of the priest Eugene-Casimir Chirouse.
Here’s what Ancestry.com tells us of Moose’s life:
Casimir Moose Dixon
Birth
Jul 1874 – Alkali Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Death
19 OCT 1924 – Canim Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Mother
Marie Therese Tchaukoulta ‘Scoultax’
Father
William Bailey Dixon
Maybe Moose was what folks at the time called a “half-breed”? His dad having a first, middle, and last name in European style, and his mom having an Indigenous name, suggest this. I don’t yet find traces of any Dixon/Dixson/Dickson to match William Bailey, in records of the fur trade…
It’s ironic & odd that we never hear that name in the “Kamloops Wawa” newspaper that otherwise tells us so much about Moose.
Ironic, because, KW was a priest-edited missionary paper.
Did you ever know someone who was called Moose? I remember a fellow Cub Scout in the 1970’s, and the dad of a good friend.
I have one friend on social media with the first name “Moose”, and I have no idea whether that was his given name at birth or something that he uses professionally in his career as an artist. It’s not a nickname per se because he has another name that’s definitely a nickname he acquired later. I should ask him soon.
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