Suzanne Cayouse Dauphin - American Indian Wife
Judy Fortney protrays Suzanne Cayouse Dauphin
Suzanne Cayouse Dauphin is portrayed by her great-great granddaughter, Judith Fortney recently retired from Providence St. Mary Medical Center. Suzanne was born in 1825 in the land of the Cayuse People, one of this region’s Homeland Tribes. In 1840 she married Mathieu Dauphin, a free trapper of St. Louis, Missouri. Mathieu and Suzanne traveled to Fort Hall in Utah Territory (near present day Pocatello, Idaho). The first two of their seven children were born there.
Subsequent travels took them to the California gold fields in the Yuba River area and French Prairie on Pudding River near Gervais, in Wasco County, Oregon, before finally homesteading near Frenchtown, a French Metís community located just west of Walla Walla. Their 160 acre donation claim encompassed the present town of Lowden.
Suzanne and Mathieu were in Oregon City, near Portland, when five Cayuse men were hanged for their participation in the tragedy at Whitman Mission. Mathieu served as godfather to all five when Archbishop Blanchet baptized them before the hanging.
Mathieu died in 1867 and was buried north of the family home on their land claim. Upon his death, Suzanne became one of the first Indian land title holders in the Northwest. Suzanne died in 1876 and was buried in St. Rose of Lima cemetery at Frenchtown.
Performances begin at 2:00 p.m. in the pioneer settlement at Fort Walla Walla Museum. Visitors are encouraged to question the Living History re-enactors about their lives and times. The Museum is open daily, 10 am - 5 pm, April through October; 10 am - 4 pm, November1 through December 23; and weekdays, 10 am - 4 pm, January through March.
Admission is free to Fort Walla Walla Museum members,
eligible service personnel & their familes through
the Blue Star Museums program, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute's
Inwai Circle cardholders,
enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and all children under 6;
$3/children
6-12; $6/seniors (62+) and students; $7/adults.
Your admission fee today may be applied to a membership,
priced beginning at $27. For more information, contact Fort Walla Walla Museum at 509-525-7703, or email: info@fortwallawallamuseum.org. |
