THE DESCENDANTS OF CHIEF TUMULTH & SUSAN TOMOLCHA BELONG AT GRAND RONDE Closing Presentation for Disenrollment Hearings Before the Grand Ronde Tribal Council May 1, 2014 Included in administrative record for all 66 Grand Ronde descendants of Chief Tumulth & Susan Tomolcha
OUR FAMILY SHOULD NOT BE DISENROLLED Non-Disputed Facts: The 66 of us, Grand Ronde Members, proposed for disenrollment each descend from Chief Tumulth, signatory to the Treaty with the Kalapuya of 1855, one of the founding documents of the Tribe. The 66 of us also descend from Susan, the mother of Mary Will-Wy-Ity. Susan Tomolcha appears on an 1872 Grand Ronde Roll, created by the US Department of the Interior. The 1872 Grand Ronde Indian Census is considered a “roll…of Grand Ronde members prepared by the Department of the Interior.” 2
OUR FAMILY SHOULD NOT BE DISENROLLED The Enrollment Staff and Committee appear to be disputing the following: That the 1855 Treaty with the Kalapuya etc., is a record of Grand Ronde Members satisfying the lineal descent requirement of the Grand Ronde Constitution. That Susan Tomolcha is the mother of Mary Willwyity. 3
OUR FAMILY SHOULD NOT BE DISENROLLED But, if the Tribal Council finds that: Susan Tomolcha is the mother of Mary Will-Wy-Ity Or The Treaty with the Kalapuya, etc. is a record of Grand Ronde Members The recommendation to disenroll must be rejected here. 4
SUSAN TOMOLCHA APPEARS ON A GRAND RONDE ROLL OR RECORD 1872 Grand Ronde Indian Census is a roll or record (Lewis testimony; Deloe record) 5
SUSAN TOMOLCHA APPEARS ON A GRAND RONDE ROLL OR RECORD 1872 GRIC is a roll or record (Lewis, Deloe testimony) 6
SUSAN TOMOLCHA WAS MARY’S MOTHER Official Cascade Cemetery Records prove it. 7
SUSAN TOMOLCHA WAS MARY’S MOTHER “Susan” was Tumulth/ Tomalch’s first wife. Mary’s family, including Joseph and Isabel, all had last name “ Tomalch ”. In official records, Tomalch = Tumulth. In Chinuk Wawa, Tomalch/Tumulth = Tomolcha. There is zero contrary evidence. There is no other Tomalch/Tumulth/Tomolcha family besides ours. 8
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay 9
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay 10 This proves Tomalch had a wife named Susan.
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay 11
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay This proves (1) the family used “ Tomalch ” as a last name 12 and (2) Mary was the daughter of Susan, Tomalch’s wife.
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay 13
Official Cascade Cemetery Record - Ramsay This proves that the names Tumalth, Tomalch 14 and Tomolcha are interchangeable.
SUSAN TOMOLCHA WAS MARY’S MOTHER In other records, and in Chinuk Wawa, Tomalch, Tumulth, Tomalcha, are interchangeable. Henry Zenk – “Would not consider a slight spelling variation significant” Tony Johnson – “No significant difference between Tomalch,Tomolch and Tomolcha ” Virginia Miller’s obituary states that her father was “Chief Tomolch, who with a number of other Chiefs and Indians from the Cascades and the Yakamas were hanged for instituting the massacre on the whites in 1856”; Chief Tumulth was hanged in 1856. Chief Tomolch = Chief Tumulth 15
SUSAN TOMOLCHA WAS MARY’S MOTHER There is no other Tomolcha/Tumulth family associated with Grand Ronde (Thorsgard/Lewis testimony). Zero evidence to the contrary (Deloe testimony). No other records exist Non-Catholic Indian Women did not have birth or death records during applicable time period (Thorsgard/Lewis testimony). Family Oral history proves Susan is Mary’s mother Oral history is more reliable than written history (Lewis testimony) 16
CHIEF TUMULTH In addition to Susan, my family also traces its lineage to another person whose name appears on a Department of Interior-created “record of Grand Ronde M embers”: Chief Tumulth, who signed the 1855 Treaty with the Kalapuya etc., as Chief of the Watlala (or Cascade) Band of Chinook Indians The 1855 Treaty with the Kalapuya etc., is a Department of the Interior Record because: The Department of the Interior was created in 1849 The Treaty with the Kalapuya was countersigned by Joel Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs under the Department of the Interior The Treaty with the Kalapuya etc., is a record of Grand Ronde members. It is a BIA document listing people by name and tribal affiliation as leaders of their respective tribes and Bands. 17
CHIEF TUMULTH TREATY/RECORD The Treaty with the Kalapuya is a record of Grand Ronde Members because: President James Buchanan’s1857 Executive Order says the Grand Ronde Reservation was created for “ parties to Treaty of January, 1855 ” Joel Palmer’s Diaries show that the Watlalla Band of Chinooks , or Cascade Indians, had been removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation — Susan Tomolcha’s appearance on the Grand Ronde roll supports this fact The Grand Ronde Restoration Act restored the Treaty with the Kalapuya and President Buchanan’s1857 Executive Order, reaffirming that the Kalapuya Treaty is a record of Grand Ronde members Numerous anthropological records support the historic fact that Grand Ronde has always included the Cascade Indians The Grand Ronde Tribal Government and its officials have always acknowledged the Grand Ronde Tribes’ ties to the Cascade Indians and their indigenous lands – chiefly Tumulth’s lands in the Gorge Therefore, in addition to Susan Tomolcha, we descend from a Grand Ronde ancestor named on a “record . . . prepared by the Department of the Interior ” – Chief Tumulth 18
CHIEF TUMULTH TREATY/RECORD The presence of Department of Interior official countersigners on the Treaty does not undermine the fact that it is a “record of Grand Ronde members.” • Nothing in the Constitution or elsewhere states that the record of Grand Ronde members for lineal descent purposes cannot be signed by Interior officials. • The presence of Interior officials on the Treaty does not make the federal officials’ descendants eligible for enrollment. Eirik Thorsgaard made clear: this only entitles descendants of a signer, here Tumulth, for membership. • Clearly, the Treaty with the Kalapuya is a record of Grand Ronde members. NO WHERE in the Grand Ronde Constitution does it say otherwise. 19
THE DISENROLLMENT OF THIS FAMILY SHOULD END TODAY CONCLUSION: Susan Tomolcha, the 1 st wife of Chief Tumulth, appears on the Grand Ronde Indian Census Roll dated 1872 by the Grand Ronde Tribe Chief Tumulth, appears on a Department of the Interior Record : the 1855 Treaty with the Kalapuya etc., one of the founding documents that created the Grand Ronde Reservation The record of Mary Will-Wy- Ity’s grave states : “ WILL-WY-I-TY, Mary . . . Youngest dau. of Chief Tomalgh of the Cascades Indian Tribe & his wife, Susan ” The 66 members of my family and our dead descend from Chief Tumulth and Susan Tomolcha, the parents of our Grandma Mary Will-Wy-Ity The “best evidence” available, circa 150 years ago, establishes that the 66 of us are, and always have been, properly enrolled as Grand Ronde. The Elders of our tribe did NOT GO AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION when they voted 66+ times a unanimous YES to enroll us. Do not vote for disenrollment. 20
ANKUTTY TILLIKUM MUSEM HERE OUR ANCESTORS SLEEP 21
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