Coquelle ThompsoN, Sr.

Coquelle Thompson, Sr. is remembered as a master storyteller and a keeper of Upper Coquille language and culture. He was born along the Upper Coquille River in the 1840s in Chvn-taa-t'aa-dvn, a village near the confluence of the South and Middle Forks of the Coquille River (near present-day Myrtle Point, inland from the central Oregon Coast). Living to be nearly 100 years old, he could provide firsthand accounts of many of the major events that occurred on the Coast (Siletz) Reservation between the 1850s and 1940s. He also carried forward the memory of many historical teachings, stories, and linguistic details in his community.

Family Origins

Coquelle Thompson Sr. was the son of an Upper Coquille headman known by his people as Xvsh-xee-gal-'i. In English, his father’s name translates, “Chief Coming,” using the word imagery of the ocean’s tide coming in. Among other villages in the region, he was known by the name Chvn-t'aa-taa-dvn-xaa-dv-ghvl-'a and later by the English names Coquelle Washington and Washington Tom. Coquelle’s mother was from a Hanis Coos village near present-day Empire and Coos Bay; her name was Se-ma-chus-cha, which translates, “Beads in her Hair.” As a child, Coquelle, along with the rest of his community, was forcibly removed to the Coast (Siletz) Reservation in 1856 by the U.S. government.   

Coquelle had close relationships with several of his older family members. He held two of his uncles, Old Hunter (called yáˑttʽâhnnɪggɜʃʃɪn) and Coquelle Solomon (who came from the village of Xwesh-dvn along the Coquille River), in especially high regard. These men shared all that they knew with Coquelle, passing on their precious history, stories and values, place knowledge, and our ways of life. Coquelle’s father, his father’s half-brother Coquelle Charlie, and his father’s cousin Chief Jackson were also influential in his life. Much of the remarkably-detailed information that Coquelle shared with the community–and what was later recorded by non-Native researchers–likely came from these older relatives.     

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Adulthood and Leadership 

Coquelle grew up in a time of dramatic cultural changes as his people had to adjust to life on the reservation. Coquelle could describe the hardships like poverty, sickness, and a lack of basic supplies that were everyday experiences for his community in those early reservation years. Around two thousand Native people were moved to the Coast (Siletz) Reservation in 1856, and they brought nothing with them beyond whatever they had managed to carry. The first winter was especially hard, and within a few years his mother, brother, and many other people had passed away.

Coquelle’s family did what they could to continue their way of life. People from the same villages and bands tended to settle together on the reservation, which allowed the surviving elders to pass their stories, knowledge, and language to the younger generation as much as they could. Coquelle grew up in the sweathouse listening to the stories and songs of his older male relatives and learning his community’s history and genealogy. He fished and swam in the Siletz River, and around age 10 or 12 he began participating in hunts with the men of his community. He especially enjoyed hunting and fishing, and he kept these skills all his life.

As the son of a village headman, Coquelle was trained to become a community leader like his father. He fulfilled this role through a lifetime of work in public safety, as a ceremonial leader, and as a culture bearer. In his role as a ceremonial leader, he presided over many events and dances, including the Warm House Dance of the 1870s, which he shared with neighboring communities along the Oregon Coast. In Coquelle’s elder years, the Siletz community often chose him to act as the master of ceremonies or to give commemorative speeches in Nuu-wee-ya’ at holiday celebrations and other special events. 

Coquelle served for 47 years on the tribal police force on the Siletz Reservation. With his thick, well-groomed mustache and the military clothing he preferred to wear for much of his life, he was a recognizable figure in the community for many years. Riding horseback, some of his duties included escorting white trespassers off the reservation (which he especially enjoyed), making arrests, and responding to local disputes. Coquelle was very proud of his public service. His job placed him in regular contact with many local families, as well as near anything unusual happening–so he had memories of many significant community events. He also made income working as a farmer, a hunting and fishing guide, a night watchman for the Siletz school, and as a teamster hauling supplies.

Elder Years and Cultural Expertise

As Coquelle transitioned into an elder, our community leaned on him as an important source of knowledge and wisdom. He could tell younger generations about what life was like for our people before and after removal to reservations. He was an expert in recalling the ancestry of many community members and how different families were related to one another. He was even called upon to testify in especially complicated inheritance cases to clarify which family member had the closest claim. 

He was an accomplished singer who knew dozens of songs in a variety of genres and styles; many of them have been preserved through recordings made by Elizabeth Jacobs and John Marr. He was also a master storyteller who captivated younger generations with the large volume of stories he knew. Even into his 80s and 90s when he had lost much of his eyesight, he was still able to recite 75 traditional stories from memory. Recordings of these stories reveal that Coquelle had expertise in many of the best storytelling techniques, including dramatic pauses, comedic timing, and incorporating different voices (even the voices of animals). Today, these stories are among the most precious recordings of our language in existence. 

From the 1880s through the 1940s, several linguists and anthropologists sought interviews with Coquelle Thompson. The large volume of notes and recordings from these interviews help show his gift for storytelling and his exceptional memory. The most substantial collection of his knowledge that we have today came from Coquelle’s conversations with Elizabeth Jacobs, who filled 800 notebook pages with his words. 

In 2007, a collection of the stories that Elizabeth recorded were published as Pitch Woman and Other Stories: The Oral Traditions of Coquelle Thompson, Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian. Coquelle was also interviewed by researchers such as J. Owen Dorsey, Philip Drucker, Cora du Bois, Melville Jacobs, John Marr, and John Harrington. 

Coquelle Thompson passed away in 1946 at nearly 100 years old. He is buried in the Paul Washington Cemetery in Siletz. He has made a lasting impact on our community, not only through his historical and cultural knowledge but also through his knowledge of our language. He is one of the primary sources of information about the Upper Coquille dialect of Nuu-wee-ya’, and much of what we know today about Dv-ne/Dee-ni’ culture and stories comes from him. His legacy is one of commitment to our people’s way of life. He was a leader in the community and one of our treasured knowledge keepers. 

Works Cited and Consulted

“Chvn-t'aa-taa-dvn-xaa-dv-ghvl-'a.” J.P. Harrington Collection (1942). Nuu-da’ Mv-ne’ Indigenous Language Digital Archive. Accessed Dec 12, 2024. ILDA

Indian Census of the United States, 1885-1940. Reel 506 - Indians of North America - Census; Native American Census - Siletz. National Archives and Records Services. Archive.org

Papers of John Peabody Harrington. Alaska/Northwest Coast Box 59-65, National Anthropological Archives. Smithsonian Institution.

“Xvsh-xee-gal-'i.” J.P. Harrington Collection (1942). Nuu-da’ Mv-ne’ Indigenous Language Digital Archive. Accessed Dec 12, 2024. ILDA

“Xwesh-dvn.” J.P. Harrington Collection (1942). Nuu-da’ Mv-ne’ Indigenous Language Digital Archive. Accessed Dec 12, 2024. ILDA

“yáˑttʽâhnnɪggɜʃʃɪn.” J.P. Harrington Collection (1942). Nuu-da’ Mv-ne’ Indigenous Language Digital Archive. Accessed Dec 12, 2024.

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ILDA

Youst, Lionel and William Seaburg. Coquelle Thompson: Athabaskan Witness. University of Oklahoma Press.