Tsupu
Tsupu (c. 1815–1890), also known as Wild Cucumber, Maria Chekka, and Maria Chica,[1] was a Coast Miwok elder. She was the last native of the ancient village of Petaluma,[2] which was east of the Petaluma River and about three and a half miles northeast of the present city of Petaluma, California.[1] It was part of Lekatuit Nation and had around 500 residents.[1] "Petaluma" means "sloping ridge" in the Coast Miwok language.
One of Tsupu's sons later said that she was "half Petaluma, half Tomales, half Bodega."[1] It is thought that Tsupu's father came from Petaluma and her mother came from a village in Olamentke Nation.[1] Growing up, she was educated by her grandparents.[1]
In 1834, Mexican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo established his Rancho headquarters, an adobe fort now known as Rancho Petaluma Adobe, in eastern Lekatuit territory.[2][1] Tsupu and many others were enslaved as builders, and smallpox spread through the area.[2]
Eventually, Tsupu escaped Petaluma and traveled fifty miles north to Fort Ross. She spent the rest of her life around Sonoma County.[2][1]
Tsupu had six children.[1] One of her descendants, Greg Sarris, is a novelist and the Tribal Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.[2]
The village of Péta Lúuma was abandoned once and for all after the 1838 smallpox epidemic.[1]
References
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