Re that descendent of the first settler ... that would be the one who took part in the genocide of Indians in your area, right?
en.wikipedia.org
.. After the conflict, contemporaries claimed that the conflict was more of a slaughter than a war, and later historians have labeled it a genocide.
lynette707.wordpress.com
Accounts are daily coming in from the counties on the Coast Range, of sickening atrocities and wholesale slaughters of great numbers of defenseless Indians in that region of country. Within the last four months, more Indians have been killed by our people than during the century of Spanish and Mexican domination. For an evil of this magnitude, some one is responsible. Either our government, or our citizens, or both, are to blame…
http://ernielb.blogspot.com/2010/05/early-laytonville-indian-history.html
'We were up in Mendocino County and back in the old days, a week ago, as we read Leslie J. Layton's--after whose father Laytonville was named--account of men and events. Today the story continues: "Merchandise was freighted on the backs of Indians, from the seaport town of Westport. Each Indian was given approximately 80 pounds to carry. They were rewarded for making the trip with a chap handkerchief, a shirt or some other article of clothing. My mother said that as a child she would watch the distant mountain, over which the narrow trail wound down into the valley, waiting for the pack train to make its appearance. These Indians were capable of remarkable endurance, and all the heavy labor and menial tasks were imposed upon them at the demand of the white man. The Indian rancheria was located about a quarter mile west of the town, just in back of the present home of Dr. Winchester. It maintained a population of about 75 Indians, known as the Cahto-Pomo tribe. About 16 years ago I visited the location and my mother pointed out a large rock just below the house of Dr. Winchester, where she as a girl would sit perched to watch the Indians butches beeves, the corrals being located there. This rock can be seen just above the road. She often mentioned the cruelties inflicted on the Indians as punishment. They were given but little consideration and would be stripped to the waist and lashed after the manner of the Negro of the South during the days of slavery. John Simpson, an Army captain, was placed in charge of the Indians by the Government, and he held them in subjection with a iron hand."' |
