Tsupu
Bornc. 1815
Petaluma
Died1890
Known forLast native of the ancient village of Petaluma

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, molested, and tortured.[3] Many died, as smallpox spread through the area.[2]

Eventually, Tsupu escaped Petaluma and traveled fifty miles north to Fort Ross, where she married a man of Russian, Aleut, and Kashaya Pomo heritage named Tintic Comtechal.[4][5] She spent the rest of her life around Sonoma County.[2][1] While living in Bodega Bay, she became the maid and mistress of a sea captain, Steven Smith, who built the first steam-generated saw mill on the West Coast. She gave her children with Comtechal Smith's last name to protect them from slave traders, and had two more children with Smith.[4] Shortly after Smith's death, she rejoined Comtechal.[4]

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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "The Last Woman From Petaluma". KCET. 2016-09-30. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Another Perspective: Coast Miwok elder wants his Petaluma heritage to be respected". Petaluma Argus-Courier. 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
  3. ↑ Lavie, Smadar; Swedenburg, Ted (1996-06-13). Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1720-3.
  4. 1 2 3 Sarris, Greg. "Tsupu, The Last Woman From Petaluma". Cal@170. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ Napoli, Michelle (2018). Ma Tallepo ‘Opu Ma ‘Akkala Kennetto /We Are Waking Up Our Story Together: Arts-Based Indigenous Methodology [Dissertation for Degree of Doctor of Art Therapy]. Mount Mary University,.


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