The daily Astorian., June 15, 2017, Page 22, Image 31

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BOOKMONGER
Intermarriages aff ected frontier life
Bellingham historian Can-
dace Wellman has uncovered
a fascinating chapter of Pacifi c
Northwest history that for too
long has been dismissed as
inconsequential.
Nearly 20 years ago, while
performing research at the
Washington State Archives,
she stumbled across the fact
that of all the marriages that
occurred in Whatcom County
during the frontier period,
some 90 percent were between
white men and Native Ameri-
can women.
While that may have been
the place where this happened
with the most frequency, the
practice was not uncommon in
Oregon and Washington Terri-
tories throughout the mid-19th
century. The phenomenon
of intentional intermarriage
occurred because it benefi ted
two different cultures during a
transitional time.
Yet the stories from this
era of productive and deeply
intimate intercultural relations
have been largely ignored.
Instead, most historical narra-
tives place signifi cantly more
emphasis on the arrival of the
fi rst white woman in any pio-
neer community, or the birth
of the fi rst white baby.
Wellman challenges that
convention with her new
book, “Peace Weavers,”
which focuses on the stories
of four Coast Salish women:
Caroline Davis Kavanaugh,
Mary Fitzhugh Lear Phillips,
Clara Tennant Selhametum
and Nellie Carr Lane. All four
were from families of high
stature in their own indige-
nous communities. As young
brides (sometimes excessively
VISUAL PLEASURE FOR GENER ATIONS
sphere, nonetheless
became “mediators
“Peace
and interpreters
Weavers”
of both cultures,”
By Candace
connecting different
Wellman
factions, disproving
WSU Press
negative stereo-
302 pp
types and weaving
$27.95
together a new
type of integrated
community.
Unfortunately, with the
young, by our 21st century
increasing infl ux of new
standards), they entered into
settlers who had little tolerance
tribal custom marriages with
for a different way of life, this
American military offi cers
model of tolerance was unable
and government offi cials who
to prevail. And, shamefully,
had arrived in the Territory to
in the face of these pressures,
defend U.S. interests against
many of the white husbands
competing colonial powers.
ultimately abandoned their
Some of these cross-cultural
Native American wives and
unions were further sanc-
mixed race children.
tioned by a lenient justice of
In this generously
the peace in civil ceremonies,
fact-studded work, Wellman
even though miscegenation
sometimes loses control of the
was considered a crime.
narrative — by neglecting to
Wellman’s painstaking
mention crucial identifying
research, conducted over 18
bits of information the fi rst
years, plumbed archival col-
time a character is introduced,
lections, genealogical research, for example, or inundating
court cases, published research readers with a glut of names
by both professional and
and connections that are sim-
independent historians, oral
ply too much to process in the
histories and interviews with
space of a single page.
descendants. She demonstrates
Nonetheless, this story of
that the marriages involved
four resilient peace weavers
pragmatism (the men needed
opens our eyes to a far richer
someone to cook, keep house,
and more contextualized re-
tend the farm, etc.) and strate-
gional history than we have
gic relationship building be-
been privy to before.
tween cultures. But sometimes
The Bookmonger is
they also involved love — and Barbara Lloyd McMichael,
almost always, offspring.
who writes this weekly column
Wellman explores how
focusing on the books, authors
these young women, with
and publishers of the Pacifi c
scarce control of anything ex-
Northwest. Contact her at
cept within their own domestic bkmonger@nwlink.com
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COLUMBIA BAR
The Pine Derby
By RYAN HUME
FOR COAST WEEKEND
When you ask Eric
Bechard, owner and bar-
tender of Albatross and Co.,
for something new to drink,
he will pause and think on
it. The man has a veritable
canon of spirits and liqueurs
at his disposal, amassed
through countless hours of
research and outreach.
This drink, the Pine
Derby, is a one-off. It will
never appear on the menu or
as a special, but if you ask
nice, I would be surprised if
Albatross and Co. wouldn’t
fi x one up for you.
This drink has all of the
notes of a summer Hefewei-
zen, packed with the punch
of spirits. Each of these
spirits and liqueurs are a
pleasure to ingest on its own
but fi nd new meaning when
concocted.
I was unfamiliar with the
Zirbenz, which is a Stone
Pine liqueur traditional to the
Swiss Alps. Bechard came
across this liqueur about a
decade ago in a conversa-
tion with a bartender friend.
Made from the boughs, the
Zirbenz adds a hoppy note to
the citrus-forward Old Tom.
This is heightened by the
addition of the orange bitters
and don’t be shy with the
lemon rind. Bechard skins a
hefty three-inch graft of zest
off the fruit with a fairly big
knife. He dusts the essence of
the rind into the drink before
submerging the rest of it.
The overall result is some-
thing that goes down easy
and feels incredibly seasonal
as the sun fi nally begins to
warm those Doug fi rs and
spike the air with their scent.
Pine Derby
1 ounce Ransom Old Tom Gin*
1 ounce Zirbenz**
1 ounce Carpano Bianco***
2 dashes Fee Brothers orange bitters
Lemon rind
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail
glass, stir, and garnish with hefty slice
of lemon peel.
—Recipe courtesy of Eric Bechard,
bartender and owner of Albatross and
Co., Astoria
Crossword Answer
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