Agathas Wash-e-soo-w'squew Cocking

WASH-E-SOO-E'SQUAW (aka MARY BUDD or AGATHAS)

Wash-e-soo-E'Squew (alias Mary Budd or Agathas) was born ca.1780 and baptised in 1828 She married "Budd", a Muskego Cree Hudson's Bay Company Biographical Sheets

NOTE ON THE CREE NAME WASH-E-SOO-E'SQUAW

The name chosen for Matthew Cocking’s second daughter, who was Henry Budd’s mother, is revealing. “Wash-e-soo-E’Squaw” is derived from Wa shisoo “she is bright, she shines” and iskwao “woman,” and in this form means, “she shines in her brightness, shines in her glory.” The use of Wa shisoo rather than the more common Wa sisoo is an important clue to the origin of the name. Sh is a sound in Cree found historically only along the Hudson Bay Coast, not in the interior. Consequently, its presence here suggests her people were coastal Cree.1 A slight change in the spelling of the name in later years allows the possibility of an even more specific location. Because “Wash-e-soo-E’Squaw” is the name used in her father's will, it is probably the correct one, but later references give the name as “Wash-e-hoo-E’Squew,” which has a different meaning. Wa sahoo is the Cree name for “Severn,” therefore, “Wash e hoo E’Squew” might mean “the woman from Severn.”2 Although her father’s spelling probably indicates the true meaning, later changes in the name may have assumed it referred to her place of origin—a logical error, if indeed she came from Severn. And she may have, as her father was there from 1777 to
1781, the approximate time of her birth.

Wikitree: Mary Budd