Mary Fairchild

Mary was a Siletz woman from the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians is a federally recognized confederation of 27 bands, originating from Northern California to Southern Washington. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians include Clatsop, Chinook, Klickitat, Molala, Kalapuya, Tillamook, Alsea, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, Coquelle, Upper Umpqua, Tututni (including all the lower Rogue River bands and those extending up the coast to Floras Creek and down to Whales Head), Chetco (including all of the villages from Whales Head to the Winchuck River), Tolowa, Takelma (including the Illinois Valley/mid-Rogue River and Cow Creek peoples), Galice/Applegate ​and Shasta. Each of these ​tribes has a unique individual history, culture, and legal relationship with the federal government, which was brought to be incorporated into the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Ancestors of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz spoke at least 10 different base languages.

Source: “Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.” Native-Land.ca, 31 July 2022, native-land.ca/maps/territories/confederated-tribes-of-siletz-indians/.

Biography:
Mary was a Siletz Indian born c. 1849. Nothing is known of her life before about 1906 when she appears as a partner to Baldwin Fairchild in the June 30, 1907 Indian census as wife of Baldwin but annotated as "Died April 1907" Baldwin had previously been married to Eliza for many years until she died sometime before June 30, 1906, so the relationship with Baldwin was less than a year. The 1910 narrative submitted by the Asylum indicated that she had been diagnosed with Syphilitic dementia (Syphilitic dementia, also known as general paresis, paretic neurosyphilis, or dementia paralytica, is a progressive form of dementia caused by untreated syphilis).

According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha, Mary's date of admission to the Canton Asylum is unknown but it would probably have been between June 30, 1906 and April 29.1907.

In the letter dated February 17, 1934, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Dr. L.L. Culp advised that Mary arrived from Siletz, Oregon, died at the Canton Asylum on April 29, 1907, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery, tier 5 plot 3.

Her profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

Research Notes:
-Mary is identified as a Klamath Indian by Dr. L.L. Culp, which is possible but not anywhere confirmed
-Mary's surname before her partnership with Baldwin Fairchild is not found so she could not be traced any further back in time. It is unknown why he would have married her only to have her shipped halfway across the county to die!
-It is presumed that they were married because Mary used the surname Fairchild.
-There were 27 recognized bands of Siletz Indians, it is unknown at this time to which band Mary belonged.
__________
Sources:

1907 Apr 29 - "South Dakota, Grave Registration Records, 1940-1941", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CYZL-TMT2 : Sun Mar 10 09:30:31 UTC 2024), Entry for Mary Fairchild.

1907 Apr 29 - "Find a Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVF-QB69 : 4 October 2023), Mary Fairchild, ; Burial, Canton, Lincoln, South Dakota, United States of America, Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery; citing record ID 14491648, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

1907 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll505unit/page/n470/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 471/503, line 158+ (Note Died April 1907), census of the Confederated Tribe of Siletz, Siletz Agency, Oregon

1908 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll505unit/page/n470/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 471/503, line 158 (Baldwin shown BHS), census of the Confederated Tribe of Siletz, Siletz Agency, Oregon

1910 Aug 12 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=675, line 87, Table 7 Form of mental disease of those admitted since opening of Asylum