The family reunion is being held at an Indian casino and resort in Suquamish, Washington. I did a little looking into this area's history, and came up with a pretty interesting story.
Apparently the city of Seattle was named after Chief Sealth, a leader of the Suquamish tribe who was born in 1786. (He would have been 19 when Lewis and Clark, with Sacagawea, made it to the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805.) He earned his reputation as a warrior, and became a slave owner. After one of his sons died in battle, he was baptized in the Catholic faith, probably in 1848. He also became good friends with one of the founders of what would become Seattle, Doc Maynard. Maynard persuaded the settlers of the area to name the developing area Seattle in the chief's honor. The chief and other local chiefs signed a treaty ceding most of the tribes' land to white settlers, in exchange for reservations and promises of support. After these promises were not upheld, several of the tribes lead their people to battle the white settlers. But Sealth urged his people not to fight, and even helped his white friends. He continued to visit his namesake city until his death in 1866. Find out more about Sealth here.
He is buried in Suquamish today, about half a mile from the resort hotel and casino where we are staying. I wonder what old Sealth would have thought about that.
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