Letter to the editor

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 16, 2026

Tyee John should be honored for saving many lives

I’m writing to comment about the article by John C. Hughes about my great-great uncle Sampson John. To begin with it was always Sampson John not Johns.

My great-great Grandmother Nellie John Pete was his sister. My great-great-great-grandfather Tyee John Subchief of the Lower Chehalis, who lived on Point Brown near Oyhut, was their father. As far as I know, I Ed DeLaCruz, am the oldest living direct descendant of Chief Tyee John.

According to oral history given by one of Tyee John’s sons in the book The River Pioneers by Edwin Wan Syckle, Tyee John should be honored for saving many lives. This happened when he refused to join some inland tribes in a war against the white setters.

Tyee John is said to have told the inland emissaries don’t disturb the whites in our country for if you kill them we will kill you. This decision probably saved lives, both Indian and white.

I knew some of Sampson John’s children and grandchildren while living in Taholah and Moclips.

I don’t remember how many sons he had but one that I remember took his father’s first name for his last name and that was how the Samson family of Taholah came about. Robert Samson and Harvey Samson are two names that come to mind.

This is the family that Emily Sherwood was from, along with other family members that the Quinault Nation had to bargain with to buy the land that was already in trust status to build our resort and casino on.

Ed DeLaCruz

Central Park