Showing 2 results

Agnes "Big Granny" Cranmer (nee Hunt) of Tsax̱is (Fort Rupert), carried the name Gwanti'lakw, meaning "born to be heavy (referring to wealth)." Agnes married hereditary Chief Dan Cranmer of the 'Namgis band of Alert Bay, and they had several children, including Bill and Doug Cranmer (Kesu'), and Gloria Cranmer. Franz Boas stayed at her house on one of his visits. Later, Agnes Cranmer and her first cousin Nunu (Helen Knox) gave Boas' descendants, Norman and Doris Boas, names at a potlatch. She taught traditional dancing for many years at the 'Namgis Band School and served as a resource consultant for the Learning Kwak'wala series (1980-1981) and for its accompanying teacher training program.

Born at Tsax̱is (Fort Rupert), Charles James Nowell was the first full blooded Kwakwaka'wakw to act as an interpreter and collector for outsiders. He was married to the daughter of Chief Lageuse of the 'Namgis First Nation. Between 1899 and his death in 1924, Nowell was the assistant to Charles F. Newcombe, an Englishman who supplied ethnographic objects to the Field Museum, the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Peabody Museum at Harvard and others. Nowell and Bob Harris, also from Tsaxis, were part of the Kwakiutl and Nootka display at the 1904 St. Louis Universal Exposition.