Juana Maria
Encyclopedia
Juana Maria better known to history as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island (her Indian name is unknown), was a Native American
woman who was the last surviving member of her tribe, the Nicoleño
. She lived alone on San Nicolas Island
from 1835 until her discovery in 1853. Scott O'Dell
's award-winning children's novel Island of the Blue Dolphins
was inspired by her story.
began scouring the California
coast for otter
s, whose pelts were referred to as "soft gold." Under contract to the Russian-American Company
, the Aleuts were hired to hunt for several weeks on San Nicolas. This outing grew into a year. The otter population was decimated, and a bloody conflict between the Aleutians and islanders (who opposed the hunting) drastically reduced the population of the local men. By 1835, the island's Native American population, which had once numbered 300, had shrunk to around 20. Some sources give the number as seven, all female except for one man named Black Hawk.
When news of the massacre reached the mainland, the Santa Barbara Mission
decided to sponsor a rescue operation. In late November 1835, the schooner
Peor es Nada, commanded by Charles Hubbard, left Monterey, California
under contract to remove the remaining people living on San Nicolas Island. Upon arriving at the island, Hubbard's party gathered the Indians on the beach and brought them aboard. Juana Maria, however, was not among them by the time a strong storm arose, and the Peor es Nadas crew, realizing the imminent danger of being wrecked by the surf and rocks, panicked and sailed toward the mainland, leaving her behind. A more romantic version tells of Juana Maria diving overboard after realizing her younger brother had been left behind , although archeologist Steven Schwartz notes "The story of her jumping overboard does not show up until the 1880s… By then the Victorian era
is well underway, and literature takes on a flowery, even romantic flavor." This version is recorded by Juana Maria's eventual rescuer, George Nidever
, who heard it from a hunter who had been on the Peor es Nada; however, he makes it clear he may be misremembering what he heard.
Hubbard brought the islanders to San Pedro Bay
, where many chose to live at the San Gabriel Mission
. The missions, however, despite their best intentions, had a high fatality rate, since the Indians had no immunity to Old World diseases. Black Hawk, the last male islander, reportedly became blind shortly thereafter and drowned after falling from a steep bank. Hubbard was unable to return for Juana Maria at the time, as he had orders to take a shipment of lumber to Monterey
, and unfortunately, within a month the Peor es Nada sank at the entrance to San Francisco Bay
after hitting a "heavy board" which caused the schooner to roll "over and over and over" until it sank. A lack of available ships in the mid-1830s delayed any further rescue attempts.
, a Santa Barbara fur trapper, who launched several expeditions of his own. He failed to find her at first, but on an attempt in the fall of 1853, one of Nidever's men, Carl Dittman, discovered human footprints on the beach and pieces of seal blubber which had been left out to dry. Further investigation led to the discovery of Juana Maria, who was living on the island in a crude hut partially constructed of whale bones. She was dressed in a skirt made of greenish cormorant
feathers.
Afterwards, Juana Maria was taken to the Santa Barbara Mission, but was unable to communicate with anyone. The local Chumash Indians could not understand her, so the mission sent for a group of Tongva or Gabrieleño who had formerly lived on Santa Catalina Island
, but they were unsuccessful as well. Four words and two songs recorded from Juana Maria suggest she spoke one of the Uto-Aztecan languages
native to Southern California, but it is not clear to which branch it is related. A University of California, Los Angeles
study by linguist Pamela Munro
focusing on the words and songs suggests that her language was most similar to those of the Luiseños of Northern San Diego County
and of the Juaneño
s near San Juan Capistrano. Both groups traded with the San Nicolas islanders and their languages may have had some influence. This evidence, when taken as a whole, suggests that Juana Maria was a native Nicoleño. However, other scholars contend that because all attempts to decipher her dialect by local Indians were in vain, Juana Maria may have been the descendant of an Aleut man and a Nicoleño widow.
One of the songs Juana Maria sang is popularly called the "Toki Toki" song. Knowledge of this song came from a Ventureño man named Malquiares, an otter hunter who had joined Nidever's expedition to the island and who had heard Juana Maria sing it. Malquiares later recited the words to his friend Fernando Kitsepawit Librado (1839 – 1915). The song's words are as follows:
Librado recited the words to a Cruzeño Indian named Aravio Talawiyashwit, who translated them as "I live contented because I can see the day when I want to get out of this island;" however, given the lack of any other information on Juana Maria's language, this translation's accuracy is dubious, or perhaps was an intuitive guess. Anthropologist and linguist John P. Harrington
recorded Librado singing the song on a wax cylinder in 1913.
The following text was published by an anonymous writer in a Sacramento
newspaper on October 13, 1853:
, but Nidever claimed her fondness for green corn, vegetables and fresh fruit after years of little such nutrient-laden food caused the severe and ultimately fatal illness. Before she died, Father Gonzales baptized and christened her with the Spanish name Juana Maria. She was buried in an unmarked grave on the Nidever family plot at the Santa Barbara Mission cemetery. In 1928, a plaque commemorating her was placed at the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution
.
Juana Maria's water basket, clothing and various artifacts, including bone needles which had been brought back from the island, were part of the collections of the California Academy of Sciences
, but were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
and fire. Her cormorant feather dress was apparently sent to the Vatican
, but it appears to have been lost.
's Island of the Blue Dolphins
was largely based on Juana Maria's story. The novel's protagonist, Karana, endures many of the trials that Juana Maria must have faced while alone on San Nicolás. In the 1964 film version of the novel, Celia Kaye
played Karana.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
woman who was the last surviving member of her tribe, the Nicoleño
Nicoleño
The Nicoleño were a Native American tribe living on San Nicolas Island in California. Juana Maria, the "Lone Woman of San Nicolas," was the last surviving Nicoleño when she died in 1853.-History:...
. She lived alone on San Nicolas Island
San Nicolas Island
San Nicolas Island is the most remote of California's Channel Islands. It is part of Ventura County. The 14,562 acre island is currently controlled by the United States Navy and is used as a weapons testing and training facility, served by Naval Outlying Field San Nicolas Island...
from 1835 until her discovery in 1853. Scott O'Dell
Scott O'Dell
Scott O'Dell was an American children's author who wrote 26 novels for young people, along with three novels for adults and four nonfiction books...
's award-winning children's novel Island of the Blue Dolphins
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Island of the Blue Dolphins is a 1960 American children's novel written by Scott O'Dell. The story of a young girl stranded for years on an island off the California coast, it is based on the true story of Juana Maria, a Nicoleño Indian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island in the 19th...
was inspired by her story.
Lost woman of San Nicolas Island
In 1811, approximately 30 Aleutian hunters from Russian AlaskaRussian Alaska
Russian America was the name of Russian colonial possessions in the Americas from 1733 to 1867 that today is the U.S. state of Alaska and settlements farther south in California and Hawaii...
began scouring the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
coast for otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
s, whose pelts were referred to as "soft gold." Under contract to the Russian-American Company
Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...
, the Aleuts were hired to hunt for several weeks on San Nicolas. This outing grew into a year. The otter population was decimated, and a bloody conflict between the Aleutians and islanders (who opposed the hunting) drastically reduced the population of the local men. By 1835, the island's Native American population, which had once numbered 300, had shrunk to around 20. Some sources give the number as seven, all female except for one man named Black Hawk.
When news of the massacre reached the mainland, the Santa Barbara Mission
Mission Santa Barbara
In 1840, Alta California and Baja California were removed from the Diocese of Sonora to form the Diocese of Both Californias. Bishop Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, OFM, established his cathedra at Mission Santa Barbara, making the chapel the pro-cathedral of the diocese until 1849...
decided to sponsor a rescue operation. In late November 1835, the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Peor es Nada, commanded by Charles Hubbard, left Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
under contract to remove the remaining people living on San Nicolas Island. Upon arriving at the island, Hubbard's party gathered the Indians on the beach and brought them aboard. Juana Maria, however, was not among them by the time a strong storm arose, and the Peor es Nadas crew, realizing the imminent danger of being wrecked by the surf and rocks, panicked and sailed toward the mainland, leaving her behind. A more romantic version tells of Juana Maria diving overboard after realizing her younger brother had been left behind , although archeologist Steven Schwartz notes "The story of her jumping overboard does not show up until the 1880s… By then the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
is well underway, and literature takes on a flowery, even romantic flavor." This version is recorded by Juana Maria's eventual rescuer, George Nidever
George Nidever
George Nidever was an American mountain man, explorer, fur trapper, memoirist and sailor. In the 1830s he became one of the first wave of American settlers to move to Mexican California, where he made his living in fur trapping...
, who heard it from a hunter who had been on the Peor es Nada; however, he makes it clear he may be misremembering what he heard.
Hubbard brought the islanders to San Pedro Bay
San Pedro Bay (California)
San Pedro Bay is an inlet on the Pacific Ocean coast of southern California, United States. It is the site of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together form the fifth-busiest port facility in the world and easily the busiest in the Western Hemisphere...
, where many chose to live at the San Gabriel Mission
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel
The Mission San Gabriel Arcángel is a fully functioning Roman Catholic mission and a historic landmark in San Gabriel, California. The settlement was founded by Spaniards of the Franciscan order on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary," September 8, 1771, as the fourth of what would become 21 Spanish...
. The missions, however, despite their best intentions, had a high fatality rate, since the Indians had no immunity to Old World diseases. Black Hawk, the last male islander, reportedly became blind shortly thereafter and drowned after falling from a steep bank. Hubbard was unable to return for Juana Maria at the time, as he had orders to take a shipment of lumber to Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, and unfortunately, within a month the Peor es Nada sank at the entrance to San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
after hitting a "heavy board" which caused the schooner to roll "over and over and over" until it sank. A lack of available ships in the mid-1830s delayed any further rescue attempts.
Rescue
In 1850, Father Gonzales of the Santa Barbara Mission paid one Thomas Jeffries $200 to find Juana Maria, though he was unsuccessful. However, the tales Jeffries told upon returning managed to capture the imagination of George NideverGeorge Nidever
George Nidever was an American mountain man, explorer, fur trapper, memoirist and sailor. In the 1830s he became one of the first wave of American settlers to move to Mexican California, where he made his living in fur trapping...
, a Santa Barbara fur trapper, who launched several expeditions of his own. He failed to find her at first, but on an attempt in the fall of 1853, one of Nidever's men, Carl Dittman, discovered human footprints on the beach and pieces of seal blubber which had been left out to dry. Further investigation led to the discovery of Juana Maria, who was living on the island in a crude hut partially constructed of whale bones. She was dressed in a skirt made of greenish cormorant
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
feathers.
Afterwards, Juana Maria was taken to the Santa Barbara Mission, but was unable to communicate with anyone. The local Chumash Indians could not understand her, so the mission sent for a group of Tongva or Gabrieleño who had formerly lived on Santa Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
, but they were unsuccessful as well. Four words and two songs recorded from Juana Maria suggest she spoke one of the Uto-Aztecan languages
Uto-Aztecan languages
Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
native to Southern California, but it is not clear to which branch it is related. A University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
study by linguist Pamela Munro
Pamela Munro
Pamela Munro is an American linguist who specializes in Native American languages. A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, her graduate adviser was Margaret Langdon. She teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles...
focusing on the words and songs suggests that her language was most similar to those of the Luiseños of Northern San Diego County
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
and of the Juaneño
Juaneño
The Juaneño or Acagchemem are a Native American group from Southern California. The Juaneño lived in what is now part of Orange and San Diego Counties and received their Spanish name from the priests of the California mission chain due to their proximity to Mission San Juan Capistrano...
s near San Juan Capistrano. Both groups traded with the San Nicolas islanders and their languages may have had some influence. This evidence, when taken as a whole, suggests that Juana Maria was a native Nicoleño. However, other scholars contend that because all attempts to decipher her dialect by local Indians were in vain, Juana Maria may have been the descendant of an Aleut man and a Nicoleño widow.
Life at Santa Barbara Mission
Juana Maria was reportedly fascinated and ecstatic upon arrival, marveling at the sight of horses, along with European clothing and food. She was allowed to stay with Nidever, who described her as a woman of "medium height, but rather thick… She must have been about 50 years old, but she was still strong and active. Her face was pleasing as she was continually smiling. Her teeth were entire but worn to the gums." Juana Maria apparently enjoyed visits by curious Santa Barbara residents, singing and dancing for her audiences.One of the songs Juana Maria sang is popularly called the "Toki Toki" song. Knowledge of this song came from a Ventureño man named Malquiares, an otter hunter who had joined Nidever's expedition to the island and who had heard Juana Maria sing it. Malquiares later recited the words to his friend Fernando Kitsepawit Librado (1839 – 1915). The song's words are as follows:
- Toki Toki yahamimena (x 3)
- weleshkima nishuyahamimena (x 2)
- Toki Toki…(continue as above)
Librado recited the words to a Cruzeño Indian named Aravio Talawiyashwit, who translated them as "I live contented because I can see the day when I want to get out of this island;" however, given the lack of any other information on Juana Maria's language, this translation's accuracy is dubious, or perhaps was an intuitive guess. Anthropologist and linguist John P. Harrington
John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the native peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which has remained unpublished: the shelf space in the Library of Congress dedicated to his work...
recorded Librado singing the song on a wax cylinder in 1913.
The following text was published by an anonymous writer in a Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
newspaper on October 13, 1853:
Death
Just seven weeks after arriving on the mainland, Juana Maria died. Modern analysis suggests she contracted dysenteryDysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
, but Nidever claimed her fondness for green corn, vegetables and fresh fruit after years of little such nutrient-laden food caused the severe and ultimately fatal illness. Before she died, Father Gonzales baptized and christened her with the Spanish name Juana Maria. She was buried in an unmarked grave on the Nidever family plot at the Santa Barbara Mission cemetery. In 1928, a plaque commemorating her was placed at the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
.
Juana Maria's water basket, clothing and various artifacts, including bone needles which had been brought back from the island, were part of the collections of the California Academy of Sciences
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is among the largest museums of natural history in the world. The academy began in 1853 as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research, with exhibits and education becoming significant endeavors of the museum during the twentieth...
, but were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and fire. Her cormorant feather dress was apparently sent to the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, but it appears to have been lost.
Legacy
Scott O'DellScott O'Dell
Scott O'Dell was an American children's author who wrote 26 novels for young people, along with three novels for adults and four nonfiction books...
's Island of the Blue Dolphins
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Island of the Blue Dolphins is a 1960 American children's novel written by Scott O'Dell. The story of a young girl stranded for years on an island off the California coast, it is based on the true story of Juana Maria, a Nicoleño Indian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island in the 19th...
was largely based on Juana Maria's story. The novel's protagonist, Karana, endures many of the trials that Juana Maria must have faced while alone on San Nicolás. In the 1964 film version of the novel, Celia Kaye
Celia Kaye
Celia Kaye is an American former actress who appeared in a recurring role as Marnie Massey, daughter of the character Christine Massey played by Loretta Young, on the comedy-drama series, The New Loretta Young Show. The program aired for twenty-six weeks on CBS from 1962 to 1963...
played Karana.