 | This articlemay containcitations that do notverify the text. Please helpimprove it by checking for citation inaccuracies and resourcing or removing material failing verification.(April 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Comcomly | |
|---|---|
 Chief Comcomly as he may have appeared in the early 1800s | |
| Lower Chinook leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1765 (1765) Ilwaco, Washington |
| Died | 1830 (aged 64–65) |
| Cause of death | Malaria |
| Resting place | Pacific County, Washington |
| Children | Elvamox (Marianne), Raven (Princess Sunday), Ilchee (Princess Of Wales), kah-at-lin or Song Bird daughter of Comcomly’s Chehalis wife (Princess Margaret) |
| Known for | skill with diplomacy and trade |
Comcomly (orConcomly) (1765–1830)[1] was a Native American leader of the Lower Chinook, a group ofChinookan peoples indigenous to thePacific Northwest, who inhabited the area nearIlwaco, Washington. Concomly spokeLower Chinook and was known for his skill with diplomacy and trade.[2][3]
Concomly was described byWashington Irving in the bookAstoria as "a shrewd old savage, with but one eye," who also noted his trade and diplomacy skills.[3] Comcomly was characterized by modern historianJames Ronda as a talented diplomat and shrewd businessman.[2] He was friendly to the British and Euro-American explorers whom he encountered, includingRobert Gray andGeorge Vancouver.[4] Concomly metLewis and Clark in 1805 who awarded him withpeace medals.[5][3] He assisted thePacific Fur Company, also known as the Astor Expedition in the early 1810s, and offered to help the Americans fight theBritish during theWar of 1812, butAstoria, Oregon was sold to the British instead.[3] Concomly pilotedHudson's Bay Company ships up the Columbia and was entertained atFort Vancouver byJohn McLoughlin.[3]
In contemporaneous journals, Concomly was referred to as Chief or, at times, as "'King", a derogatory term.[6][3]
Concomly was reported to have several wives.[5] His daughter Elvamox (also Marianne), marriedDuncan McDougall of the Pacific Fur Company, and after he left she remarried to EtienneAlexis Aubichon, also a fur trader.[7] She was the mother of one son and six daughters.[8]
Comcomly's daughter Koale'xoa[9] (also Raven or Princess Sunday), marriedArchibald McDonald a Scottish-born trader.[3] She died giving birth to their son,Ranald MacDonald.[3]
Another of Comcomly's daughters, Ilchee, (also Princess Of Wales), married Alexander McKenzie, a clerk with the Hudson's Bay Company who was killed in 1828 byS'Klallem tribal members.[10]
Descendants of Comcomly include Chinook elder and historianCatherine Troeh[11] andUnited States AmbassadorJ. Christopher Stevens, who perished inLibya duringthe 2012 militant attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.[12]
Amalaria epidemic that occurred in 1830–33 in theWillamette Valley resulted in a tremendous loss of Native American lives.[13] Malaria was one of several diseases brought by colonizers that killed an estimated 150,000 Native peoples near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in Oregon and Washington state between 1829 and 1833.[14] Comcomly died in 1830 after an "intermittent fever" epidemic, also called "cold sick" and presumed to be malaria, struck his tribe.[3][15]
His remains were interred in a canoe, per Chinook custom, in the family burial ground.[16] In 1835, Comcomly's elongated skull was stolen from his grave by Hudson Bay Company physician Dr. Meredith Gairdner and sent to Scotland for scientific study.[15] It was displayed in England[5] at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar Museum. Although damaged inThe Blitz during World War II, the skull was eventually sent to theClatsop County Historical Society in Astoria in 1953, and then to theSmithsonian Institution in 1956.[17] In 1972, Conconmly's skull was finally repatriated to Chinook tribal members for reburial.[18]
There was a station of theOregon Electric Railway inMarion County named "Concomly".[19]His name also appears on Concomly Road in theSalem, Oregon area. Chief Concomly Park inScappoose, Oregon opened in 2019 and is named for him.[20]
Early history of Oregon (1500–1806) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topics |  | |
| Events | ||
| Places | ||
| People | ||
| Oregon history | ||