Historical society hosts author event

The Point Roberts Historical Society sponsored an event featuring author Candace Wellman on August 21 with a dozen audience members in attendance.

Readers enjoyed an interesting presentation by Candace Wellman speaking about her first two books Peace Weavers and Interwoven Lives, which cover the topic of early white settlers (mostly men) marrying girls/women from the Lummi and Samish nations.

Wellman gave a fascinating glimpse into early white influence in the Pacific Northwest with logging, farming, mining and their interaction with the Coast Salish peoples who represented centuries of life on the coast. Many of these men had left wives and families in the East and started a second Western family. Some of these families were abandoned when the men went back to their original roots.

A lively discussion after the presentation took place on the lost woolly dog. As Wellman described it, her curiosity on whatever happened to the woolly dog whose hair was spun and woven into blankets by Coast Salish weavers, led her to the Smithsonian Institute who had the one and only specimen left of a dog that disappeared over 100 years ago. The cadaver was nicknamed “Mutton,” because he liked to kill and eat sheep, preferring the sheep’s heads.

Wellman was entrusted with a specimen sample to bring back to a Pacific Northwest team of forensic anthropologists who are currently conducting DNA testing and theories. Candace, a self-described housewife, had used her volunteer archiving skills at the Center For Pacific Northwest Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham to track down this fascinating scientific discovery. She looks forward to the day when Mutton’s pelt may visit the Burke Museum for display.

The two books plus her third novel, Man of Treacherous Charm, released in 2023, are available at the Point Roberts History Center and at the library.

Apple Podcast: apple.co/470sTDn.