Della Hern - In Native dress, wearing a Mono Paiute beaded collar.
Della Hern was born 88 years ago in town of Lee Vining in Mono County on February 23rd 1922 to Lena Tom-Dondero. She was born along the same shores of Mono Lake that Chief Tenaya was born before he took 200 to 300 Indians back into Yosemite Valley where he established the Paiute colony of Ahwahnee.
Bridgeport Tom and his family at the old Indian Village in Yosemite
Della Hern was born into the prominent Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Indian family of Bridgeport Tom and Captain Sam. Della was the grand daughter of Bridgeport Tom and the great grand daughter of Captain Sam who were founders of the Coleville Paiute-Washoe Colony in Mono County. They bought the land with money they earned working in Yosemite. Captain Sam and Bridgeport Tom spent the majority of their life between Yosemite and the eastern Sierra Nevada. Both of the men were scouts, hunters and fishermen for the early Yosemite Valley area settlers.
Captain Sam - Great grand father of Della Hern. He caught and supplied fish to Yosemite tourists at Camp Curry.
Della Hern’s grand mother, Louisa Tom, and cousins, Alice Wilson and Lucy Telles, were famous basket makers and their baskets are featured in the Yosemite Indian Musuem. Della’s grandmother Louisa Tom is buried in the Indian cemetery located in Yosemite National Park.
Louisa Tom's grave located in the Indian section of the Yosemite cemetery. She was the last Indian person buried in this cemetery in 1956.
Della was raised at Mono Lake and when she was a young lady she met and married Ralph Hern. Ralph Hern was a great grandson of Mary Ann Hogan on his father’s side and the great grandson of Sarah Priest on his mother’s side. Sarah Priest was the daughter of Cypriano, signer of the 1851 Fremont Treaty for the Awal or Walla Indians. Sarah had married Josiah Priest a native of Maine.
Della learned the old Paiute method of acorn preparing from her grand mother Louisa Tom. Here is a video of Della preparing acorn meal for the show California Gold;
Della Hern preparing acorn meal in the town of Mariposa.
When the Southern Sierra Miwuks were revitalizing their language, they asked Della Hern to teach them the Yosemite – Mono Lake Paiute language.
Paiutes believe when we pass on we cross the Dusty Trail otherwise known as the Milky Way.
Della Hern leading a prayer.
Della Hern never minced her words and it is one thing to have known her, but is another thing to have earned her respect.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Paiute Colony of Ahwahnee
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2011 06:18AM by Yosemite_Indian.
