Legends of Vancouver
01 E. Pauline Johnson (Takehionwake) Memorial
You stand before a memorial dedicated to Emily Pauline Johnson (Takehionwake), born in 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. Her father, George Henry Martin Johnson (1816-1884), was a Mohawk chief, and her mother, Emily Susanna Howells Johnson (1824-1898), was English. Over her life, Pauline became a famous Canadian poet and performer who in her later years settled in Vancouver, where she met and became friends with Squamish Chief Joe Capilano. Her book, 'Legends of Vancouver', recounts stories told to her by Chief Joseph Capilano and other indigenous friends. Read below her forward to the book.
As a young woman photo dated 1902
Photo dated 1908
Photo dated 1920s
As a young woman photo dated 1902
Legends of Vancouver: Author's Forward
These legends (with two or three exceptions) were told to me personally by my honoured friend, the late Chief Joe Capilano, of Vancouver, whom I had the privilege of first meeting in London in 1906, when he visited England and was received at Buckingham Palace by their Majesties King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
To the fact that I was able to greet Chief Capilano in the Chinook tongue, while we were both many thousands of miles from home, I owe the friendship and the confidence which he so freely gave me when I came to reside on the Pacific coast. These legends he told me from time to time, just as the mood possessed him, and he frequently remarked that they had never been revealed to any other English-speaking person save myself.
E. PAULINE JOHNSON (TEKAHIONWAKE)