Esselen
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The Esselen are a Native American people belonging to a linguistic group in the hypothetical Hokan language family, who are Indigenous to the Santa Lucia Mountains of a region south of the Big Sur Riv
Esselen native c. 1791, by José Cardero
A drawing of Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo prepared by Captain George Vancouver depicts the grounds as they appeared in November 1792. Round, native huts of thatched branches are shown in the background. From A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World.
Indians of Mission San Carlos Borromeo are lined up with military precision to greet French expedition led by Jean Francois Galaup, Comte De La Perouse. Watercolor attributed to Tomas de Suria or Jose Cardero, 1791, after a lost original painting at the occasion by Gaspard Duché de Vancy, 1786.
Isabel Meadows
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Isabel Meadows was an Ohlone ethnologist and the last fluent speaker of the Rumsen Ohlone language. She also spoke Esselen. She worked closely with the anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution
Esselen
…about 300 words along with some short phrases have been identified. Examples include mamamanej (fire); koxlkoxl (fish); and ni-tsch-ekė (my husband). Isabel Meadows, who also spoke Rumsen, was the last fluent Esselen speaker. She died in 1939. The Central California coast in this region is marked by high, steep…
Isabel Meadows in her 40s, circa 1890
Meadows as a young woman (c. 1880)