Jenny Shellhead
Alsea Jenny Shellhead's mother’s name was Sec-O-Tes-Na but was commonly called “Old Chief” and came from the Smith River tribe or Sixes. Jenny’s father’s name was A-Na-R-Tee but was commonly called “Old Shellhead” and came from the Tututni tribe located at the mouth of the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Jenny was born in 1842 in Curry County Oregon. She was a Kwa-ta-mi or “Sixes Indian.” The Kwa-ta-mi were a subdivision of the Tututni tribe.[1]
She had a sister named Mary and three brothers; Jim, Jack and Bill.
"The death of William Strong, a Tututni chieftain, marks the end of a notorious family. Shell Head, whose Indian name was Oneatta, was chief of the Tututni tribe. His family consisted of Jim, Jack, Bill, Jennie and Mary. Shell Head, or Oneatta, and his son Jim died at the agency. Jack was killed at Newport. Bigheaded Bill, afterward named William Strong, the subject of this sketch, died on February 17 at the agency, about 70 years old."[2]
Jenny was known as “the most feared woman of all the tribes, a daughter true to the blood of her cruel parents.”[3]
Jenny Shellhead aka Chetco Jenny,Jane Collins.
An 1853 account tells of an “Indian killer from Yreka” named Benjamin Wright that was appointed as Alsea Indian Agent. Wright had previously “stripped the government interpreter, Chetco Jenny aka Jenny Shellhead, and whipped her as she ran naked through the streets of the town.”[4] More on Benjamin Wright here.
Another popular tale of Jenny tells of when Jenny led a small Indian hunting party to where a small group of White men were gathered. The hunting party killed all of the men gathered, including Benjamin Wright. The account states that Jenny is seen sitting around the fire with the celebrating hunting party, holding Wright’s heart in her hand above her open mouth, eating it.[5] [6]
Benjamin Wright
How Jenny came to be with George Collins is unclear. Some Collins family members recount that Jenny is the one who nursed Collins back to health after he was left for dead by an attack of Indians.
The oral history account by Ada Collins states that George Collins bought Jenny for $100.
The diary of Capt. Battey an Alsea Indian Agent states that “a squaw was living with Collins along with three half breed sons.”
Jenny died July 12, 1873 age 31 years, of whooping cough, her infant son George Jr. died four months later of same. Collins family diary reports that “…william had it at the same time and their father left with a little one on each arm, but in spite of his best efforts he could not save the baby.”[7]
Click for Jenny's Sons
Jenny had five sons with George Collins.
Benjamin Franklin was born at Siletz, August 7, 1860.
James Harrison was born March 7, 1865 on the Alsea agency.
John Wesley was born September 29, 1867 at the Alsea agency, he drowned in the agency duck pond March 24, 1869.
William David was born February 23, 1870.
George Washington Jr. was born January 18, 1873 and died the same year of whooping cough.
Jenny Shellhead
Resources:
[1] Collins, Velma. Personal Diary.
[2] Sunday Oregonian, Portland, March 9, 1913, page 68
[3] Theresa Ketcheson Roper, Rebounding Vengeance, An Indian Romance, And the Evolution of Newport, Oregon (Newport, OR: Gazette Times Press, 1919), 172.
[4] Stephen Dow Beckham, Requiem for a People (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971), 138.
[5] Theresa Ketcheson Roper, Rebounding Vengeance, An Indian Romance, And the Evolution of Newport, Oregon (Newport, OR: Gazette Times Press, 1919),158.
[6] East Oregonian, Pendleton, March 5, 1913, page 2.
[7] Collins, Velma. Personal Diary.
Photos courtesy of Collins family private collection.
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