Charles Ferrel and survivors Battle of Kelley Creek

Mary Josephine Estep (1909 or 1910 — 19 December 1992) was a

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

child survivor of the Battle of Kelley Creek, "the last massacre" of Native Americans in the United States, in 1911.

Early life

Mary Josephine Estep was born in 1909 or 1910, to Wenega Daggett. Her grandfather was Mike Daggett, also known as "Shoshone Mike" after his death. She was a little more than a year old when her mother was killed near

Winnemucca, Nevada Winnemucca () is the only incorporated city in Humboldt County, Nevada, United States, of which it is also the county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 8,431, up 14.0 percent from the 2010 ...

. In February 1911 Mike Daggett and band killed four White stockmen at Little High Rock Canyon in northern Washoe County. A posse responded by confronting the twelve members of the Daggett band at Kelley Creek. Four children, including Estep, survived the subsequent shootout, and were taken to the jail in Reno for protection. Only Estep was still alive by 1913. (The other three had died of diseases.)

Adoption

Estep, who was found to have

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

after the massacre, was adopted by Maj. Evan W. Estep and his wife, Orrell Marietta "Rita" Garrison Estep. Maj. Estep was the white superintendent of the

Fort Hall Indian Reservation The Fort Hall Reservation is a Indian reservation, Native American reservation of the federally recognized Shoshone-Bannock people, Bannock Tribes (Shoshoni language: Pohoko’ikkateeCrum, B., Crum, E., & Dayley, J. P. (2001). Newe Hupia: Shosh ...

in Idaho. She lived with her adoptive parents in Montana and New Mexico before landing at the

Yakama Indian Reservation The Yakama Indian Reservation (spelled Yakima until 1994) is a Native American reservation in Washington state of the federally recognized tribe known as the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The tribe is made up of Klikitat ...

in Toppenish, Washington in 1924, and finally in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...

in 1930, after Evan Estep's retirement. Evan died in 1950, and Rita died in 1955.

Later life

Mary Jo Estep studied music and attended

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academi ...

. She was an elementary school music teacher for about forty years, before her retirement in 1974. Mary Jo Estep learned the details of her origins in 1975, when a woman read Dayton Hyde's book ''The Last Free Man'' about Mike Daggett's story, realized that she went to school with Estep and recalled that Estep's parents were killed in a massacre. Hyde then sought Estep out, finding her in Yakima. She died in 1992, aged about 82 years, in Yakima, after she was given the wrong medication in a nursing home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estep, Mary Jo 20th-century births 1992 deaths Shoshone people Central Washington University alumni Bannock people 20th-century American educators