Native Saints

Carry On

Journals of Early Sister Missionaries

The Prison Journal of Belle Harris

The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow

The Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells

The Journal of George F. Richards

At the Pulpit

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

The Journal of George Q. Cannon

The Joseph Smith Papers

Circa 1892. Ammon Pubigee and Willie Ottogary pose in traditional Native dress. Photograph by C. R. Savage. (Photograph courtesy of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation; digital access provided by Utah State University Libraries.)

Ammon Pubigee and Willie Ottogary

Circa 1950. Amy Hootchew Timbimboo poses in traditional Shoshone dress, leather gloves, and beadwork. (Photograph courtesy of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation; digital access provided by Utah State University Libraries.)

Amy Hootchew Timbimboo

Chester Ottogary in parade dress, circa 1927. (Photograph courtesy of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation; digital access provided by Utah State University Libraries.)

Chester Ottogary

Circa 1930s. Cohn Shoshonitz Zundel, pictured here making leather and beaded gloves, was a prominent longtime member of the Washakie Ward and an early counselor in the ward Relief Society presidency. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Cohn Shoshonitz Zundel

Emmeline Pabawena Neaman and her daughter Lana attended the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on 5 October 1940. Photograph by The Salt Lake Tribune. (MSS C 400, Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City.)

Emmeline Pabawena Neaman

In July 1934, George P. Sam (center) went on a brief road trip through northern Utah, southern Idaho, and eastern Nevada with Evans Peyope (right) and Malad, Idaho, resident Leo Camp (left). The three men dressed in traditional Native clothing and carried old pioneer farming equipment in the back of Camp’s truck to promote upcoming Pioneer Day celebrations in Ogden, Utah. Photograph by Ogden Standard-Examiner.

George P. Sam and others

Circa 1940. Henry Woonsook (second from right) and Moroni Timbimboo (right) often represented the Washakie community in firesides and other presentations about the history and faith of the Northwestern Shoshone Saints. (PH 9794, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Henry Woonsook, Moroni Timbimboo, and others

James and Hitope Ankegee Joshua were called on a mission to the Wind River Reservation in December 1901. This photograph was taken in Evanston, Wyoming, on 8 January 1902 during their mission. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

James Joshua and Hitope Joshua

Sometime around 1897, Jim John Neaman was photographed by Benedicte Wrensted, a Dutch immigrant who had come to the United States and opened a photography studio in Pocatello, Idaho. (National Archives, Washington, DC.)

Jim John Neaman

Circa 1894. Back row: Tosamoak, Alma Shoshonitz or Yellow, James Brown. Front row: Wiegan, John Moemberg, Tom Ondahocaha or One-eyed Tom. Photo credited to Benedicte Wrensted. (National Archives, Washington, DC.)

John Moemberg, Alma Shoshonitz, James Brown and Others

Circa 1940s. Leona Peyope poses in a traditional Shoshone outfit at Washakie, Utah. (PH 9633, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Leona Peyope

April 1932. Lucy Zundel Alex (left) with her infant son, Melvin, and other members of the Washakie Ward at the Salt Lake Temple. (PH 7334, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Lucy Zundel Alex and others

1910. Mamie Perdash Wongan served for twenty years as a counselor in the Washakie Ward Relief Society presidency. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Mamie Perdash Wongan

15 Sept. 1913. Moroni and Amy Hootchew Timbimboo pose for a photograph with their daughter Joanna. (PH 8000, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Moroni and Amy Hootchew Timbimboo

1884. Moroni Zundel (right) was the first Native Sunday School superintendent of the Washakie Ward. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Moroni Zundel and James Brown

In April 1932, a large group of Washakie Ward members traveled to Salt Lake City to attend the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those present included, from left to right: Kippechoo Noragan, Everett Neaman, Margaret Perdash Neaman, Eddy Wagon, Teanie “Lena” Jack Wagon, Moses Neaman, Emmeline Pabawena Neaman, Edith Neaman (infant), Jim Wagon, Lucy Zundel Alex, Melvin Alex (infant), Linford Neaman, Nellie Thompson Pabawena, Verna Ella Pabawena (infant), James Pabawena, Positze Noragan, David Pabawena, and John Pabawena Sr. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Moses Neaman, James Pabawena, and Others

Circa 1910. Henry Hootchew and Nephi Perdash. (PH 8000, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Nephi Perdash and Henry Hootchew

Circa 1918. Washakie Ward Relief Society, with founding member Pobehope Moemberg sitting second from left. (Photograph courtesy of Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation; digital access provided by Utah State University Libraries.)

Pobehope Moemberg and others

Circa 1950s. Rhoda Moemberg Woonsook and her husband, Henry, meet with Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Rhoda was the first Northwestern Shoshone woman called to serve as the Relief Society president of the Washakie Ward. After Rhoda and Henry moved to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, they played a central role in the creation of the Bannock Creek Branch in the late 1940s. (PH 5681, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Rhoda Moemberg Woonsook and Henry Woonsook

Circa 1880. Published with the caption “Se-go-witz and his Bride in her Rabbit-skin robe- -Utes,” this photograph by C. R. Savage has been traditionally identified as the prominent Northwestern Shoshone <a href="/native-saints/reference-material/glossary/daigwahni">dai’gwahni’</a> or chief Sagwitch and his wife, Mo-yo-gah (Beahwoachee). (PH 4544, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Sagwitch Timbimboo

1925. When Washakie Ward member Susie Hio Widgigitch (center) attended church, she came with a postcard of Brigham Young tucked into her belt. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Susie Hio Widgigitch and others

Circa 1920s. Thomas Alex (second from left) and other leaders of the Washakie Ward Sunday School pose with Bishop George M. Ward and his counselors in front of the frame meetinghouse at Washakie, Utah. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Thomas Alex, Moroni Timbimboo, Henry Woonsook, and others

Circa 7 January 1940. Thomas Pabawena (back row, center) and other representatives of the Northwestern and Western Shoshone worked with Salt Lake City attorney William J. Lowe to advocate for their treaty rights. Photograph by The Salt Lake Tribune. (MSS C 400, Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City.)

Thomas Pabawena and others

Circa 1900. Towange Timbimboo served as an early counselor in the Washakie Ward Relief Society presidency. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Towange Timbimboo

Willie Ottogary had this photograph taken in April 1921 while he was in Washington, DC, to attend Warren G. Harding’s presidential inauguration and advocate for Northwestern Shoshone treaty rights. Photograph by Albert E. Sweeney. (National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian, Washington, DC.)

Willie Ottogary

Circa 1900. Son of the prominent Northwestern Shoshone <a href="/native-saints/reference-material/glossary/daigwahni">dai’gwahni’</a> or chief Sagwitch, Yeager Timbimboo was a prominent member of the Washakie Ward and spent more than two decades as first counselor in the ward bishopric. He later spoke at a general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1926. (PH 8000, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Yeager Timbimboo

People

Circa 1900. At the request of the Northwestern Shoshone converts, Latter-day Saint leaders established a day school at Washakie, Utah, in the early 1880s. Over the ensuing decades, the school provided the Northwestern Shoshone children with opportunities to learn reading, writing, and other skills without having to leave their families or community. Many of the pupils would go on to use this education to advocate for their people and nation. (William A. Jones photographs, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.)

Northwestern Shoshone at Washakie Day School

Over the decades following their conversion, the Shoshone converts experimented with a number of Euro-American forms of agriculture such as individual homesteads, communal farms, and other church-supported agricultural projects. Here, members of the Washakie Ward are pictured planting sugar beets for the Utah–Idaho Sugar Company in 1903. Photograph by Alma W. Compton. (Merrill–Cazier Library, Utah State University.)

Northwestern Shoshone Farming

Cache Valley was central part of the Northwestern Shoshone <a href="/native-saints/reference-material/glossary/debia">debia’</a>, or territory. In the 1880s, Shoshone Latter-day Saints regularly traveled there to help build the temple in Logan, Utah. In later years, the Northwestern Shoshone converts continued to return to the region to worship at the temple or attend other social and cultural events. In July 1908, a sizable company from Washakie attended the Pioneer Day celebrations in Logan. (Merrill–Cazier Library, Utah State University.)

Logan Encampment

Washakie Ward Members at General Conference

In 1937, the Northwestern Shoshone Saints at Washakie, Utah, began work on a new modest brick chapel to replace the old frame meetinghouse. The new chapel was dedicated by Elder George Albert Smith on 22 January 1939. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Washakie Ward Brick Chapel

On 5 September 1932, Bear River Massacre survivor Yeager Timbimboo and his son Moroni participated in a dedicatory ceremony for a memorial commemorating the “Battle of Bear River.” (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Yeager and Moroni Timbimboo at Battle of Bear River Memorial Dedication

Beshup or Frank W. Warner was a son of Northwestern Shoshone <a href="/native-saints/reference-material/glossary/daigwahni">dai’gwahni’</a> or chief Sagwitch and Tan-dab-itche. He was only a young child at the time of the Bear River Massacre and was later raised by a white Latter-day Saint family. On 24 July 1918, Frank visited the site of the massacre and was photographed standing where he last saw his mother, Tan-dab-itche, alive. (MS 26555, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Frank W. Warner at Bear River Massacre Site

Circa 1910. In 1878, the Northwestern Shoshone converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began work on a one-room frame meetinghouse between the Bear and Malad rivers at what was known as Lemuel’s Garden. In 1881, the meetinghouse was moved north about twenty miles to what became Washakie, Utah. For the next several decades, it was used as a chapel for worship services, a schoolhouse, and a venue for other community events. (PH 8000, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

Washakie Ward Frame Meetinghouse

Contextual Images

Images

Publication from the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints