Marya D. Moses (1911-2006) was a pioneering commercial fisherwoman working from the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County. Marya (pronounced "Mariah") Jones was born on the Tulalip Reservation to Snohomish Indian parents William Jones and Nancy Boomhouse Jones. Her grandparents spoke the Chinook Jargon, and Moses grew up speaking the ancient Coast Salish language, Lushootseed. In 1928 she married Walter Moses (1907-1951), and the couple raised their 11 children on the Tulalip reservation. Walter's death in 1951 brought hardship for Marya and her children, but before long Moses embarked on a new occupation--commercial fishing. With a gift of 400-feet of old fishing net, a wrecked boat acquired from a roving junkman, and a crew made up of her daughters, Marya Moses had a new career with a reliable income stream, one that improved with the eventual additions of a second and third fishing boat.

Later in life, Moses was active in the efforts to preserve the Lushootseed language. The work of Moses, Skagit elder Vi Hilbert, and linguist Tom Hess resulted in 1994 in the Lushootseed Dictionary. Moses also became a published author, writing essays and relating native stories and legends. When she died in 2006, she was believed to be the last surviving speaker of her native tongue.

This photo shows Marya Moses at the wheel of her 29-foot, broad-beamed beach seiner, with a huge fishing net piled in back. The photo was taken at Speebidah (or Spee-Bi-Dah) Bay, across from Camano Island.

Caption information source: "Moses, Marya D. (1911-2006)" by Peter Blecha, HistoryLink.org Essay 9134.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.