Chesheeahud (also spelled Cheshiahud) was a Duwamish chief and guide to the lakes and rivers around what is now Seattle, living between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. He led a village called hehs-KWEE-kweel (meaning Skate), at the south edge of the mouth of Union Bay onto Lake Washington. hehs-KWEE-kweel was near a vital portage used by the Duwamish between Lake Union and Lake Washington. Chesheeahud and his wife Tleebuleetsa lived on a plot of land located at Edgewater Park near the point at the south edge of the mouth of Union Bay onto Lake Washington. They were the last Duwamish people to live on Lake Union as the city grew and dislocated the Indigenous residents. Because of this, the settlers often called them the “last of the Lake Union Indians.” Chesheeahud was also called “Lake Union John” and the derogatory name “Chudups (also spelled Chodups) John” by the settlers, while Tleebuleetsa was called “Madeline.” After Tleebuleetsa died, Chesheeahud moved to the Port Madison reservation, where many other Duwamish people had been displaced to after the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855.

In this photo, Chesheeahud and several other people sit in a canoe on Lake Union. A mast sticks out beyond the vessel's notched prow. These canoes carried enough supplies to last for journeys lasting several months and could travel far inland on the many rivers in the region. This Coast Salish canoe design was later replaced by the West Coast style through contact with tribes from the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island.

Caption information source: "Chesheeahud," Duwamish Tribe, retrieved from https://www.duwamishtribe.org/cheshiahud