{{no footnotes, date=June 2015 The Ginadoiks (sometimes called Gitnadoiks) are one of the 14 tribes of the

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terr ...

nation in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower

Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (after the Fraser River). Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose n ...

resident at

Lax Kw'alaams Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

(a.k.a. Port Simpson), B.C. The name ''Ginadoiks'' means literally "people of the rapids". Their traditional territory is the watershed of the Gitnadoiks River, a tributary of the Skeena. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

fort was established there.

History

The anthropologist

Viola Garfield Viola E. Garfield (December 5, 1899 – November 25, 1983) was an American anthropologist best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska. Early life Viola Edmundson was ...

wrote in 1938 that the then-current head chief of the Ginadoiks, Cecil Ross, Niisweexs ("Grandfather of Weexs"), had come from the Tsimshian community of

Kitkatla The Kitkatla or Gitxaala are one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla (sometimes called Laxklan), on Dolphin Island, a small island just by Porcher Isla ...

three generations earlier "when his 'brother' usurped his place and took the ... chieftainship" of the Kitkatla tribe. The leading, royal house of the Ginadoiks had become extinct, allowing the Kitkatla man to accede to the name Niisweexs. He was succeeded by a "house 'nephew'", who was in turn succeeded by his sister's son, in accordance with rules of matrilineal succession. One of these last two Niisweexses was Henry Nelson, who died in 1925 and whose mortuary rites are described in detail in Garfield's monograph. In 1935

William Beynon William Beynon (1888–1958) was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and an oral historian; he served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who studied his people. Early life and education ...

recorded that Ginadoiks people in Lax Kw'alaams included 2 members of the

Gispwudwada {{short description, Indigenous people of British Columbia/Alaska The Gispwudwada or Gisbutwada (variously spelled) is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast A ...

(Killerwhale clan) (i.e. the House of Niisweexs), 7 members of the

Ganhada The Ganhada (variously spelled, but often as G̱anhada) is the name for the Raven "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the G̱anada ( ...

(Raven) (two house-groups, including the House of Niisganaas, with only 2 members), and 18 members of the

Laxgibuu The Laxgibuu or Laxgyibuu (variously spelled) is the name for the Wolf "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named clans am ...

(Wolf) (one house-group). One holder of the name Niisganaas, and therefore head of the House of Niisganaas, was Lewis Gray (''c.'' 1857–1934), was a key informant of Garfield's during her 1932 fieldwork season. He was a shaman whose fame had spread as far as the

Nass River The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Nass Bay joins Portland Inl ...

, his supernatural gifts having been evident at his birth since he had been born with a

caul A caul or cowl ( la, Caput galeatum, literally, "helmeted head") is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. The caul is harmless and is immediately removed ...

. Since he had no matrilineal heirs, shortly before his death he adopted his own wife into his house-group as his sister so that she could inherit the prerogatives of the House of Niisganaas.

Houses

Houses of the Ginadoiks include: * House of Niisganaas – Ganhada (Raven clan) * House of Niisweexs – Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan) * House of Sats'aan – Laxgibuu (Wolf clan)

References

* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles''. 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. * Garfield, Viola E. (1939) "Tsimshian Clan and Society". ''University of Washington Publications in Anthropology'', vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 167–340. Tsimshian