DISCLAIMER: discussion of boarding school experiences be upsetting to some listeners.
In this interview, Toney Tillohash discusses topics related to Panguitch Indian Boarding School, U.S. Presidential elections, the influence of the LDS Church, Mormons adopting Paiute children, alcohol use in the Paiute community, Shoshone-Ute altercations, Chief Walker, and running away from a boarding school. Panguitch Indian Boarding School located in Panguitch, Utah operated between 1904 and 1909. During that time, the school forcibly removed 150 Paiute children from multiple Paiute tribal bands. Toney Tillohash was the President of the Tribal Council for the Shivwits Band of Paiutes and is the cousin of Mabel Dry who is also featured in this collection.
Toney Tillohash is a member of the Kaibab Band of Pauites and was born in Kaibab, Utah. In his youth he worked as Edward Sapir's liguistic informant in 1910 while a student at Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania. Shortly after marriage to his wife, Bessie, he moved to the Shivwits Reservation in Southerwestern Utah where he was a farm worker/cowboy. He and Bessie had eight children. Over the years, he was an active member of the Shivwits Band of Paiute Tribal Council and served as Chairman until 1955. At the time of the interview, he lived with his daughter, Eunice Surveyor in Cima, Califonia.
St. George, Utah