Gitando

The Gitando are the youngest (or last to form) of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" First Nation of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams (a.k.a. Port Simpson), British Columbia. The name Gitando means the people of weirs. Their traditional territory includes the watershed of the Exstew River, a tributary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, the Gitando have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, following establishment of a Hudson's Bay Company trading fort there. They are closely related to the Gispaxlo'ots, another of the Nine Tribes, who have an adjacent territory.

The Tsimshian have a matrilineal kinship system, with property and inheritance passed through the maternal line. The chieftainship of the Gitando resides with the hereditary name-title Sgagweet, the holder of which is chief of the House of Sgagweet, a Laxsgiik (Eagle clan) house-group (or extended matrilineal family).

In 1938 American anthropologist Viola Garfield reported that the title name was derived from chief Paul Sgagweet, who died in 1887 and was commemorated by a 15-foot totem pole marble headstone representing one of his most prominent crests, the "Standing Feeding Beaver." The totem pole still stands in the village of Lax Kw'alaams in the 21st century. Paul Sgagweet bequeathed the name to his first cousin or sister's son, Alfred Dudoward.

Dudoward was instrumental in establishing a Methodist mission at Lax Kw'alaams. Dudoward had no (matrilineal) heirs and so adopted his own son and a niece into the house. The son inherited the name Sgagweet after Dudoward's death in 1914 or 1915. He was holding the chief's position and title when Garfield was writing in 1938. He had designated the niece's son as his successor. But this son, named Clarence Watson, moved to Southern British Columbia and accepted the Canadian franchise, which at the time required him to surrender his Native Status.

After that, the chieftainship was held in trust by the sons of Alfred Dudoward. The youngest, Charles Dudoward (Chief Wiishakes), gave the responsibility to his first cousin's son, Libby Kelly. From Libby the names were passed to his nephews Mitch and Fred Dudoward. But, the name Sgagweet has never been assigned to anyone since Alfred Dudoward. There is still contention for the title among the tribe.

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Wikipedia