- Term
Lucy Telles
- Alternate Term
Telles, Lucy
- Occupation/Role
Basket weaver
- Nationality/Ethnicity
Yosemite Miwok and Mono Lake Paiute
- Geography
The Yosemite National Park, California
- Date
1885-1955
1885-1955
1885-1955
- Remarks
Lucy Telles (Pa-ma-has) was born near Mono Lake, as daughter of Luisa Sam Tom (Paiute/Miwok) and Mack “Bridgeport” Tom (Paiute), who was a traditional healer. Her grandmother was Suzie Sam, a Yosemite Miwok, and her grandfather, Captain Sam, was Paiute. Her family moved between Yosemite Valley and Mono Lake. Around 1900, she married Jack Parker, a Paiute man. Unfortunately Jack died soon after birth of their son Lloyd, in 1902. In 1914 Lucy married John Telles, a Mexican-American, and they settled in Yosemite Valley. John worked as a laborer and truck driver for the Yosemite Park and Curry Co. and the National Park Service, and Lucy worked as a housekeeper for park residents. Lucy Telles learned the art of basketry from her mother and as a young girl wove traditional baskets. By 1920s she was well established as a weaver and started entering her baskets in the Yosemite Indian Field Days, often wining the prizes. In 1933, after three years of work, she completed her most famous basket, the largest basket known to have been woven in the Yosemite region. The basket was exhibited at the Gold Gate International Exposition in San Francisco in 1939. At the exposition, Lucy also demonstrate basket weaving and sold baskets at the Indian trading post. She died on February 24, 1955 in Yosemite Valley and was buried in Mariposa.
- See Also