William Beynon (1888–1958) was the great-grandfather of author and educator Samantha Beynon. He was a hereditary chief of Lax Kw'alaams one of the Ts'msyen Nation, and one of the most remarkable oral historians of his time. Known by his Ts'msyen name Gusgai’in, he was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to a Ts'msyen mother with Nisga’a family roots and a Welsh steamboat captain named “Captain Billy” Beynon. His mother raised him speaking Sm’algya̱x, the Ts'msyen langauge and taught him Ts'msyen laws, stories, and ceremonies from an early age. Beynon came from a family of knowledge keepers. His maternal grandfather was Arthur Wellington Clah, known as Chief Clah, a respected Ts'msyen leader, historian, and long-time employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company who left behind one of the earliest and most detailed Indigenous diaries on the Northwest Coast (Neylan, 2003). When his uncle Albert Wellington died in 1913, William inherited his chiefly name Gusgai'in and moved to Lax Kw’alaams (then called Port Simpson) to serve as hereditary chief until his passing in 1958.
Although he worked for many years in the fishing and canning industries, Beynon devoted his life to recording and safeguarding his people’s Adaawx (sacred oral histories) and documenting cultural knowledge for future generations. In 1914, he began working as a translator and ethnographer with Marius Barbeau at the Geological Survey of Canada, interviewing chiefs and elders in Lax Kw’alaams, a field season that Wilson Duff later called “one of the most productive in the history of North American anthropology” (Halpin & Seguin, 1990). In 1916, he continued this work independently among other surrounding nations, surviving a measles epidemic and even a ten-day shipwreck with Chief Seeks. Throughout the 1920s, he worked with elders recording songs, histories, and ceremonial laws. Between 1918 and 1924, he also collected artifacts along the coast for Henry Wellcome, working as his local representative at Metlakatla, Alaska. From 1929 until 1956, he sent thousands of pages of field notes to Barbeau, documenting every part of , Ts'msyen Gitxsan, and Nisga’a life, governance systems, clan genealogies, totem pole histories, and ceremonial laws. One of his most famous works is his 200-page account of a four-day potlatch and totem pole raising in Gitsegukla in 1945, published as Potlatch at Gitsegukla (Anderson & Halpin, 2000).
Beynon also collaborated closely with the foremost anthropologists of his era. Between 1932 and 1939, he sent about 250 transcribed stories to Franz Boas, which are now known as the Beynon Manuscripts and are held at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In the early 1930s, he worked with Viola Garfield in Lax Kw’alaams; many pages of her doctoral field notebooks are written in Beynon’s own hand, and her dissertation and first book were based on their joint work. In 1953, he worked with Philip Drucker of the Smithsonian Institution, writing an extensive (still unpublished) synthesis of the complex family histories of Tsimshianic-speaking peoples. His work with Barbeau alone contributed to what Wilson Duff called “one of the most productive field seasons in the history of North American anthropology” (Halpin & Seguin, 1990). These collaborations weren’t supplementary; in many cases, it was Beynon’s deep knowledge, his linguistic fluency, and his documentation of rituals, genealogy, totem pole stories, clan laws, and potlatch protocols that made the scholarly work possible, and made it authentic.
Beynon also helped shape Indigenous political movements. In 1931, he co-founded the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia in Lax Kw’alaams, the province’s first Indigenous political organization, which played a central role in winning the right to vote and advancing civil rights for Indigenous peoples. His careful documentation of hereditary rights, oral law, and Adaawx later helped support oral history research used in major legal and treaty processes, including the Nisga’a Treaty and landmark cases like Calder v. British Columbia (AG) (1973). Today, Beynon’s work is recognized as one of the largest and most complete ethnographic archives ever created about any Indigenous Nation on the Northwest Coast. His field notes are preserved in major institutions including the Barbeau-Beynon Collection at the Canadian Museum of History, the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and the American Philosophical Society. Linguists such as Tonya Stebbins and Birgit Hellwig have noted that his Sm’algya̱x manuscripts are now essential tools for revitalizing the Tsimshian language. In 2023, several reels of his original notes were rediscovered at Tea Creek Farm, described as a “de facto repatriation” of his work back to his people. Though he had no formal academic training, many scholars believe Beynon should have been awarded an honorary doctorate for the scale, precision, and cultural depth of his life’s work. His contributions continue to shape cultural revitalization, education, and sovereignty movements across the Northwest Coast, and his legacy lives on through the work of his descendants who carry forward the stories, language, and teachings he so carefully preserved.
References
Although he worked for many years in the fishing and canning industries, Beynon devoted his life to recording and safeguarding his people’s Adaawx (sacred oral histories) and documenting cultural knowledge for future generations. In 1914, he began working as a translator and ethnographer with Marius Barbeau at the Geological Survey of Canada, interviewing chiefs and elders in Lax Kw’alaams, a field season that Wilson Duff later called “one of the most productive in the history of North American anthropology” (Halpin & Seguin, 1990). In 1916, he continued this work independently among other surrounding nations, surviving a measles epidemic and even a ten-day shipwreck with Chief Seeks. Throughout the 1920s, he worked with elders recording songs, histories, and ceremonial laws. Between 1918 and 1924, he also collected artifacts along the coast for Henry Wellcome, working as his local representative at Metlakatla, Alaska. From 1929 until 1956, he sent thousands of pages of field notes to Barbeau, documenting every part of , Ts'msyen Gitxsan, and Nisga’a life, governance systems, clan genealogies, totem pole histories, and ceremonial laws. One of his most famous works is his 200-page account of a four-day potlatch and totem pole raising in Gitsegukla in 1945, published as Potlatch at Gitsegukla (Anderson & Halpin, 2000).
Beynon also collaborated closely with the foremost anthropologists of his era. Between 1932 and 1939, he sent about 250 transcribed stories to Franz Boas, which are now known as the Beynon Manuscripts and are held at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In the early 1930s, he worked with Viola Garfield in Lax Kw’alaams; many pages of her doctoral field notebooks are written in Beynon’s own hand, and her dissertation and first book were based on their joint work. In 1953, he worked with Philip Drucker of the Smithsonian Institution, writing an extensive (still unpublished) synthesis of the complex family histories of Tsimshianic-speaking peoples. His work with Barbeau alone contributed to what Wilson Duff called “one of the most productive field seasons in the history of North American anthropology” (Halpin & Seguin, 1990). These collaborations weren’t supplementary; in many cases, it was Beynon’s deep knowledge, his linguistic fluency, and his documentation of rituals, genealogy, totem pole stories, clan laws, and potlatch protocols that made the scholarly work possible, and made it authentic.
Beynon also helped shape Indigenous political movements. In 1931, he co-founded the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia in Lax Kw’alaams, the province’s first Indigenous political organization, which played a central role in winning the right to vote and advancing civil rights for Indigenous peoples. His careful documentation of hereditary rights, oral law, and Adaawx later helped support oral history research used in major legal and treaty processes, including the Nisga’a Treaty and landmark cases like Calder v. British Columbia (AG) (1973). Today, Beynon’s work is recognized as one of the largest and most complete ethnographic archives ever created about any Indigenous Nation on the Northwest Coast. His field notes are preserved in major institutions including the Barbeau-Beynon Collection at the Canadian Museum of History, the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and the American Philosophical Society. Linguists such as Tonya Stebbins and Birgit Hellwig have noted that his Sm’algya̱x manuscripts are now essential tools for revitalizing the Tsimshian language. In 2023, several reels of his original notes were rediscovered at Tea Creek Farm, described as a “de facto repatriation” of his work back to his people. Though he had no formal academic training, many scholars believe Beynon should have been awarded an honorary doctorate for the scale, precision, and cultural depth of his life’s work. His contributions continue to shape cultural revitalization, education, and sovereignty movements across the Northwest Coast, and his legacy lives on through the work of his descendants who carry forward the stories, language, and teachings he so carefully preserved.
References
- Anderson, M. S., & Halpin, M. (Eds.). (2000). Potlatch at Gitsegukla: William Beynon’s 1945 field notebooks. UBC Press.
- Beynon, W. (1941). The Tsimshians of Metlakatla, Alaska. American Anthropologist, 43(1), 83–88.
- Duff, W. (1964). The Indian History of British Columbia: The Impact of the White Man. BC Provincial Museum.
- Halpin, M., & Seguin, M. (1990). Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan. In W. Suttles (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 7. Northwest Coast (pp. 267–284). Smithsonian Institution.
- MacDonald, G. F., & Cove, J. J. (Eds.). (1987). Tsimshian Narratives: Collected by Marius Barbeau and William Beynon (Vols. 1–2). Canadian Museum of Civilization.
- Neylan, S. (2003). The Heavens Are Changing: Nineteenth-Century Protestant Missions and Tsimshian Christianity. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Stebbins, T., & Hellwig, B. (2010). Documenting and revitalizing Sm’algya̱x: Lessons from historical manuscripts. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2010(202), 145–163.
