Matilda "Tillie" (Kinnon) Paul Tamaree | Alaska Women's Hall Of Fame

MATILDA (Kinnon) PAUL TAMAREE , "Tillie"

CLASS OF 2025

ACHIEVEMENTS

• First Native Missionary Educator
• Tlingit Language And Culture
• Advocate For Civil Rights

DATES

Born: 1863
Inducted: 2025
Deceased: 1952

REGION

Southeast

HERITAGE / CULTURAL ENTITY

Tlingit/Scottish

MATILDA (Kinnon) PAUL TAMAREE , "Tillie"

CLASS OF 2025

Matilda “Tillie” Kinnon Paul Tamaree was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to Xutxoox, Teeyhittaan, Tlingit, and James Kinnon, Scottish, Hudson’s Bay Company fur trader. As a child, her mother, ill with tuberculosis, transported Tillie and her sister by canoe through the Inside Passage—nearly 800 miles—to Wrangell to be raised within their Tlingit culture by her aunt Xoonselat and uncle Yukayas Yoosnook (“Chief Snook”). They made sure she had an idyllic and privileged Tlingit childhood.
In her early teens, Tamaree deliberately chose the missionary path over arranged marriage. She attended Amanda McFarland’s Presbyterian School in Wrangell, where she became fluent in English and began translating hymns and teachings into Tlingit for local missionary work. In 1882, she married Louis Francis Paul; they became the first Alaska Native couple commissioned by the Presbyterian Board as missionary educators, teaching in Klukwan and across the Tongass.
Louis Paul died in 1887. Sheldon Jackson invited widowed Tamaree to Sitka as an interpreter, seamstress, teacher, nurse, matron, organist, and co-creator of a Tlingit writing system.
Later, she married William Tamaree and co-founded a temperance group that evolved into the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. In 1922, she accompanied Tlingit elder Charlie Jones, Chief Shakes IV, who was denied the vote; both were indicted. Her son William Paul successfully defended them. U.S. Judge Thomas Reed’s ruling recognized Natives, meeting Dawes Act criteria, were U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment—a civil rights landmark credited to Tamaree’s moral leadership.
In 1931, Tamaree became the first Alaska Native woman ordained a Presbyterian elder. Her decisions—to become Alaska’s first Native missionary educator, preserve Tlingit language and culture, advocate civil rights, and mentor future leaders—have had a lasting impact on Alaska Native communities and the empowerment of Native women.

View Extended Bio

Extended Bio

As a child, her mother, ill with tuberculosis, transported her and her sister by canoe through the Inside Passage—nearly 800 miles—to Wrangell to be raised within their Tlingit culture by her aunt Xoonselat and uncle Yukayas Yoosnook (“Chief Snook”). They made sure she had an idyllic and privileged Tlingit childhood. In her early teens, Paul Tamaree (known as Kinnon) deliberately chose the missionary path over arranged marriage. She attended Amanda McFarland’s Presbyterian School in Wrangell, where she became fluent in English and began translating hymns and teachings into Tlingit for local missionary work. In 1882, she married Louis Francis Paul; they became the first Alaska Native couple commissioned by the Presbyterian Board as missionary educators, teaching in Klukwan and across the Tongass. Louis Paul died in 1887. Sheldon Jackson invited widowed Tamaree (known as Paul) to Sitka as an interpreter, seamstress, teacher, nurse, matron, organist, and co-creator of a Tlingit writing system. Later, she married William Tamaree and co-founded a temperance group that evolved into the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. In 1922, she accompanied Tlingit elder Charlie Jones, Chief Shakes IV, who was denied the vote; both were indicted. Her son William Paul successfully defended them. U.S. Judge Thomas Reed’s ruling recognized Natives, meeting Dawes Act criteria, were U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment—a civil rights landmark credited to Paul Tamaree’s moral leadership. In 1931, she became the first Alaska Native woman ordained a Presbyterian elder. Her decisions—to become Alaska’s first Native missionary educator, preserve Tlingit language and culture, advocate for civil rights, and mentor future leaders—have had a lasting impact on Alaska Native communities and the empowerment of Native women.

Extended bio
Matilda “Tillie” Kinnon Paul Tamaree (January 18, 1863 – August 20, 1952)—though in our Tlingit stories, her name is Kahtahah (Kah-tah-ah), was short for Kahkleyudt, a man’s name that was given to her by Aunt Xoonselat. “Because even though she was quite young, there was strength already apparent in her nature.” Kahkleyudt found the name too hard to say with her baby tongue, and it came out Kahtahah, which she was and still is known by. She was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to Xutxoox, of the Teeyhittaan Tlingit clan, and James Kinnon, a Scottish fur trader with the Hudson’s Bay Company. When her mother fell gravely ill with tuberculosis, she arranged what must have been a perilous and loving journey: herself and her two daughters traversed nearly 800 miles by canoe along the Inside Passage to Wrangell, so that her children would be raised in their Tlingit culture. There, her aunt, Xoonselat, and uncle, Yukayas Yoosnook (Chief Snook), raised her with profound cultural grounding and the tender support that shaped her early years. When she was about twelve, Tameree (known as Kinnon) found herself at a crossroads—offered a marriage to a much older Tsimshian chief, she faced immense pressure rooted in tradition. Recognizing her inner conflict, her uncle, Chief Snook, afforded her a rare and powerful gift for a young Alaska Native woman of her time: the freedom to choose her own path. Instead of accepting the arranged marriage, Tameree (known as Kinnon) chose the Christian path—she embraced the missionary life offered by Presbyterian educators, a decision that allowed her to pursue faith-led service and education on her own terms rather than submitting to a union she did not believe in. As a teenager, she attended Amanda McFarland’s Presbyterian Home and School for Girls in Wrangell, where she gained fluency in English, deepened her Christian faith, and began translating hymns and religious teachings into Tlingit and Tlingit stories into English, helping bridge spiritual worlds for her people. In 1882, she married Louis Francis Paul, and together they became the first Alaska Native couple to be commissioned by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions as missionary educators. In Klukwan and across the Tongass, they taught with minimal resources—just twelve textbooks for dozens of students—visiting homes and sharing both academic and spiritual instruction. A story was shared with Meda Dewitt, granddaughter to Metilda Paul Tameree, about her work in Klukwan. It was said that the community took down the church bell and threw it into the river. She, her husband, and their helpers had to retrieve the bell from the river and reinstall it on the schoolhouse. The community threw it back into the river not only once, but twice more. After the third time, they recognized and respected her tenacity and decided that they would allow their children to learn the white man’s ways with the intent that they would eventually beat them at their own game.” When Louis tragically died in 1887, his boat went down, and he drowned while scouting for a new school site. Paul Tamaree was widowed, with three young sons to care for. Hearing of her situation and knowing about her upstanding nature, Sheldon Jackson invited her to move to Sitka, where she grew into a multifaceted leader through her dedicated service as an interpreter, seamstress, teacher, nurse, matron of the girls’ dormitory, organist, lecturer, and translator. She and Fanny Willard worked together to co-create a Tlingit writing system and a Tlingit dictionary. In 2006 a personal communication shared with Meda Dewitt, great-grand daughter about Paul Tamaree, “On Sundays, she would interpret alongside the paster giving the sermon. She knew the old stories and would sometimes use a correlating Raven Story that had the same lessons as to the biblical story being shared that day.” While in Sitka, she also lectured on Tlingit culture, published in The North Star, and helped preserve Tlingit religious and cultural heritage by translating hymns still in use today. Later, she married William Tamaree (with whom she had daughters), and in 1905, she co-founded the New Covenant Legion with George Beck, a Native Christian temperance organization. This group later became the foundation for the acclaimed Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, which was pivotal to the Alaska Native civil rights movement. One of Paul Tamaree’s most courageous moments came in 1922, when Tlingit elder Charley “Chief Shakes” Jones was denied the right to vote. Paul Tamaree, ever committed to justice, accompanied him back to the polling place, demanded his vote be accepted, and when they were arrested for “inducing an Indian to vote,” she stood firm. William Paul, her son, defended both his mother and his father-in-law in court, and U.S. District Judge Thomas Reed ruled that under the 14th Amendment and the Dawes Act, native-born Natives like Charley were U.S. citizens, striking down discriminatory territorial voting requirements. Both were acquitted—a landmark victory that led the way to the broader Native citizenship rights of 1924. Finally, in 1931, Paul Tamaree made history once more, becoming the first Alaska Native woman ordained as an elder in the Alaska Northwest Synod of the Presbyterian Church, affirming her spiritual leadership and cultural bridge-building. She passed away in 1952 in Wrangell, leaving behind a legacy not only embodied in her children—most notably William Paul, the first Native attorney and legislator in Alaska—but through institutions and movements shaped by her influence, including the Tillie Paul Infirmary at Sheldon Jackson College, named in her honor in 1979; and a 1997 children’s book, Kahtahah, published by Frances Lackey Paul, based on her early life. Tillie Paul Tamaree’s bold acts of translation, teaching, civil rights advocacy, and spiritual leadership have rippled through generations. “As her descendant, Meda Dewitt, said, “I admire and look up to the spirit she embodied: a strong Tlingit woman who asserted her culture while bridging worlds, mentoring future leaders through both teaching and example, and helping to carve out justice in a time when the path was uncertain. Matilda “Tillie” Kinnon Paul Tamaree’s life reminds me that our voices matter—not just in the classroom or the pulpit, but in the courtroom and the ballot box, and above all, in the stories we pass on.” References Wikipedia, Tillie Paul and William Paul (attorney) Wikipedia+1 Voices of Sheldon Jackson School (“Biography, Archaeology, Preservation”) sjvoices.org Kiddle “Facts for Kids” (concise biographical overview) Kiddle Wrangell History Unlocked, episode “Tillie Paul-Tamaree & The Right to Vote” Wrangell History Unlocked SitNews article, “The Toilet Paper Defense” recounting William Paul’s courtroom strategy ICT Presbyterian Historical Society Blog, “Tillie Paul Tamaree & the Tlingit Community” Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Sealaska Heritage Institute educational unit on ANB/ANS and citizenship 

Sources:
Matilda “Tillie” Kinnon Paul Tamaree (January 18, 1863 – August 20, 1952) was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to Xutxoox, Teeyhittaan, Tlingit, and James Kinnon, Scottish, Hudson’s Bay Company fur trader. As a child, her mother, ill with tuberculosis, transported Tillie and her sister by canoe through the Inside Passage—nearly 800 miles—to Wrangell to be raised within their Tlingit culture by her aunt Xoonselat and uncle Yukayas Yoosnook (“Chief Snook”). They made sure she had an idyllic and privileged Tlingit childhood. In her early teens, Tamaree deliberately chose the missionary path over arranged marriage. She attended Amanda McFarland’s Presbyterian School in Wrangell, where she became fluent in English and began translating hymns and teachings into Tlingit for local missionary work. In 1882, she married Louis Francis Paul; they became the first Alaska Native couple commissioned by the Presbyterian Board as missionary educators, teaching in Klukwan and across the Tongass. Louis Paul died in 1887. Sheldon Jackson invited widowed Tamaree to Sitka as an interpreter, seamstress, teacher, nurse, matron, organist, and co-creator of a Tlingit writing system. Later, she married William Tamaree and co-founded a temperance group that evolved into the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. In 1922, she accompanied Tlingit elder Charlie Jones, Chief Shakes IV, who was denied the vote; both were indicted. Her son William Paul successfully defended them. U.S. Judge Thomas Reed’s ruling recognized Natives, meeting Dawes Act criteria, were U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment—a civil rights landmark credited to Tamaree’s moral leadership. In 1931, Tamaree became the first Alaska Native woman ordained a Presbyterian elder. Her decisions—to become Alaska’s first Native missionary educator, preserve Tlingit language and culture, advocate civil rights, and mentor future leaders—have had a lasting impact on Alaska Native communities and the empowerment of Native women.