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Mae Timbimboo Parry: Shoshone historian (obit.)

Mae Timbimboo Parry, a Shoshone chief's great-granddaughter who helped correct history's account of the Bear River Massacre, has died.

Parry, 87, suffered from Parkinsons disease for several years, and her family had been preparing for her death, said a niece, Patty Timbimboo-Madsen.

Nonetheless, her passing leaves the family without its matron and the Northwest Band of the Shoshone without one of its clearest voices for historical accuracy.

At least 250 Shoshone men, women and children were slaughtered by the U.S. cavalry on Jan. 19, 1863. Still, for a century historians called it a "battle."

Parry insisted it be called a massacre, and spent decades telling her own people, historians and even bureaucrats in Washington the facts: that the tribe was cut down in a surprise dawn attack.

She told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2003 that her great-grandfather believed he was spared that day in order to tell the story to the generations.
Read entire article at Salt Lake Tribune