Chief Garry - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

The future Spokane Garry (whose original name has been lost to history) was born at the junction of the Spokane and the Little Spokane Rivers in or around 1811. He was the son of the tribal chief of the Middle Spokanes, whose name is given by various sources as Illim-Spokanee and Ileeum Spokanee.

When white settlers arrived in the area in 1825, the boy was one of two chosen by the Hudson's Bay Company to be taught at an Anglican mission school at Fort Garry, Rupert's Land (now Winnipeg, Manitoba), which was run by the Missionary Society of the Church of England. Before he left for Manitoba, he was renamed "Spokane Garry" in honor of his tribe and the deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, Nicholas Garry. His baptism on June 24, 1827 is said to be the first Protestant baptism of a non-white person west of the Rocky Mountains. He was accompanied by another boy known as Kootenais Pelly, who became Garry's closest friend at the school.

The students learned English at Fort Garry and were also taught new forms of survival skills. Garry enjoyed learning, but found adjusting to the new life difficult. One story relates that he was once disciplined for disobedience by being whipped with a switch while an older white student held him. Garry became afraid and clenched his teeth only to realize afterwards that he had bitten into the ear of the student holding him. The student waved off the inadvertent attack, leading Garry to realize for the first time that white settlers could be well-intentioned, but also that resistance to authority would likely be futile.

Chief Illim-Spokanee died in late 1828. When spring arrived, Garry and Pelly left the mission school and began the arduous trek back to the Spokane River so that Garry could assume the position of chief of his tribe.