Part I: Who is En-sal-sun Selsic?

Part I: Who is En-sal-sun Selsic?

Series: The Life and Legacy of En-sal-sun Selsic

• Part I: Part I: Who is En-sal-sun Selsic? (This post)

• Part II: Part II: What does En-sal-sun mean?

• Part III: Part III: (Coming soon!)

Computer Generated image depicting the connection of  the meaning of En-sal-sun's name to his Village.

There is a profound, layered significance to his identity: 

En-sal-sun, his personal name, translates to 'He steps across,' mirroring his role as a diplomat and a navigator of boundaries. This same concept is reflected in the geography of his homeland. Whether at his ancestral village site or the vital trade hub at the confluence of the Rogue and Illinois rivers, the landscape itself—a place where people 'stepped across' and traversed the waters—perfectly mirrored his life’s work. This shared language between the man and the land suggests that a leader’s identity was deeply intertwined with the very terrain his community called home.

His Ancestral Homeland

Chief En-sal-sun's ancestoral homeland 

Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn was the heart of his family’s identity and territory. Additionally, while the Mikonotunne band maintained a crucial diplomatic and trade hub at the forks of the Rogue and Illinois Rivers—the area known today as Agness—their primary ancestral territory was more expansive.

Who was En-sal-sun's family?

His family included his wife, Ella, and their two children, Antone and Nellie Selsic.

Early Oregonian Index

Indigenous Name:

Chief En-sal-sun was a Native American chief and delegate of the Mack-a-no-tin (Mikonotunne) band of the Tututni (Tootootoney) tribe. 

In Tututni culture, and among many Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, names were deeply meaningful, often reflecting a person’s role, character, or life journey rather than being static labels assigned at birth.

How were names given?

A Life-Long Journey: In many traditions, individuals might receive multiple names throughout their lives. A childhood name was often given shortly after birth, but as a person grew, earned status, or achieved significant milestones, they would receive new names to reflect those changes.

En-sal-sun's Role as a Chief:

In Tututni culture, leadership was not inherited automatically by bloodline, nor did a chief (wăng-ĕ) rule with absolute authority like a king or a military general. Instead, a chief’s influence was earned and maintained through wealth, generosity, wisdom, and diplomacy.

Here is what a Tututni chief’s life and responsibilities actually looked like:

• Leadership Through Generosity: Status in the community was tied directly to material wealth—measured in highly prized dentalium shell currency, finely woven obsidian blades, and sea otter pelts. However, a chief could not simply hoard this wealth. A true leader was expected to be the ultimate provider, using their resources to support those in need, sponsor large communal feasts, and fund major projects like building massive split-cedar dugout canoes or tidal fish weirs. If a chief was stingy or greedy, their influence evaporated, and families would simply move to a different village site.

• The Diplomat and Peacemaker: A chief rarely dictated laws. Instead, they acted as judges and arbitrators. Under the traditional legal system, crimes or family feuds were settled through financial restitution ("blood money") paid in dentalium shells to the victim’s family. A chief’s primary job was to step into tense disputes, negotiate a fair price to prevent a full-blown war between clans, and often pay a portion of the compensation out of his own pocket to maintain peace.

• Guardians of the Land: Chiefs acted as stewards of the environment, managing the community’s rights to highly productive resource zones. For the Mikonotunne, this meant protecting the prime salmon-fishing riffles at the Agness confluence, seasonal acorn-gathering groves, and the hunting grounds in the surrounding mountain canyons.

• Orators and Spokesmen: Because every major community decision required the consensus of the village elders and headmen, a chief had to be an exceptional public speaker and persuader.

When Chief En-sal-sun stepped forward to negotiate and sign the Oregon Coast Treaty of 1855, he was fulfilling this exact cultural role: acting as the diplomatic voice and protective shield for the Mikonotunne people, using his leadership status to try to secure a stable, recognized future for his village at the forks of the river.

Was En-sal-sun a Warrior chief?:

While records do not label En-sal-sun a 'warrior' in the military sense, his actions during the 1855 treaty negotiations were a form of profound resistance. By stepping forward to negotiate for the safe passage and survival of his people, he exercised a different kind of bravery—one dedicated to the preservation of his community under the existential threat of war and forced removal.

Treaty Signer:

He is historically recognized for signing the Oregon Coast Treaty of 1855 (also known as the Treaty with the Indians along the Coast of Oregon). 

Oregon Coast Tribes Treaty of 1855 (Unratified)

The Agreement: Signed in the summer of 1855, this treaty brought together the confederated bands of the Tututni, Coquille, and Chetco tribes.

The Land Cession: En-sal-sun and the other tribal leaders ceded vast ancestral territories spanning from the Coast Range mountains down to the Pacific Ocean to the United States government.

The Reserve: In exchange, the treaty provisionally designated a strip of land along the coast to serve as a permanent reservation for the tribes. 

Like many treaties from this era along the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Coast Treaty of 1855 was never ratified by the U.S. Senate. Because the federal government failed to ratify the document, the promises made to En-sal-sun and his people were largely ignored, and the coast tribes were forced to relocate to the Siletz Reservation without receiving their negotiated payments. This injustice forced their descendants to file land-claim lawsuits against the government well into the 20th century. 

While federal records often generalize the signing of the 1855 Coast Treaty as a single administrative event, our family oral history points to 'Oak Flatts' as a critical gathering place for these negotiations. For our ancestors, the treaty was not just a document signed in a remote office; it was a process that took place on the land they knew, at sites like Oak Flatts, where leaders met to discuss the future of their people. Documenting these specific local sites reminds us that the treaty was a lived experience, not just a line item in a government ledge.

Oak Flats-Below where Treaty was signed in 1855. Photo from Encampmenet August 17-19 in 1979. Courtesy of Shyla Simmons. 

En-sal-sun and a handful of other Tututni leaders refused to sign until a clause was added protecting their transportation. The proviso mandated that the U.S. government must either transport all of the tribe’s handcrafted dugout canoes to the reservation or pay full value for them. They also legally bound the government to supply fully covered boats and wagons to move the elderly, the sick, and the children safely during the removal. This demonstrates that En-sal-sun was actively negotiating for the basic survival and mobility of his people under immense pressure.

Following the unratified treaty and the Rogue River Wars (1855–1856), En-sal-sun and the surviving Mikonotunne were forcibly marched to the Coast Reservation, which later became the Siletz Reservation. 

The Wealth Paradox: In traditional Tututni culture, leadership and prestige were closely tied to individual wealth (possession of large sea-going canoes, dentalium shell currency, and dance regalia). However, this wealth carried a strict social safety net requirement: wealthy chiefs like En-sal-sun were culturally expected to feed the poor, sponsor communal dances, and share their property with anyone in need. When reservation poverty stripped them of physical wealth, it deeply fractured these traditional leadership structures.

The short answer is that while En-sal-sun and other leaders negotiated that proviso to protect the vulnerable, it was almost entirely ignored in practice.

Name Change:

Chief En-sal-sun was given the English name Frank (and the Westernized surname Selsig/Selsic) by federal Indian agents and census takers during his forced relocation and time on the Siletz Reservation.

While he signed the unratified 1855 treaty under his traditional name, government officials implemented a standard naming practice that transformed his identity for administrative records:

Simplifying Bureaucracy: Federal superintendents and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents found traditional Athabaskan names difficult to pronounce, spell, and track. They assigned short, common English first names like Frank, Jim, Bob, or John to make record-keeping easier. 

Creation of Surnames: To comply with American legal and property systems, agents converted phonetically written Native names into family surnames. In his case, En-sal-sun was adapted into Selsic. Records also include the spelling of Selsig. 

The Resulting Identity: Historical lineage and tribal ancestry documents officially record him as Chief En-sal-sun "Frank" Selsic. His children and descendants carried the Selsic surname forward through the Siletz tribal rolls. 

Siletz News 2005 page 8 

His tribal band:

The "Mack-a-no-tin" band is a phonetic, historical spelling of the Mikonotunne. 

• Meaning: The name roughly translates to "the people who live by the village at the mouth of the river" or a specific prominent creek along the Lower Rogue River basin.
• Language & Division: They were one of the seven primary divisions of the Tututni people, who spoke a dialect of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan language family. 
• Coastal Adaptations: As a Mikonotunne leader, En-sal-sun’s authority covered deep-water marine fishing, coastal foraging, and highly specialized navigation.

Subdivision of the Tututni:

Category: Tribe

Culture area: Northwest Coast

Language group: Athapaskan

Primary location: Lower Rogue River and southwest Oregon coast

The Tututni language group includes Upper Coquille, Tututni, Chasta Costa, and Chetco. All these tribes were typical of the Northwest Coast culture area with stratified societies, winter plank houses, extensive overland and water trade, and traditional forms of wealth. Only the Tututni were matrilineal. The Tututni comprised seven divisions: Kwatami, Yukichetunne, Khwaishtunnetunne, Chetleshin, Mikonotunne, Chemetunne, and Tututni. Though they were oriented toward the sea and rivers, they gained most of their food from land animals, small animals, roots, tubers, seeds, berries, nuts, and insects. Differential food and utilitarian resources encouraged trade and intermarriage.

Robert Gray first contacted and traded with these people in 1792. In 1826 the botanist David Douglas visited the Upper Umpqua. The population for these groups was greatly reduced by disease, gold seekers, and the Rogue River War of 1855-1856. Some people were settled on the Siletz and Grand Ronde Reservations and became adherents to the Ghost Dance movement after its introduction in the late 1800s.

His Ancesteral Homeland:  

Before the forced relocation, En-sal-sun’s ancestral home was the village of Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn. This site was situated on the north side of the Rogue River, precisely where Lobster Creek enters the main river, about 7 miles from the mouth. While he and his band maintained extensive ties throughout the Rogue River basin—including trade and diplomatic activities at the upstream confluence—Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn was the heart of his family’s identity and territory.

When Chief En-sal-sun signed the unratified 1855 treaty as a delegate, he did so on behalf of the people originating from this exact river-terrace village site.

While the Mikonotunne band maintained a crucial diplomatic and trade hub at the forks of the Rogue and Illinois Rivers—the area known today as Agness—their primary ancestral territory was more expansive. Their heartland reached eastward from this junction, encompassing the fertile river terraces along the Rogue River, most notably near the Lobster Creek and Skookumhouse Butte areas.

The village of Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn 

It was within this corridor that the band’s central village sites, including Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn, were situated. Rather than being confined to the confluence alone, the Mikonotunne’s territory was an interconnected landscape, allowing them to bridge the resources of the interior river canyons with the coastal routes."

The village of Mii-k'wvn-nuu-dvn—the ancestral home of Chief En-sal-sun’s family—was nestled on the north bank of the Rogue River at the mouth of Lobster Creek. This location anchored his people within a vital corridor that extended from the coast, past the strategic heights of Skookumhouse Butte, and inward toward the river’s forks. Together, these sites formed the heart of a landscape that grounded his identity and defined his people’s history.

Was En-sal-sun a part of a larger group of bands?

The Tututni (or Lower Rogue River Athabascan) tribes included the following:

• Upper Coquille (Coquille, Mishikwutinetunne) tribe,
• Shasta Costa tribe, and
• Tututni tribe, including Euchre Creek (Yukichetunne) band.

Bands of Tututni tribe include:

• • the Kwatami,
  • Tututunne,
  • Mikonotunne,
  • Chemetunne,
  • Chetleshin,
  • Kwaishtunnetunne,
  • Yukichetunne, and
  • Naltunnetunne.

Tututni tribe

"There were as many as seven Tututni groups, who were culturally related and had kinship ties. They did not, however, constitute a typical tribe because the usual sociopolitical organization, involving chiefs and governmental authority, was lacking".

I) Tututni dialect speaking:

• 1) Kwatami (Sixes) band;

• 2) Tutu-tunne (Tututunne, Tututni) band;

• 3) Mikono-tunne (Mikonotunne, Mikwunutunne, Mackanotin) band;

• 4) Cheme-tunne (Chemetunne, Joshua, Yashute) band;

• 5) Chetleshin (Pistol River) band;

• 6) Kwaish-tunne-tunne (Kwaishtunnetunne, Wishtenatin) band; and

• 7) Nal-tunne-tunne (Naltunnetunne) band;

II) Euchre Creek (Yukiche-tunne) dialect speaking:

• 8) Yukiche-tunne (Yukichetunne, Euchre Creek) band;

Reservation Life:

A surprise find with the misspelling of the Selsic name in a record for Frank's brother-in-law Charles Depoe. 

Depot Charley and Frank Silsec (Selsic) The Capital Journal 21 Jun 1888 page 1

The Whale Cove Allotment:

Growing up my Grandmother would point out that the Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint as what have been part of our families allotment. 

When the federal government eventually handed out land allotments to Siletz tribal members, Frank Selsig (recorded under this spelling) received a highly significant piece of land. His allotment specifically included the northern rim of Whale Cove (located in Lincoln County, Oregon).

 Connection to Depot Charley and Little Whale Cove

Historical documents regarding the history of Little Whale Cove confirm that Frank Selsig and his wife, Ella, received the southern portion of Little Whale Cove. This directly connects to your mention of his brother-in-law, Depot Charley (Charles Depoe), whose own family allotment was centered right around what is now the Depoe Bay harbor, extending a mile north and south.

The northern rim of Whale Cove left the Selsig/Selsic family in the early 1930s.

According to historical records from The Oregon Encyclopedia's entry on Whale Cove, a food-processing magnate named Bertrand E. Maling purchased 225 acres in the area—which included much of Whale Cove—directly from the Native property holder during that time.

Excerpt from the Oregon Oregon Encyclopedia entry on Whale Cove

Whale Cove

Because Frank Selsig (En-sal-sun) received his private allotment following the passage of the Dawes Act in 1887, the land remained with him and his family for roughly 40 to 45 years before it was sold.

These photos provide a glimpse into the history of Little Whale Cove during the days of William Depoe, the Siletz Tribe and Maling family

According to the local historical records, they definitely had a physical presence and utilized the land, though the specific types of structures differed between the families:

• The Strong Family: There is a explicit record of a homestead. After Norman Strong's allotment at Little Whale Cove was purchased by Ben Jones (and later sold to his brother, Thomas Jones), Thomas's daughter's family actively farmed at the edge of Whale Cove.

• The Selsig/Selsic Family: While the records explicitly mention that Frank Selsig and his wife Ella and their son Antone, held the allotments spanning the northern rim of Whale Cove and the southern portion of Little Whale Cove, specific architectural records of a permanent family home on that exact bluff are scarcer. However, standard practice for Siletz allotment holders at the time involved maintaining cabins, seasonal fishing camps, or small residences on their coast plots to maintain their land claims and continue traditional marine foraging.

The Allotments:

Modern Day Little Whale Cove and Whale Cove

• The Strong Family (specifically Norman Strong) held the allotment that covered the remaining portion of Little Whale Cove.

• Frank and Ella Selsic and son Antone held the property that bridged both. Their allotment specifically spanned the high northern rim of Whale Cove and extended over to encompass the southern portion of Little Whale Cove.

Attribute	Detail
Name	Frank Selsig (En-sal-sun)
Issue Date	26 Jul 1894
Place	Lincoln, Oregon, USA
Meridian	Willamette
Township	010S
Range	010W
Section	8
Accession Number	IA-0533-344

The allotment for Frank Selsig, recorded under Accession Number IA-0533-344, confirms his legal stake in the same Section 8, Township 10S, Range 10W, as his wife Ella and son Antone. This legal consistency demonstrates that the Selsig family holdings were intended to be a consolidated, contiguous estate at the northern rim of Whale Cove.

The year 1894–1895 marks the silent end of En-sal-sun’s journey. While he secured his land allotment in July 1894, he did not appear on the census conducted less than a year later, on June 30, 1895. In that brief interval, the leadership and steadying presence that defined his life transitioned into the stewardship of his wife, Ella, and their son, Antone.

It is a heartbreaking reality that land patent, issued on July 26, 1894, was intended to be the start of a new, secure chapter for En-sal-sun. But history holds a bitter irony: the very document that promised him a permanent home became his final act of state recognition. He held this land for less than a year—not long enough to clear the timber, build a cabin, or plant a garden. He passed away before the 1895 census, leaving behind a plot of land that was legally his, but which he never truly had the time to inhabit.

These coordinates define the last place my ancestor legally called their own.

1 April 2004 

The Transition of the Selsic Allotment:

When Bertrand E. Maling bought the Selsic land in the early 1930s, he immediately built a series of guest cabins right on that northern rim, capitalizing on the footprint of the cove.

1930 Whale Cove

While the land on the northern rim of Whale Cove was sold to Bertrand E. Maling in the early 1930s, Frank and Ella Selsic did not actually move away after a sale.

In fact, Frank Selsic passed away long before the land was sold. Federal census and reservation records show that Frank Selsic died in the late 1900s. Because the allotment was granted to him under the Dawes Act, the property remained tied to his estate and his heirs.

When the 225-acre tract was eventually sold to Maling in the 1930s, it was sold by his surviving Native heirs. 

Whale Cove, Circa 1940

His Legacy Continues

Because the 1855 treaty went unratified, En-sal-sun's descendants—carrying the Selsic name—spent generations fighting legal battles. The Siletz tribes organized landmark litigation through the U.S. Court of Claims during the 20th century to win compensation for the ancestral coastal territories that En-sal-sun ceded but was never paid for. Today, his lineage remains tightly woven into the cultural fabric and governance of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. If he had chosen the path of open conflict, our family story might have ended in the shadows of the Rogue River War. It is a profound realization that my own existence—and the ability to tell this story for future generations—is a direct result of the choices he made to protect his people through diplomacy rather than combat.

Further Study:

"Athapaskan Identifications of George Gibbs" (1851-1856): Gibbs was a linguist and ethnologist who recorded firsthand accounts of the Rogue River and coastal Athabaskan tribes right during the treaty era

"The Tolowa and Their Southwest Oregon Kin" by Philip Drucker (1937): This is the foundational anthropological study on the coastal Athabaskan peoples of the region. Drucker deeply documents the wăng-ĕ (chiefs), the exact mechanics of the "blood money" compensation system, and how dentalium shell currency regulated social status and wealth distribution.

 

Feedback & Corrections: I strive to ensure the historical information shared here is as accurate as possible. If you spot an error, have additional documentation, or would like to share related family history, please let me know. I welcome any corrections or insights that help deepen our understanding of this shared past.

Series Navigation:

• Part I: Who is En-sal-sun Selsic?

• Part II: The World of En-sal-sun Selsic

• Part III: The Legacy of En-sal-sun Selsic (Posted tomorrow!)

My Blog:  http://www.makingitthrough4110.com/

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A Note on the Family Story

My name is Amber Wegmuller, and this project began with a desire to uncover the voices and stories of my ancestors. My grandmother instilled in me the importance of being our family's history keeper, teaching me that our stories deserve to be remembered. As I digitize records, work on our family tree, and piece together the branches of our history, my goal is to honor the people who came before us—the ones whose resilience and stories have shaped who we are today.

Our Ancestral Lineage: This history is rooted in the deep, enduring ties of our people:

• Tututni & Kwatami (Siletz): Mikonotunne (Mackanontin), Chemetunne (Joshua), Yukichetunne (Euchre), and Sik-ses-tenne (Sixes).

• Grand Ronde: Umpqua, Shasta, Klickitat, and Lower Chinook.

Sources:

https://www.coquilletribe.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1855-Treaty.pdf

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2021242619/2005-01-01/ed-1/seq-8.pdf

https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/42/?name=_Selsic&searchMode=advanced

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/tututni

https://tututni.home.blog/

https://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/1769

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tututni

"Collecting Indian Children", The Capital Journal 21 Jun 1888, page 1

https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/whale-cove/

https://lwcha.org/about-us/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wpdms_usgs_photo_whale_cove_oregon.jpg

https://oregoncoasthistory.org/2014/02/28/whale-cove-lincoln-county-birthplace-of-the-british-empire/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rajxtSScUFw  Paradise at the Confluence: the people &stories of Agnes, OR