The Power of the Missing Image: Finding Sixes Mary

In Sixes Mary: A Kwatami Ancestor's Story (Part 2), we used a photograph of Julia Megginson to help visualize what Sixes Mary might have looked like—and since then, we've even uncovered a clearer, high-quality version of the image from Oregon Coast History. For the longest time, all we ever knew of her was the name Mary Wilson. Lacking a last name or any known family connections, I started calling her "Sixes Mary" as a fitting tribute—much like Sixes Julia—just to anchor her to her homeland.

But now, a new piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, and the story has taken an incredible turn. DNA evidence has added a profound biological layer to the history, revealing that these two contemporary women from the Kwatami-Sixes band weren’t just sharing a community and an era—they were closely related kinfolk all along.

When a new 15 cM DNA match popped up in my mom's dna results, it opened up a fascinating genealogical investigation. Following the paper trail upward, the dna match descends from Sixes Julia (born Feb 1838, died Sept 1930) through her daughter Annie Megginson. Meanwhile, my mom descends from Sixes Mary (born c. 1839, died April 1896) through Abbie Wilson.

With both women born just a year apart and their descendants sitting squarely in the same generation, it raised the big question: How exactly were Sixes Mary and Sixes Julia connected? Could they have been sisters? An aunt-and-niece pair? Or something else entirely?

In this photo we see Julia Megginson at her home, on the Megginson / Briggs ranch in Agate Beach. The date range of the photo is 1907.

Running the genetic math quickly rules out full sisterhood or a direct aunt-niece relationship—a 15 cM shared segment at that ancestral level is far too small for direct siblings, whose shared DNA would be exponentially higher. Instead, that match points straight to them being close cousins who shared grandparents. Within the tight-knit, endogamous kinship networks of the Tututni band along the southern Oregon coast, families frequently intertwined through multiple lines.

Hypothetical cousin connection between Sixes Julia and Sixes Mary based on DNA evidence and shared Kwatami ancestry.

Because historical accounts place Sixes Julia's roots in the Floras Creek area, it sheds fascinating light on our Sixes Mary—often known in the records as Maria of Sixes. While we're leaving the exact parental branches open in our tree for now, the deep intermarriage between the Floras Creek and Sixes River communities means these families shared both bloodlines and landscapes.

Finding this genetic bridge doesn't just validate our family tree—it brings those historical ties to life. Using Sixes Julia's photograph as a contemporary proxy wasn't just a practical stand-in; it turns out we were looking at a member of the same extended family all along. Looking at this striking photograph of Sixes Julia, it is such a powerful feeling to imagine her cousin Sixes Mary dressed in the exact same traditional attire.

The DNA matches pointing squarely to the Kwatami—further anchored by shared DNA connections through cousins whose lines trace to Charles Depoe's wife, carrying known Kwatami lineage—turn what started as an archival search into a living family network. What an amazing find in our DNA research, with a few more fascinating connections still waiting to be explored in these lineages as the story of Sixes Mary and her kin continues to unfold.

Researcher's Note: As this investigation continues, an interesting genealogical layer remains to be fully mapped: while Ensalsun's mother carried Kwatami lineage and connects to Old Whiskers, all of the current shared DNA matches point directly to descendants of Mary Wilson—along with a few added matches outside our direct ancestors that are still actively being researched. Untangling how these various familial and geographic lines intersect will be the next fascinating challenge to solve!

A Final Artistic Echo: As an incredible final twist to this discovery, my cousin's father, Erin Case, previously painted a mural featuring Julia Megginson—and right alongside her on the same walls, he included Miss Aurilla Buffalo, daughter of Susun Fisher. Painted long before we understood the full scope of our family tree, it turns out these two ancestral figures were brought together by family hands without even knowing the connection at the time. Seven generations later, little Miss Aurilla Buffalo represents her Tututni roots in her traditional dress. While a direct photograph of our Sixes Mary still eludes us, looking at these two women—Sixes Julia and Miss Aurilla Buffalo—side-by-side on those walls feels like seeing our family's story told in living color.