How does Kelseyville sound as Xabenapo?
In the Sept. 27 Record Bee, the person who has instigated the name change says, “I would see honor in bringing back the original name Xabenapo.” Instead of Kelseyville, we would have Xabenapo Lumber Co., Xabenapo Pharmacy., Xabenapo Pear Festival, Xabenapo High School and my address and thousands of others would be Xabenapo, California.
According to Blue Wolf”s Oct. 6 letter in the Record-Bee, “Very simply ? native people do not view or feel that history is disconnected from the present.”
Recently I visited the Bloody Island monument on Highway 20 near Upper Lake. I was really shocked that just down the road was the thriving Robinson Rancheria Casino and this historical monument was a bronze plaque attached to an insignificant rock.
The wording on the plaque was very harsh with the total horror of all that had taken place many years ago. I felt such empathy for them that it made me shudder. If these are your beloved ancestors, then give them a proper grave marker. I have seen lovely sweet markers that say how much the deceased was loved, cherished and would never be forgotten.
Therefore, I envision a grave marker that would have a beautiful Indian or something that the Indians revere, along with beautiful words, maybe even some in their native tongue. They could then go to the marker and find comfort and say prayers.
If you have been reading the letters to the editor, you can see the anger, frustration, resentment and division this name change proposal is causing among us.
Many people of my culture want to live with the familiar town name of Kelseyville. We were not there so long ago and don”t know how or why this name was chosen, but I don”t think of it anymore as an honor to Andrew Kelsey.
Many who have the name of Kelsey are fine decent people. Even an Elem Pomo woman who lives in this area has the name Loretta Kelsey. One of the first letters in response to the name change was by an Indian Janette Johns. She said, “If Clayton Duncan is so outraged, he can honor his ancestors by constructing a monument dedicated to those Native Americans that retaliated and did receive justice for there people by the death of Andrew Kelsey and Charles Stone.”
There was one more poignant quote written in a letter by Eric M. Graybill, an Indian who wrote from Texas. He grew up here and attended Kelseyville High School. He ended his letter with, ?”Please do not give in, good people of Kelseyville. To succumb to this re-label would be to forget who you are and to trudge regrettably into a future where my past can no longer be found on any map.”
At the bridge entrance to Kelseyville stands a monument telling the history about Kelsey and Stone. It does not condemn or condone but tells just the facts. It was dedicated May 30, 1950.
Lorna D. Young
Kelseyville
