- S’Klallam and Chemakum Indian tribes on Olympic Peninsula when Jarman settled there in 1848-52 (skagitriverjournal.com)
We spun this story off from the William “Blanket Bill” Jarman biography in order to address the considerable confusion and contradiction in various accounts about the tribes present on the Olympic Peninsula when Jarman settled there temporarily, off and on, in the period 1848-52. The contradictions were present in both the contemporary U.S. Government documents of that time, private writing later in the century and books by various historians between then and now. In our review, we will also explain the genealogy of Alice, Jarman’s wife and companion for the next three decades. She and the Indians that Jarman met in that period helped shape both his life and the legends about him.
- William Robert “Blanket Bill” Jarman, 1820-1912, lord of Jarman Prairie and first permanent Whatcom/Skagit settler — Part One (skagitriverjournal.com)
William “Blanket Bill” Jarman was one of those frontier characters who became famous by inventing and reinventing themselves several times over. That reinvention and redemption has become almost a cliche about the famous Western historical figures, but Bill made an art of it. His nickname is derived from one of the tall tales he loved to spin, a legacy from being a sailor in both the Atlantic and Pacific who deserted from the British Navy at least once and covered his tracks with more than one conflicting scenario. Born an Englishmen at Grave’s End on the Thames River near London, probably in 1820, he would make his mark by being one of the very first European settlers in northwestern Washington Territory and the first to live among Indians for a sustained period.