Marietta Palmer Wetherill

Marietta Palmer Wetherill (October 5, 1876 – July 11, 1954) was an American amateur anthropologist and rancher. She studied the lives, traditions, and customs of the Navajo peoples. She was the wife of Richard Wetherill, who has received credit for “discovering”  ancient sites associated with the Anasazi peoples. Marietta was the mother of seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood.

Early life and marriage

Marietta Palmer was born in 1876 in Serena, Illinois. Her father, Sidney LaVerne Palmer, was a musician who spent time playing for John Phillip Sousa. Her mother, Elizabeth Ann Hoag, attended the New England Conservatory of Music. Marietta, her parents, and her brother and sister were all musical. She was proficient with stringed instruments and brass instruments; she also played the piano and the organ. Marietta received some formal education at the Chicago School for Dramatic Art. Marietta’s father had a traveling wagon made for the family. Using this wagon, Marietta, her mother, father, and siblings would periodically travel throughout the American West, playing for both white and Native audiences. Marietta Palmer met Richard Wetherill when she stayed at his parents’ ranch near Mesa Verde while the Palmers were attempting to see the Mesa Verde ruins. She married Richard, who was a rancher, guide, and amateur archaeologist, on December 12, 1896 in Sacramento, California.

Life in the American West

In 1897, Marietta and Richard moved to the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Richard searched for Native remains, and Marietta accompanied him on many of his ventures. However, she was more interested in the traditions and daily lives of the living Navajo than searching for the graves of ancient peoples. She could speak the Navajo language fluently. In 1908, Marietta was adopted by the Navajo into the Chee clan.

In addition to running the Wetherill household, Marietta  spent much of her time exploring. She made friends with many of the Navajo women and men living in the area. She visited them, supplied them with food, and learned from them. They mutually assisted each other with their births and in other urgent medical situations; since there were no medical professionals in the area, this help could mean the difference between life and death. In return, the Navajos shared their stories with her.

Marietta was extremely upset by the Compulsory Indian Education Act. She assisted several Navajos to locate their children by writing letters to the school authorities, and tracking down missing children. Often the children had died while separated from their parents.

In 1905 Richard, his brother Winslow, and his wife Marietta displayed an exhibition at the St. Louis World's Fair. They brought 16 Navajo with them to St. Louis. The Navajo demonstrated their dancing, silver-making and blanket-weaving techniques.

The Wetherills’ ranch came to comprise approximately 1000 acres. In addition to their ranching activities, the Wetherills maintained a trading post, trading in sheep and goatskins, livestock, silver, and Native artifacts such as blankets, baskets, and arrowheads. Richard (and occasionally Marietta) also guided teams of explorers and amateur archaeologists in their search for the remains of ancient Native peoples. From 1896 to 1901, the Wetherills were closely associated with the Hyde Exploring Expedition. Marietta kept the records of the discoveries made and the items that were looted. She worked with Dr. Aleš Hrdlička from 1899 until 1904, assisting him in his efforts to determine the Navajos’ racial origins.

Children

Marietta had seven children. Richard, born in 1898; Elizabeth, born in 1900; Robert, born in 1902; Marion, born in 1907; and Ruth, who was born in 1910. In 1911, Ruth died, possibly after eating unfamiliar plants, at the age of 1 year. Marietta also had 2 stillborn children, both boys.

Richard Wetherill's murder

In 1910, Richard Wetherill was shot to death at or near the Wetherill homestead. There are varying accounts of his murder. Most of these agree that Weatherill was shot by a member of the Navajo tribe known as Chiishchili Biye’, or Chis-chilling-begay. The motive for Weatherill’s shooting is not clear. Many of the eyewitness accounts cite a dispute over a horse. There are also contemporaneous accounts indicating that the local Indian Agent, Samuel F. Statcher, wanted the Wetherills’ land for public use and supplied false information to the Navajos, inciting their anger towards Wetherill.

After Richard Weatherill’s death, Marietta discovered that the ranch was insolvent. She sold many of the artifacts that they had kept in order to pay off debts and to pay for her court case. She was determined that  Chiishchili Biye’ should be punished for his act. However, she regarded the Indian Agent, Samuel F. Stacher, and William T. Shelton (the superintendent of the local Indian School) as the true architects of Weatherill’s murder.

After Richard’s death, Marietta and her children moved many times, initially to various sites near Cuba, New Mexico. They raised horses and cattle, grew fruit trees, wheat, and oats, and even kept a large flock of ducks. She later moved back to Arizona, and then to Utah.

Death

In her later years, Marietta lived for some years with her son, Richard II, and his wife and family in California. Her four living children later built her a house in Albuquerque. She died in her sleep at that house, on July 11, 1954. In accordance with her wishes, her ashes were buried in Richard Wetherill’s grave near the site of their ranch in New Mexico.

Writings

Marietta left behind a collection of largely Navajo items: baskets, clothing, figurines, blankets and other textiles, and jewelry.  These were donated, at her request, to the University of New Mexico. New Mexico Archives Online also holds a small collection of her drawings, documentation of various rituals, and several letters. Marietta had a large personal collection of pot and pitcher handles, which she believed were sent to the Smithsonian. However, because they were not donated under her name, this is impossible to verify.