author
Myron Eells
1843–1907
A pioneering missionary and careful chronicler of the Pacific Northwest, he left behind a vivid record of Indigenous life, language, and early regional history. His work still matters for what it preserves about Washington Territory in the nineteenth century.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born on October 7, 1843, at the Tshimakain Mission near present-day Spokane, he was the son of pioneer missionaries Cushing and Myra Eells. He studied at Pacific University and Hartford Theological Seminary, then returned to the Northwest to serve as a Congregational missionary.
He is especially remembered for his years at Skokomish, where he worked among Native communities and wrote extensively about the people, languages, and history of the region. Alongside his missionary work, he became a prolific collector and scholar whose notes, articles, and books helped preserve important information about the Indigenous peoples of Puget Sound and the broader Pacific Northwest.
He died on January 4, 1907. His papers, books, and collections were significant enough that they later became an important part of the historical and archival resources at Whitman College, helping keep his record of the nineteenth-century Northwest available to later readers and researchers.