his beliefs that further an understanding of who he was and, more importantly, his contribution to the evolution and development of the Gwich’in community as it has moved into the twenty-first century.
In short, Tritt must be recognized as an exceptional spiritual leader who had numerous charismatic qualities as well as unique talents and abilities in hunting, fishing, and gathering. He was—to quote one of his grandsons, now a village elder—“an amazing man. He was spiritual and traditional and he was a good hunter” (G. James 2002). Rev. Tritt (1875–1955) was the first Nets’aii Gwich’in Episcopalian deacon to come from Arctic Village. From all indications, his conversion to Christianity did not seem to occur by chance. Indeed, his father had studied under Rev. McDonald during his time in the region in the 1860s. Throughout his journals, Tritt discusses the important role his father played in imbuing him and his siblings with reverence for the Bible and its teachings.
In 1895, at the age of 20—not at the age of 15 (see McKennan 1965: 87)—or possibly as early as 1887 according to his son (see I. Tritt 1987a), Tritt saw his first Christian Bible, which made a great impression on him. He was determined to learn more, but only in 1914 did he acquire his own copy after having used others’ copies over the years. As Tritt recalls in one of his journal entries: “When I am walking I first think all about the Bible. There [are] not any boys like me [and] that is why I think about it all the time and I am learning it quick[ly]. My father tell[s] me the words that I don’t know [and] when Sunday come[s] my father talks [about] the Bible [with me]” (A. Tritt n.d.).
It is, of course, difficult in retrospect to fully analyze Albert Tritt’s attitudes or motivations during this key period. He was young, intelligent, and impressionable, seeking new insights that quite clearly resonated for him in the Gospels. However, what is notable here is that Tritt recognized Christianity by its very roots as a means to ever-greater strength and power. He had access to the Christian liturgy in Takudh (pronounced “Dago’o”), developed by the Anglican Canadian Archdeacon Robert McDonald in the 1870s. This written version of Gwich’in well served the community for decades, providing a considerable sense of spiritual unity and identity through the written Word.
Still, Tritt’s desire to embrace Christian teachings and his eventual movement toward becoming one of if not the most influential missionizing influences in Gwich’in history stemmed, in part or in whole, from his belief that the White man’s elevated status came from his ability to read and write. Thus, by embracing Christianity and its primary text, the English-language Bible, Tritt approached Christian teachings with exceptional commitment and fervor. His son Isaac once said of his father: “He believes it pretty bad. He read the Book … all of it. And they [his friends and followers] read it too … Then he makes a Sunday school too. And he makes a service every night, every day … [and] they learn pretty quick … because it’s in their own language” (I. Tritt 1987a).
McKennan writes in his 1933 journals that Tritt literally spoke English in the manner of the Bible, something he found “most astonishing” (Mishler and Simeone 2006: 176). Tritt even wrote his own journals in a biblical fashion, following a manner similar to the Book of Genesis. For example, he began his journals by listing the many names of those who lived in the region at the time, before entering a narrative of his thoughts, experiences, and ideas. As Lincoln Tritt (1999) studied these readings, he realized that in many ways, how Rev. Tritt wrote down his ideas was as important as what he wrote:
At first, I thought he was copying the format of the Bible, but then I realized that in order to learn about our past, we have to be able to identify with it. As a result, we learn about “who we are” and “where we came from.” These two knowledges of identity are what gives us our humanity. As a result, we acquire the ability to learn instead of being programmed. This was the way the people in the past learned and the way my generation learned as children in the woods. This was where we learned how to use all our senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling with all our nervous system. These heightened our awareness and it also made us a part of our environment.
In a 1987 interview, Rev. Isaac Tritt Sr., Lincoln’s father and Albert’s son, confirms Lincoln’s beliefs. Speaking to an interviewer from Fairbanks, he repeated, in brief, the genealogical history of the Nets’aii Gwich’in as he had learned it. The story is remarkably biblical in its basic elements but also reflects the challenging conditions that had once existed in the region and how only struggle and perseverance to hunt and gather food saved the people:
Way before, the people and the Eskimo were not friends together. Jealous I guess. So they make a war. Not Arctic Village area but down by Venetie and Allakaket. Two hundred fifty or two hundred years ago, there is war; they fight together. They killed them all. Only four woman left and one man. They made a life some way. At the same time he’s married [to them].
The first woman he has five children I think, and the second one, I don’t know how many, but the third one had a big family. The fourth didn’t have any, no children. These are the ones that come out to Venetie and Arctic Village.
So they make their living there with water, fish. But it’s hard to make a living there with fish. At that time no fish net, no hook, no fish wheel, nothing. They don’t know how to make a fish wheel, nothing. So people are hungry. So they come here, they hear about the caribou, so they come up here. So lots of people come up here.
That first woman, a generation in Arctic Village, and the second woman is in Venetie, their last name is Roberts, and first one is here and the last name its Tritt, and here I know by this time, the last name is Sam. And the fourth woman didn’t have no kids. And these are the original people of Venetie and Arctic Village—one Gwich’in, one people. (I. Tritt 1987a, edited lightly in order to preserve the tone and verbiage used as spoken)
Indeed, Albert Tritt’s ability to draw together the teachings of the Christian Church with a subsistence lifestyle in such a remote Arctic region (later to be perpetuated by his children and grandchildren) and to guide the people to a better understanding of their place within the physical and spiritual worlds is considerably significant. His conversion seemed to follow a model straight out of the scriptures that he had so strongly embraced.
McKennan (1965: 87) writes that Tritt related an exceptional story to him about the events that unfolded during this transitional process of conversion. After returning from a Christmas service in Fort Yukon, Tritt went home to Arctic Village with his mind filled with questions about Christianity. “For forty days I wandered crying in the wilderness,” he told McKennan, trying to understand the Bible. During this quest for understanding, in true apocalyptic fashion, he was struck by a blinding flash of light and fell in a faint. When Tritt recovered consciousness, he was a new man who knew his vocation lay in bringing the Gospels to his people together with reading and writing. As Mackenzie explains, Tritt’s learning continued throughout extended stays in Fort Yukon. He initially served as a lay reader in Arctic Village, where he earned a stipend of $10 per month, and was ordained as a deacon in 1925 (1985: 112, 116). The Episcopalian Church’s use of community members as unordained lay readers in Native regions was not unprecedented; on the contrary, such individuals were extremely helpful to the Church’s evangelizing efforts, given their familiarity with the indigenous cultures and languages of the communities they served.
The level of Tritt’s Christian learning during this time is noted by John Fredson, himself a Native missionary, in his documentation of “A Trip to Arctic Village” in December 1922 (Fredson and Sapir 1982). As I discuss in greater depth in one of my earlier works, Tritt’s reputation continued to spread far and wide, though not everyone within Arctic Village was enamored with his directives (Dinero 2003a). Village elders Chief Esaias and especially Chief Christian had been recognized as the first official “chiefs” in the village who acquired their status via wealth and position as “big” men (see also Stern 2005: 33). They oftentimes served as Tritt’s primary political rivals in the community, seeking to counter and question his ideas and motives, and to draw the villagers’ loyalties
