When discussing anything about the early Native Americans of the Yosemite area the National Park Service always includes Maria Lebrado. You may have seen many books, signs and other items that mention her. If you saw Ken Burn's series about the history of the National Park Service you would have seen Maria mentioned in the video.

Maria Lebrado is on many signs including a display in the new Yosemite Visitor Center that was re-opened in April of 2008. The display with her photo states that she is the granddaughter of Ahwahneechee Yosemite chief Tenaya. What we Paiutes find interesting is that Yosemite National Park never starts with the story of Chief Tenaya. The biography and story of Chief Tenaya has been eradicated from Yosemite National Park Service. The Indian history of Yosemite now starts with Maria Lebrado who stated she was the granddaughter of Chief Tenaya.

On all signs and books in Yosemite regarding Maria Lebrado she is either written as a full blooded Southern Sierra Miwuk or that her name is Miwok. Not once in the Park is there any deviation from that line of Maria Lebrado being a full blooded Miwok and granddaughter of Chief Tenaya. Maria hadn't been in Yosemite for over 70 years.

Now you might ask why Chief Tenaya and his story has been eradicated from Yosemite National Park. We Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes will tell you why Chief Tenaya was taken out of the Park and replaced by his granddaughter.

Chief Tenaya's father came from Ahwahnee, Owahnee is a place in Paiute legend. A disaster decimated Ahwahnee's population so Chief Tenaya's father took a small handful of survivors to Mono Lake. There the Mono Lake Paiutes took him and his band into their midst. This was during a time when Paiutes and Miwoks were fighting and no Miwok could enter the Mono Lake area. Tenaya's father married a Mono Lake Paiute woman and out of that union Chief Tenaya was born.

Tenaya was raised amongst his mother's people, learned the ways of the Mono Lake Paiute people and when he was of age he married a young Mono Lake Paiute girl. They had a family. It was documented they had three sons. A medicine man advised Tenaya that it was safe to return to his father's ancient home. So Tenaya took 200 to 300 Indians back into the Sierra Nevada and as Lafayette H. Bunnell wrote, founded the Paiute colony of Ahwahnee.

Then in the spring of 1851 white gold miners led by Miwok scouts entered Yosemite for the first time. That is how the whites had discovered Yosemite Valley. Tenaya was captured with some of his people and placed in a reservation. They escaped and returned to Yosemite Valley but once again the white military battalion led by Miwok scout Cowchitty found Tenaya and his people. The Miwoks blocked the escape of Tenaya and one of Tenaya's sons was shot and killed. Once again they escaped and went to stay with the Mono Lake Paiute people. When the Mono Lake people were out stealing horses from the Spanish some of Tenaya's men stole the horses of their hosts and returned to Yosemite. The Mono Paiutes were upset and tracked Tenaya and his band down, killed Tenaya, and decimated them and took the remaining survivors back to Mono Lake to be re-absorbed back into the Mono Lake Paiute people.

And that is why the story of Chief Tenaya has been eradicated from Yosemite National Park. This also means that Maria Lebrado, the granddaughter of Chief Tenaya, would have to be a full blooded Paiute and not a Southern Sierra Miwok to be his granddaughter.

We did Maria Lebrado's family tree and you can see it in the gallery. Maria Lebrado states she is the granddaughter of Chief Tenaya. Tenaya was 1/2 Ahwahneechee and 1/2 Mono Lake Paiute. Tenaya married a full blooded Mono Lake Paiute so his children would be 3/4 Mono Lake Paiute and 1/4 Ahwahneechee. Tenaya's colony was Mono and Paiute so Tenaya's son would mostly likely be married to a Mono or Paiute making Maria Lebrado 7/8 Mono Lake Paiute and 1/8 Ahwahneechee. According to her own family history Maria is a Mono Lake Paiute and not a Southern Sierra Miwok.