Lucy Marie Celeste Charles Pinn

Northern Lights AKA Aunty Loo & Nana (1905-

1985)

Gigi: A Short Photo Biography

of a Mi’kmaw Woman

By Travis Pinn

Hectanooga 1912. L-R: Mother Maggie Labrador, Father Joe Charles, & Gigi

Boston 1970

Gigi, as my brothers called my Great Grandmother Lucy, lived throughout

most of the last century.

1924. 1972.

She was born and raised in Hectanooga, a small timber village in

southwest Nova Scotia.

Hectanooga 1912. L-R: Gigi & mother Maggie

Her parents moved from their communities of Barrington Passage Indian Camp and Yarmouth Reserve so her father could earn the means

at the local sawmill to build a permanent home and eventually pay for his two daughters’ educations.

* Digby

* Hectanooga

* Yarmouth

* Barrington Passage

Her home in Hectanooga 1920.L-R: Cousin Louise Bartlett, Gigi, sister Elsie, & mother Maggie

Her family’s wares earned them respect among the village’s Acadian residents; the Charles family refused charity and shared their resources and skills with neighbors.

Port Joli c.1910. Father, Joe in

middle teaching boys how to build canoes at a camp

Yarmouth 1918. L-R: Mother Maggie,

Gigi, & cousin Giege Bartlett

From Hectanooga they would

travel to visit our Bartlett

and Labrador relatives on

the Yarmouth Reserve.

Her Father, while living apart from other Mi’kmaq, instilled cultural pride in his daughters and worked with other local Mi’kmaw guides to pass on

traditional knowledge of the land.

Digby c. 1910 L-R: Father Joe & grandfather Sam Labrador

Gigi attended grade school in Port Joli, where she remembers her father hunting seal. She spoke Mi’kmaq,

English, and French.

Digby 1921. Gigi pictured in middle with friends

Boston c. 1920s.

Yarmouth 1919. L-R: Gigi & sister Elsie

One day in 1920, her mother, Maggie, and

some relatives boarded a passenger ship bound for Boston and never returned.

While Maggie’s connection to her

husband and kids was not completely severed, the

circumstances around her departure remain a

mystery.

In 1922, Gigi asked her father if she

could marry a young man she met near

their home. Joe asked his daughter to rethink the idea

and sent her to Boston to see about her mother, Maggie.

Boston Art Museum 1922. Gigi

While in Boston, her mother had

met Carl Pinn, an Army engineer of

mixed Native American, African,

and Anglo-European descent.

Boston 1920. Carl Pinn

After meeting him, Gigi

abandoned the idea of

the marriage back home in

favor of marrying Carl

instead.

Boston 1924. L-R: Husband Carl,

son Lionel, & Gigi

Carl’s family was from Virginia. While mostly African and Anglo, he also claimed Cherokee ancestry, and was said by his nephew to be Monacan and his son to be Osage and Doeg. One genealogist even claimed the Pinns were originally Yeocomico. In any case, he had a tough demeanor and charm that attracted Gigi.

Cherokee

Monacan

Yeocomico

DoegOsage

Virginia

Unfortunately,

of her 17 pregnancies

with Carl, only 7 of Gigi’s

children would live to

adulthood.Gigi’s children, Boston, 1936.Back L-R: Lionel, Joan, & Dora

Front L-R: Wally, Travis, & Little Carl

While raising her children, she

worked shortly at a chocolate

factory and for a longer period as a

nurse aide in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts 1926.Gigi holding daughter

Dora & son Lionel

Jamaica Plains 1938.

L-R: Gigi & sister Elsie

Her sister, Elsie, brought her family to Boston in the 1950s.

With Gigi’s help, Elsie started up the Elderly Program of the

Boston Indian Council in Jamaica Plains.

Boston Indian Council Logo.

At different times, she returned to her

homeland.In 1940, she helped bury her father inSalmon River, Nova Scotia. Hectanooga 1939.

Father Joe

In 1966, Gigi and her father were published as sources in a book for

their knowledge of Mi’kmaw history and culture.

Basketweavers Digby c. 1900. Back L-R: Friend Will Carty, cousin Rachel Pictou, cousin Clara Pictou, & unknown girl. Front L-R: Mother Maggie, aunt Fannie Pictou, grandfather John Charles, & grandfather’s 2nd wife Mahilia

Though, her life was now in Jamaica Plains where she raised her children

and soon looked after her 21 grandchildren.

Grandchildren, Jamaica Plains 1958.L-R: Kenny, Little Lionel, Little Lucy, Gigi, & Cheryl Ann.

She owned a three-story home and rented the bottom floor to a close family. Her son, Wally, occupied the top floor for some time. She lived in the middle floor with her other son, Carl, who took care of her in her old age as she lost her eyesight. 

Gigi’s children in Jamaica Plains 1958.

Back L-R: Lionel, Jimmy, & Carl. Front L-R: Chappy, Joan,

Dora, & Wally

After many years as family matriarch and frequent bus trips to Bingo halls in New Hampshire, she

passed away at the age of 79.

Jamaica Plains 1972. L-R: Gigi & granddaughter Nancy

At the time of her death, she was said to have had only $80 to her name, because she always supported people in need, even when she was in need herself.

Nevada 1981. Gigi

She loved to dance and hug her children, anchoring the home with strong Mi’kmaw values.

From on down the generations, thank you, Gigi.

Digby 1912. L-R: Gigi & father Joe

Boston c. 1984. L-R: Granddaughter Carol Anne, Gigi, and granddaughter Robin

Jamaica Plains 1983

Jamaica Plains 1978

Nevada 1981. L-R: Gigi & son Lionel

Nevada 1981. L-R:Grandson Lionel,Gigi, and son Carl

Jamaica Plains 1983

Gigi, Lucy

CharlesMaggie Labrado

r

Sam Labrado

r

Harriet Bartlett

Joe Charles

John Charles

Mary Williams

Gigi’s family tree

The Land Bridge TheoryAs told by grandson Little Lionel

 As a child I recall vividly my dear Nana, Lucy Marie Charles, sharing stories of our Mi’kmaq heritage. Some stories stood above others. One in particular had to do with the origins of our Mi’kmaq people. The creation story as Lucy shared it. It was complicated and detailed. There was Glooscap and Martin involved; rocks, islands, fish and little people too. The one thing that really stuck was our physical manifestation. I can still hear her voice moving back and forward between her native language and English, “We came from the earth.” As a young impressible child that made a significant impact on me, “from the earth”. All I could relate it to was the dying process, we all go back to the earth but coming from the earth was a new, if not disturbing, concept. She recognized my hesitation and reinforced her proclamation whenever the subject came up, “We came from the Earth”. The earth she referred to was Nova Scotia, Canada.

As I grew older and she felt I was ready to learn and understand more she added that the Mi’kmaq people actually rose up from the earth, made up of rock, dirt and minerals of all kinds. From that earthly mixture came the first Mi’kmaq and one of our first gifts from the Creator was the ability to recognize that which created us. We were also given the gift of intelligence and wisdom. The previously “disturbing” concept left me early as a teenager and into adulthood. Coming from the Earth was and is a good thing. It roots us to our homeland, it gives us our identity. Nana would smile with pride and note the, “We are still in the same place from where we came from, the same good earth.” She would add, “None of the other tribes can say that. They have been pushed up and out of their homelands but us Mi’kmaq are still here!”

 Her pride, like her blood, soaked through me. In time it was a comfortable and honorable thing to know that my roots were as deep and as real as the soil I walked and the rivers I swam in. Things were just cool as they could be, that was until the day the college guy came to my Nana’s house. He was there to interview her. I am thinking he was an anthropologist or an historian. He wanted to talk about the Mi’kmaq histories and legends. She obliged the young man with all his questions. I sat, as a protector, at the kitchen table with them.

Art by Alan Sylioy

At one point he asks about the Mi’kmaq creation story and Nana shared the story I had heard all my life, “We came from the Earth”. After she had finished the young man leaned back in his chair, shaking his head in disbelief, rolled his eyes and stated, “Mrs. Pinn that is only a children’s story and fable of your people”. He tossed his pencil on to his notepad and went on to testify about the true creation story, as he understood it. The Adam and Eve concept and, more importantly, the land bridge theory. I shuffled in my seat as I prepared for the worst, a tea cup being slung across the kitchen, a broom coming out of the closet or a slap up side his intellectual head. Nana never hesitated to reinforce her unyielding belief system on anyone. The story of “We came from the Earth” has been handed down from generation to generation, as long as our family has been here. I have never heard anyone, with such conviction, challenge her. This young man unknowingly was doing just that. He went on to explain the scientific realities of the facts. The African and Asian connection, the extended land bridge as well as the travels and evidence of the coming of the Mi’kmaq to this place, he called the new world. Nana just sat there. I was stunned. Occasionally she would smile back at the long winded young man and nod her head in apparent understanding.

After his over extended dissertation of the land bridge theory he came to rest and began to gather up his materials. He seemed a little uppity about his stance and evidence. It bordered on disrespect but still Nana smiled in an almost complacent posture. He thanked my grandmother for her time and noted that he was glad that he could get her “squared away” about the creation and the origins of the Mi’kmaq people. He said his goodbyes and as I was escorting him to the front door, he turned one more time to the aged elder and ask, “Do you understand and accept the land bridge theory now Mrs. Pinn?” In her special way she replied, “Yes I do young man, it all makes since to me now. All that evidence and proof they found along the bridge makes it real.”

My mind was stunned; my life long belief system was shattered. My heritage and my culture were in question, my spirit hurt! I reached the front door of my Nana’s house and as I open to free my life of this man who had brought such an unchallenged revelation into it, I heard my dear Nana’s quite voice once again, “Yes, I believe in the land bridge therapy, except for one thing…” The young man stood outside the front door and turned to hear her “exception”. “Write this down on your paper”. She pointed with her finger, “There was a land bridge but, we went that way!” I looked for a moment and then began to smile with understanding. I then turned toward the opened-mouth young man just outside the door and then simply close the door in his shocked face. When I turned around my Nana was heading back toward the kitchen. “That was helpful,” she noted, “I’m glad he stopped by.” I was almost laughing out loud. The truth be told.

Digby 2013.L-R: Grandson Little Lionel,

sister Elsie, & great grandson Travis

Wela’lioq msit no’kmaq

Special thanks to Elsie Basque, Lionel Pinn Jr, Marty Simon, and Erica Plourde for their pictures and input.