political organization that was understood by Europeans. The highest-ranking appropriate male would assume the role of ceremonial leader for some timely purpose, but rank could be variable and was determined by different standards. Contact and rapid change From the 1800s, the maritime fur trade in the Puget Sound-Strait of Georgia accelerated the pace of social and organizational change. White settlements at sbuh-KWAH-buks (Alki) and what is now Pioneer Square in Downtown Seattle were established in 1851 and 1852. By the time Coast Salish began to realize the implications of the changes brought by Europeans at ever-increasing rates, the time was late. After just five years, lands were occupied; the Treaty of Point Elliott was signed in 1855. There is question about its legitimacy, from the lack of understanding of the two sides about each other to the motivations of the U.S. government and its agents. Whites recognized leaders more or less at their own choosing, bypassing what they saw as the maddening fluidity of tribal leadership. The potlatch was widely banned, and the longhouse soon suppressed. Prominent contact-era Duwamish people The role of the most famous of the Duwamish, Chief Seattle (b. c. 1784, d. 1866; see below for more detailed discussion of his name), is complex and enigmatic. Chief Seattle's mother Sholeetsa was of the People of the Inside and his father Shweabe was si'ab ("high status man") of the Suquamish. Chief Seattle's career earned and validated his inherited status. As an adult he was among the leaders of his people from the times they were the People of the Inside and the People of the Large Lake to becoming known as the Duwamish Tribe. Chief Seattle had two wives and seven children, probably the most famous being his daughter, known as Princess Angeline. Some of the family tree of Chief Seattle is known today. Besides Chief Seattle and his descendants, Lake John Cheshiahud and his family are among the few late-19th century Duwamish individuals about whom anything specific is known. He is found in archives as Cheshiahud, Cheslahud, Lake John Cheshiahud, or Chudups John. He was one of the few Duwamish people who did not move from Seattle to the Port Madison Reservation. He and his family lived on Portage Bay, part of Seattle's Lake Union, in the 1880s, where the photo at right was taken. According to the Duwamish Tribe, Chudups John had a cabin and potato