Tillie Paul
Biography
Tillie Paul was a Tlingit missionary, educator, and Alaska Native-rights pioneer whose organizing helped seed the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood. On November 7, 1922 she acted as interpreter to help Charlie Jones, a Tlingit man, cast a ballot at Wrangell, Alaska, and was criminally charged in 1923 with "inducing an Indian to vote." Her son, attorney William Paul, defended the case; after Jones was acquitted, her charges were dismissed — a foundational victory for Alaska Native voting rights. (Recorded as Matilda "Tillie" Paul Tamaree)
Note: Wrangell historical material notes her exact birth date is uncertain; commonly given as January 18, 1863.
1920s remaining-entry review: The complete nine-page Alaska State Archives criminal case 794-KB was visually inspected. Page 7 is the executed warrant return: the deputy certifies arrest in Wrangell on March 24, 1923 and that he then held Tillie Paul Tamaree in custody. This is not the March 23 warrant-issuance date or the November 7, 1922 election date. Pages 2-3 contain the completed, sworn and approved $500 bail bond dated March 30, 1923, used here as the bail-release endpoint. A contradictory handwritten year on the reverse is resolved by the typed 1923 bond, indictment and filing stamps. Page 9 is the signed October 13, 1923 dismissal, correcting the inherited October 9 claim. Custody means marshal detention; no particular prison is asserted. The existing photograph is retained.