Goyaałé

Geronimo was an important 19th-century Apache warrior, leader, and holy man, born

June 16, 1829. He was a war chief of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apaches, located in what is now Arizona, and was one of the driving forces during the Apache Wars, renowned for his military resistance against both Mexican and American forces. 

Geronimo's real name was Goyaałé, which means "one who yawns" in Chiricahua Apache (often spelled Goyathlay or Goyathle in English.) The name "Geronimo" is a Spanish name equivalent to English "Jerome," and was given to him by the Mexicans for reasons that can only be guessed at (some people have hypothesized that the Mexicans may have been praying to St. Jerome as they fought against him, others that Mexican soldiers simply couldn't pronounce his name and picked this Spanish one for him.) He himself was reported to frequently refer to himself as Geronimo. Many Apache people from this time period used Spanish names in their everyday lives, believing that limiting the use of their Indian names conserved their spiritual power.

His time to leave this life as an old man on February 17, 1909, was a profound loss.  

- anon 

80 years: HIS struggle for the People.

Geronimo, Apache chief. Quelle homme.

Apache chief Geronimo (1829-1909) was born in the upper Gila River country of Arizona. Although he harbored animosity toward the Mexican soldiers who killed his wife and children, he also grew to dislike the Anglo-Americans who took over the region following the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. After his Chiricahua Apaches were forced onto Arizona’s San Carlos Reservation in the mid-1870s, Geronimo led his followers on a series of escapes that bolstered his legend and embarrassed the U.S. government. He surrendered to General Nelson Miles in 1886, and remained a celebrity in captivity until his death at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill. ~ anon 

Our Girls

Daughters shape their fathers in profound ways often unseen, but they are felt by fathers of daughters.

Geronimo’s Daughter Lenna (or Lena), Lena Geronimo was born in 1886 in Fort Marion, St. Augustine, FL, while her father was a prisoner there. The medical staff gave her the name Marion, after the fort, but she took the name Lenna upon returning to the Southwest. Lenna Geronimo, the daughter of Geronimo and wife Ih-tedda, a Mescalero Apache, was the full sister of Robert Geronimo, Geronimo's only living son. Lenna was Bedonkohe-Mescalero.

Geronimo with his daughter Lenna, daughter of his wife Ih-tedda, a Mescalero Apache born 1886 in Fort Marion, St. Augustine, FL, while he was a prisoner.

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Geronimo