The Paiute Indians were a migratory Tribe often intermingled with Shoshone or Panamint and as often misnamed. Shoshone is more commonly refferenced, however out of respect for surviving family, the family elder, Vernon Lee, considers himself Paiute, so our artical reflects the family's wishes. Ash Meadows was but one of their many homes. One of the more interesting adventures that could only be known by those so well traveled, is the story of the Pinecone P310. Women and Chirdren would, apon parting Ash Meadows, would mark a pinecone and throw it in Devil's Hole, in a game, to see if they could find their pinecone when it surfaced at Fishlake near their next home camp.
The Lee's enter the Paiute picture while laying over for a year in Death Valley. All four brothers took Indian Brides[sic]. That is another fact well recorded in many history books. But little is ever said of their Brides, in fact most sources either don't name them at all, or even go as far as to say their names were lost to time. However it was an old Radio Show that gave hint to a much more interesting past. It was The Old Ranger Episode 10 aired 2 September 1930, who proclaimed that Tavn, a Shoshone princess saved Philander Lee's life, where they fell in love and married. Indeed Philander Lee's wife was none other than the sister of two Chiefs, Hungry Bill and Panamint Tom. (Hungry Bill likely by blood as he is named more often, and Panamint Tom by tribe)
Magpie in Shonshone Ta'n - Taht, according to the 1850 C. Hart Merriam papers. And Magpie as an Indian name means chatty yes, but more one who speaks with the knowledge of the ancestors, a Wise Woman.
Princess Tvan was born in 1852, a full blooded Paiute. She Married Stephen Philander Lee in 1873 at the age of 21, moving to their Ranch in Ash Meadows where they raised their children, before buying Resting Springs. In married life she went by Sally, Pullet, Elizabeth, or Sue. Late in life she was only known as Mops after Phi passed and she lived with her son Bob back in Ash Meadows and Pahrump. Tvan pretty much kept to herself, raised her children, and kept house. She never learned English.
Chief Hungry Bill