Grand Ronde Tribal Council REINSTATES 19 Chief Tumulth Descendants

DOING THE RIGHT THING, honors the Grand Ronde tribe and the ancestors.  What can be a better choice??

Yes, they DO

They voted 4-3 to reinstate the membership of 19 Chief Tumulth descendants during its Wednesday, Nov. 14, meeting, concluding a more than four-year process.

The descendants, including some who are now deceased, were identified for disenrollment in 2014 when the Tribe’s Enrollment Committee ruled that they and other Chief Tumulth descendants did not meet the Tribal Constitution’s lineal descent requirements at the time of their enrollment.



They were the second of two family trees descended from Chief Tumulth, who signed the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855. He did not reach the Grand Ronde Reservation to appear on a valid roll or record created by the federal government because he was executed by the U.S. Army.

Some argued, however, that signing a foundational treaty should be considered a “valid” document for enrollment purposes.

The first branch of the Tumulth family tree, which included 67 descendants, eventually won their disenrollment case with the Tribe when the Tribal Court of Appeals ruled in August 2016 that the Tribe waited too long in its attempt to correct the membership status of Chief Tumulth descendants. The cases were remanded back to Tribal Chief Judge David Shaw and the Enrollment Board.

In October 2016, the Enrollment Board dismissed disenrollment proceedings against the 67 descendants. However, the other 19 Tumulth descendants were not given back their Tribal enrollment status because they failed to file an appeal within the 14-day time limit set by the Tribe’s Enrollment Ordinance. That decision was upheld by the Tribal Court of Appeals.