Two Voices from Nehspehlhem - Nez Perce
Two Voices from Nehspehlhem
Grandmother Ahkehkt’s Song and Chief Joseph’s Name Were Both Promised to Return
Sometimes the Haymehnay places two stories beside each other, and suddenly we see something that was present all along.
For some time, I have loved the song of Grandmother Ahkehkt. People respond to it. There is something in its gratitude, tenderness, and remembrance that reaches the heart even before a listener understands where the song came from.
Then came the story of Chief Joseph.
Almost everyone knows his name. Many know his famous words: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” His courage, suffering, dignity, and refusal to become consumed by hatred have remained in the memory of America.
But the Nemenhah Sacred Records place these two figures inside a much larger story.
Grandmother Ahkehkt’s song was promised to return to the descendants in a distant time.
Chief Joseph’s name was promised to awaken forgotten things and participate in the restoration.
Both stories arise from Nehspehlhem.
Both carry remembrance across generations.
And both may now be opening a doorway for people to rediscover the sacred history of the Nemenhah.
The People Who Journeyed North
The story begins long before Chief Joseph.
The Nemenhah Records tell of a people living in Mayntinah, the sacred city associated by the translators with Manti, Utah. When conflict, religious control, and social breakdown threatened their peaceful way of life, some of the people prepared to leave.
They gathered their families, animals, tools, possessions, and records. Then they traveled north toward Nehspehlhem and the mountainous land surrounding the great canyon of Wahlohhitwah—the country associated with the later Nez Perce and Wallowa homeland.
They were not merely searching for better land. They were trying to preserve a sacred way of life.
Upon arriving in Nehspehlhem, they were received as family. Homes were opened. Food was shared. The newcomers were helped to build settlements of their own.
This matters because the song of Grandmother Ahkehkt did not arise from comfort without suffering.
It arose after displacement.
It arose after people had left their old homes to preserve agency and peace.
It arose after relatives received refugees and helped them begin again.
The song came after the people discovered that gratitude could survive loss.
The Oldest Woman Began to Sing
After the people became established in their new homeland, they gathered for a winter ceremony of thanksgiving.
They gave thanks for the snow because the land depended upon winter moisture. They knelt upon the earth, sang toward the sacred directions, and asked a blessing upon the earth and every living thing.
They remembered what they had learned and what they had sacrificed to preserve the peaceful ways of the Nemenhah.
Then something beautiful happened.
“And while we were thus employed, my wife’s grandmother, even the most ancient one, was overcome by the Haymehnay and she did break forth in a song.”
—The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm, Chapter 7:12
The song did not come first through a chief, military captain, presiding teacher, or powerful man.
It came through the grandmother.
The oldest woman became the voice of the people.
She had lived long enough to understand that survival meant more than keeping the body alive. A people survives when its children remember who they are, whose sacrifices made their lives possible, and how the Creator carried their ancestors through hardship.
Grandmother Ahkehkt stood between those who slept in the earth and those who had not yet been born.
She became a bridge between generations.
A Song Promised to Return
The most striking part of the account is not merely that Grandmother Ahkehkt sang.
Tsihohnayah recorded a promise concerning the future:
“And the Haymehnay whispered to me that this song would also come into the minds of our descendants in a distant time as they also began again to give thanks for all that their ancestors had done for them.”
—The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm, Chapter 7:12
The people learned her words and dedicated the song to their children and their children’s children.
Think about what that means.
The Records do not say only that an old song would be discovered in a book. They say it would come again into the minds of the descendants when gratitude toward their ancestors began to awaken.
Today, the song is being sung again.
People who never heard the name Ahkehkt before are listening to her words. They are feeling gratitude for ancestors they may scarcely know. They are remembering that their lives rest upon the sacrifices of generations before them.
I do not claim to know everything the prophecy means or precisely how it will be fulfilled. But I cannot ignore the possibility that we are witnessing at least a small beginning of what Tsihohnayah described.
The grandmother’s voice has crossed the generations.
Her song is no longer silent.
Was Grandmother Ahkehkt Chief Joseph’s Grandmother?
It is tempting to connect the genealogy too quickly.
Grandmother Ahkehkt lived among the ancient people who migrated into Nehspehlhem. The Records call her Tsihohnayah’s wife’s grandmother and “the most ancient one.” She belongs to the ancient Nehspehlhem story from which the later Nez Perce world emerged.
However, the Records do not provide an unbroken family line from Grandmother Ahkehkt directly to Chief Joseph.
Therefore, it would be more accurate to call her an ancient grandmother of the people of Nehspehlhem, rather than to declare that she was personally Chief Joseph’s grandmother.
The spiritual connection is strong.
The direct genealogical connection remains unproven.
This distinction does not weaken the story. It protects it. Sacred things need no embellishment.
Then Came Chief Joseph
Generations passed.
The Nemenhah people divided, migrated, intermarried, and became known by other names. Sacred teachings survived in families, ceremonies, songs, and fragments of memory.
Then arose Hihmut Tuyelakekt—Young Chief Joseph of the Wallowa Band.
The Records describe a future chief who would preserve the spiritual religion taught by his father. He would receive visions, lead his people as a captain, and struggle against Foreign Strangers seeking to destroy his band.
The prophecy declares:
“For with a word he shall make an end to war among his people. Yea, he shall declare an end of war, forever.”
—The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:12
The translator’s note connects this directly with Chief Joseph’s remembered declaration:
“Hear me, my Chiefs! From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever!”
History remembers those words as surrender.
But perhaps they were also something more.
Perhaps they were the words of a peacemaker refusing to surrender his soul to hatred.
A Name That Would Awaken Forgotten Things
The prophecy says that Chief Joseph’s name would continue to be spoken.
“And the seven syllables of his name shall be as seven drums and seven rattles and seven flutes… And the hearts of the people shall rise up as if on thunder and lightning, even to the tops of high mountains, and many things long forgotten shall be remembered.”
—The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:15
Grandmother Ahkehkt was associated with a song that would return.
Chief Joseph was associated with a name that would sound like seven drums and cause forgotten things to be remembered.
Do we see the pattern?
The grandmother carries memory through song.
The chief carries memory through his name.
One reaches people through gratitude.
The other reaches them through courage, suffering, and peace.
Both point backward toward the ancestors and forward toward a restoration.
A Descendant of an Ancient Record Keeper
The Records make a specific claim concerning Chief Joseph’s ancestry.
“And behold, his name shall be the token of this prophecy… and his shall be blood of my father’s blood.”
—The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:14
Translator’s note 1312 explains:
“Young Chief Joseph is a descendant of Ahyahpahlehksihluhm.”
Ahyahpahlehksihluhm was an ancient writer and keeper of the sacred record.
This does not mean that Chief Joseph personally guarded the physical libraries or hidden archives. His stewardship was different.
He preserved the spiritual religion of his fathers.
He preserved the dignity and memory of his people.
And according to the prophecy, his work would continue after death.
Chief Joseph and the Translators
The seventeenth verse is astonishing:
“Yea, this same shall work with his ancestors even after his own life journey shall have ended, and they shall appear unto them who shall be translators of the records of the Nemenhah. And they shall assist them in the work of translation.”
—The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:17
Translator’s note 1313 adds:
“Chief Joseph continues to this day in leading and guiding the work of the ultimate restoration of the Nemenhah.”
The Records therefore present Chief Joseph as more than a historical bridge.
They give him an active spiritual role in the restoration of forgotten sacred memory.
His name awakens interest.
His ancestry connects him to an ancient record keeper.
His ministry connects him to the translators.
Pawna Tawny and Cloudpiler
The prophecy also speaks of an orphaned child whom Chief Joseph would take up as his granddaughter.
According to the translator’s note, her name was Pawna Tawny. Chief Joseph is said to have lifted her in his arms and declared her “blood of my blood and bone of my bone.”
She later became known as Mabel Catherman.
Mabel became the paternal grandmother of Phillip “Cloudpiler” Landis, one of the five translators of the Nemenhah Sacred Records.
The prophecy says:
“For behold, out of her shall come a restoration, and out of her shall a Remnant be lifted up out of the dust in this land.”
—The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:20
The line is not merely theoretical:
Chief Joseph received Pawna Tawny as his granddaughter.
Pawna Tawny became Mabel Catherman.
Mabel became Cloudpiler’s paternal grandmother.
Cloudpiler became one of the five translators.
Once again, remembrance passes through family.
Once again, a future restoration is carried through generations.
Two Doorways into the Records
I have wondered whether Grandmother Ahkehkt and Chief Joseph should be emphasized more in sharing the Nemenhah Records.
I believe the answer may be yes—but not because we are trying to build a personality, chase attention, or market sacred things.
They are powerful because they are natural doorways.
Grandmother Ahkehkt reaches the heart. Her song asks people to remember their ancestors, give thanks, care for the earth, and preserve something sacred for their children.
Chief Joseph is already known. His name carries historical weight. His life creates a recognizable bridge between American history, the Nez Perce people, Nehspehlhem, the ancient record keepers, and the latter-day translation.
The stories should not be pushed as proof that forces anyone to believe.
They should be offered as invitations:
Come and listen.
Come and remember.
Come and read the Records for yourself.
Compare them with the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Ask the Peacemaker to teach you through the Haymehnay.
The purpose is not to make Chief Joseph or Grandmother Ahkehkt the center.
The purpose is to let their stories lead people toward Jesus Christ—the Peacemaker—and toward the sacred responsibility to become a people of peace.
Could This Be the Beginning?
Grandmother Ahkehkt’s song was dedicated to the children and the children’s children.
Chief Joseph’s name was compared to seven drums sounding into the mountains.
The song would return when descendants began thanking their ancestors.
The name would awaken things long forgotten.
The chief would assist those translating the Records.
The orphaned granddaughter would become part of a latter-day restoration.
Perhaps these are not two separate stories.
Perhaps they are two parts of one great movement of remembrance.
One is the voice of the grandmother.
One is the name of the chief.
One sings gratitude.
One declares peace.
Together, they call the children to remember.
The grandmother’s song is being heard again.
Chief Joseph’s name is still spoken.
The seven drums have not become silent.
And many things long forgotten may already be rising from the dust.
Study These Scriptures Yourself
Nemenhah Sacred Records
The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm, Chapter 7:1–12 — the migration, winter ceremony, and Grandmother Ahkehkt’s song
The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm, Chapter 7:13–24 — the words and meaning of the song
The First Book of Ahyahpahleksihluhm, Chapter 1:8–21 — the prophecy concerning Chief Joseph, the seven drums, the translators, Pawna Tawny, and the restoration
Translator’s notes 1309–1314 — identification of Young Chief Joseph and the family connection to Cloudpiler
Bible and Book of Mormon Parallels
Malachi 4:6 — turning the hearts of the children to their fathers
Luke 1:50 — mercy extending from generation to generation
Psalm 145:4 — one generation praising the works of God to another
2 Nephi 29:11–14 — the Lord remembering the words of the different branches of Israel
2 Nephi 30:3–6 — records coming forth and descendants beginning to know their ancestors
Moroni 10:3–5 — remembering, pondering, and asking God through the Holy Ghost
Do not accept these things merely because Chief Joseph’s name is attached to them, because a song touches the heart, or because anyone helped translate the Records.
Read.
Compare.
Pray.
Seek the voice of Jesus Christ for yourself.
Follow the Voice, not the robe.
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