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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Forestry crews make progress on Cleveland Ridge fire ... Nimbus marks 45 years in same location ... Local doctors' offices shift to treat the whole patient ... Forestry crews make progress on Cleveland Ridge fire ... Nimbus marks 45 years in same location ... Local doctors' offices shift to treat the whole patient ... TALENT Storyteller Doty to speak about home, homeland Comment By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 22, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 22, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Storyteller Thomas Doty will speak about home and homeland and what they mean to communities and people in a talk titled “Stories from Home." The presentation will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, at the Talent Historical Society, 105 N. Market St. “Having a sense of place makes us feel respect for our homes and homeland,” said Doty. “If we have stories created around home, if we have myths, we tend to take better care, take a stewardship of and a stake in the place we live.” The talk will include a combination of storytelling and Doty's ideas about home, bringing in tales of the area around Talent and the people who have lived here. Of Shasta, Takelma, Irish and English ancestry, Medford-born Doty is best known for his stories of Native Americans who lived in the area. “For the native people, home and homeland are very important, as they are for everyone,” said Doty. He will compare native people’s views of home with those of Europeans. A Takelma Indian village was once located on Talent's Wagner Creek in an area near the Beeson House where pioneer John Beeson settled. “Beeson pretty much settled into the place where there had been a Taklema village,” said Doty. “People are more similar than different the world over. We all tend to choose a place that has good resources: water, food and those sorts of things.” Beeson also had a strong sense of home for the Talent area. “Beeson is one of the crossovers. He and his family suffered all the stuff they usually suffered on the wagon trains, but he just fell in love with the valley,” said Doty. “He called it something like a painting more beautiful than a painter can ever paint or imagine.” When he learned of wars and atrocities by groups against Native Americans, Beeson started speaking up for the rights of native people, which got a lot of people upset. He was the area’s first civil rights advocate for the defense of native people, said Doty. Beeson's advocacy led to threats and his nighttime departure to Portland and ultimately to New York City. “He was driven out of his own homeland. He had his own kind of private Trail of Tears,” said Doty. Doty's family tales from Talent will be included. His maternal grandmother lived in Talent. Doty has a $25 draft on a Talent bank that his father sent to his bride-to-be in Missouri to pay her way to Oregon. The family ran a farm on Independence Road between Talent and Phoenix. Doty will also read from his latest book, “Doty meets Coyote," published earlier this year by Blackstone Publishing. More information about Doty and his personal archives can be found at the website dotycoyote.com . Historical Society President Jan Wright said she hopes the talk will inspire others to write down or record stories from their homes. “If each person recorded his or her own stories, history would be varied and abundant, a part of our existence instead of a boring recitation of dates and distant memories,” said Wright. Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected] By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 22, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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