Collections Online | British Museum

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Thomas Varker Keam

Also known as: Thomas Varker Keam; primary name: Keam, Thomas Varker
Details: individual; shop/business; British; Male
Life dates: 06 Aug 1842-30 Nov 1904
Biography: Born in Truro, Cornwall. Was married to a Navajo woman, Astzan Ashihih at Fort Defiance, Arizona in 1869. Worked as a midshipman in the English mercantile marine. Enlisted in the California cavalry. Honorably discharged in 1865. In 1866 he was granted a license by the Indian Bureau to trade with Capote and Ute Native North Americans. He worked as a clerk and an interpreter. He was appointed Special Agent for the Navajos in 1872 and set up the first Navajo police force. He gained American citizenship in 1875. Established a trading post near Fort Defiance in 1879 with William Leonard and then moved to Keam's Canyon to set up a store of his own. He traded with the Navajos and the Hopis. He made collections of Native American artefacts that are now in museum collections worldwide. He returned to England in 1902.
Bibliography: http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/azbio/keam.htm