Cecilia Henry
Cecilia Nelson
Tribe: San Carlos Apache
Active ca 1908-1996
Type of baskets: twined coiled
Lifespan: ca 1902-1996
Residence: Peridot, Arizona
Family: cousin of Elsia Johnson; wife of Robert Henry; mother of Evalena Henry (basket maker), Lorena Henry Cobb (basket maker), Clinton Henry, Celina Henry (basket maker), Viola Henry Taylor (basket maker), Jackson Henry, Jr., Joanne Henry Taylor (basket maker), Ambrose Henry.
Students: her daughters Evalena Henry, Lorena Cobb, and granddaughters Mary Jane Dudley and Novena Cobb
Forms: Burden Baskets, water jars, ollas, trays
Materials: Sumac, willow, deerskin, and tin cones
Favorite Designs; elk, deer, squirrels, eagle, butterfly, waves, diamonds, zig zag
Cecilia Henry is an important matriarch of the Western Apache basketry. She helped revive traditional weaving. She is best known for her fine burden baskets. She is honored for helping to revive twined basketry among the San Carlos Apache.
When Cecilia was a small child her mother passed away. Her grandmother raised her, as well as her orphaned cousin, Elsie Johnson. Grandmother taught the girls to weave. Cecilia started when she was only six.
Grandmother did not want the U.S. Government agents to take the girls away to send them to boarding school. So, she and the two little girls stayed on the move, living in temporary brush houses called wikiups. Grandmother and the girls made baskets from sumac to pay for provisions and supplies.
When in her teens, government agents finally kidnapped her and sent her to a boarding school. She was allowed to leave only after accepting to be married to man named Robert Henry. They had nine children, including 4 girls who were taught to weave.
In the 1950’s Cecilia is credited with re-introducing tin cones to the end of the buckskin fringe on burden baskets. While Cecilia learned to weave coiled baskets at an early age, she became better known for her twined baskets.
She passed this tradition down to her daughters and granddaughters.
