Molly Neptune Parker, was an American basketweaver, the president of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, and the first woman to become lieutenant governor of Indian Township, one of the two governing bodies of the Passamaquoddy people.
Biography
Parker was born Molly Newell on February 6, 1939 in Indian Township, Maine to Irene Newell and Lewey Dana, who had six other children. Her first language was Passamaquoddy and at school on the reservation that was run by nuns, she was punished for not using English. The nuns baptized her "Jeanette Katherine". Parker started basket weaving "at a young age, using the scraps of ash wood" that her mother discarded as she worked. She was from a family of basket makers where the men contributed pounded ash for the women to strip and split so they could then sort and weave the pieces. Some of her flower designs were the same ones used by her mother and grandmother. Her craft allowed her financial stability and helped her buy a house and educate her children. Parker's first husband, Moses Neptune, was a truck and school-bus driver as well as a basket maker. Their children were taught to speak English to save them from the trauma in school of having English as a second language. When her children were young she would trade her baskets "for their dental work". For a few years she would spend the day making baskets, then go to work for the night shift at a wool factory, and come home to serve her children their breakfast. At one point, she and her husband were making up to one hundred scale baskets a week that were used in the fishing industry to collect fish scales, which are used to make nail polish. Parker's basket-weaving specialty was a fancy style with embellishments such as flowers on top. Her unique original design was an acorn-shaped basket. It would take her a total of five days to make a special basket, start to finish. Her work is included in the Abbe Museum. Her baskets were worth thousands of dollars. People would call her by name when at airports. As the president of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Parker had the opportunity to tutor apprentices. She revitalized Passamaquoddy basketry by educating younger people and teaching four generations of her family. One of her apprentices and grandchildren, Geo Soctomah Neptune, continues the tradition of basket weaving "with her in mind". Parker was the "first female lieutenant governor of Indian Township, one of the two governing bodies of the Passamaquoddy Tribe". She "was a council member when the Passamaquoddy won their land back from the federal government in 1980". She died of cancer at the age of 81 on June 12, 2020.
