Frances Johnson (1835-1934)[1] was the last living fluent speaker of the Takelma language of Oregon, United States.
[4] Sapir reports that in 1906, "the number of individuals that can be said to have anything like a fluent speaking knowledge of [Takelma] is quite inconsiderable, barely more than a handful in fact.
"[3] He describes Johnson as "an elderly full-blood Takelma woman", born in a village called Takʰts'asín or Taltaníkʰ, located near Jump Off Joe Creek (Ti:p'o:lts'ìlta) in Oregon.
[2] The cooperation between Johnson and Sapir produced the two central publications on the Takelma language, a collection of texts with English translations and wordlist[5] and a grammatical description.
During the late 1850s, Johnson lived together with Philip Sheridan during part of his tour of duty in the then Oregon Territory.