Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico

Hodge, Frederick Webb, Compiler. The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Government Printing Office. 1906.

History of Indian Missions in the United States

From the very discovery of America the spiritual welfare of the native tribes was a subject of concern to the various colonizing nations, particularly Spain and France, with whom the Christianization and civilization of the Indians were made a regular part of the governmental scheme, and the missionary was frequently the pioneer explorer and diplomatic ambassador. In the English colonization, on the other hand, the work was usually left to the zeal of the individual philanthropist or of voluntary organizations. First in chronological order, historic importance, number of establishments, and population come the Catholic missions, conducted in the earlier period … Read more

History of Dolores Mission

A Spanish Franciscan mission established in California within the site of the city of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 1776. When Gov. Portola, in searching for Monterey, came to the bay of San Francisco, that had remained hidden to all previous explorers, Father Junipero Serra regarded it as a miraculous discovery, for the visitador-general in naming the missions to be established at the havens of the coast had said to the mission president, who was disappointed because the name of the founder of the order was omitted, that if St Francis de sired a mission he must show his port. … Read more

Hidasta Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Bahohata (lodge). A Hidatsa band. Matthews says it may be Maohati. Black-tailed Deers. A Hidatsa band or secret order. Culbertson in Smithson. Rep. 1850, 143, 1851. Bulls. A Hidatsa band or society; mentioned by Culbertson (Smithson. Rep. 1850, 143, 1851) as a clan. For a similar society among the Piegan. Dogs. A band or a secret order of the Hidatsa. Culbertson in Smithson. Rep. 1850, 143, 1851. Dostlan-lnagai … Read more

Hemispheres and Spheres

Hemispheres and Spheres. Small objects, usually of polished stone, the use of which has not been fully determined; they are therefore classed with problematical objects. The more typical forms, found in the mounds, are often of hematite and, like the cones, rarely exceed a few ounces in weight. Hemispheres are comparatively numerous, but spheres referable to this group are rare. Hammerstones and stones used as club-heads (see Clubs, Hammers) are often spherical, but usually they are not well finished, and occasionally large tail-like stones are found which can not be properly classed with the smaller polished objects. The base of … Read more

Havasupai Tribe

Havasupai Indians (blue or green water people). A small isolated tribe of the Yuman stock (the nucleus of which is believed to have descended from the Walapai) who occupy Catract canyon of the Rio Colorado in north west Arizona.  Whipple was informed in 1850 that the “cosninos” roamed from the Sierra Mogollon to the San Francisco mountains and along the valley of the Colorado Chiquito. The tribe is a peculiarly interesting one, since of all the Yuman tribes it is the only one which has developed or borrowed a culture similar to, though less advanced, than that of the Pueblo … Read more

Hatteras Tribe

Hatteras Indians. An Algonquian tribe living in 1701 on the sand banks of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina east of Pamlico sound, and frequenting Roanoke Island.  Their single village, Sandbanks, had them only about 80 inhabitants.  They showed traces of white blood and claimed that some of their ancestors were white.  They may have been identical with the Croatan Indians with whom Raleigh’s colonists at Roanoke Island are supposed to have taken refuge.

Hathawekela Tribe

Hathawekela Indians. A principal division of the Shawnee, the name of which is of uncertain etymology. They emigrated from the south about 1697, together with other Shawnee bands, and settled with them, partly on Susquehanna and partly on Allegheny River, Pennsylvania, where they are mentioned in 1731. Sewickley, Pennsylvania, probably takes its name from them. According to W. H. Shawnee, an educated member of the tribe, the proper form is Ha-tha-we-ke-lah, and they constitute one of the original 5 principal divisions of the Shawnee. Together with the Bicowetha (Piqua) and Kispokotha (Kispococoke) divisions they removed about 1793 to what was … Read more

Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico

Cree Indians (Saskatchewan)

The scope of the Handbook is as comprehensive as its function necessitates. It treats of all the tribes north of Mexico, including the Eskimo, and those tribes south of the boundary more or less affiliated with those in the United States. It has been the aim to give a brief description of every linguistic stock, confederacy, tribe, subtribe or tribal division, and settlement known to history or even to tradition, as well as the origin; and derivation of every name treated, whenever such is known, and to record under each every form of the name and every other appellation that could be learned. For AccessGenealogy, this is the basis of our tribal descriptions from which we’ve grown the Native American section of our site. We simply believe it to be indispensable to the Native American researcher.

Hainai Tribe

Hainai Indians. A tribe of the Caddo confederacy, otherwise known as Inie, or Ioni. After the Spanish occupancy their village was situated 3 leagues west of the mission of Nacogdoches, in east Texas; it contained 80 warriors, the same number assigned to the Hainai by Sibley in 1805, who perhaps obtained his information from the same sources. Sibley places their village 20 miles from Natchitoches, Louisiana. In manners, customs, and social organization the Hainai do not appear to have differed from the other tribes of the Caddo confederacy, whose subsequent fate they have shared. By Sibley and others they are … Read more

Haida Tribe

Haida Indians, Haida Nation (Xa’ida, ‘people’). The native and popular name for the Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands., British Columbia, and the south end of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, comprising the Skittagetan family. By the natives themselves the term may be applied generally to any human being or specifically to one speaking the Haida language. Some authors have improperly restricted the application of the tend to the Queen Charlotte islanders, calling the Alaskan Haida, Kaigani. Several English variants of this word owe their origin to the fact that a suffix usually accompanies it in the native language, making … Read more

Haida Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Haida Indian Bands, Gens and Clans Chats-hadai A subdivision of the Koetas, a Haida family belonging to the Kaigani group. They were probably so named from a camping place. Swanton, Cont. Haida, 272, 1905. Dagangasels (Dāgañasêls, ‘common food-steamers’). A subdivision of the Kona-kegawai of the Haida. They were of low social rank, and the name was used probably in contempt. Swanton, Cont. Haida, 273, 1905. Daiyuahl-lanas (Daiyū ał … Read more

H Virginia Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico. Hassinunga A tribe of the Manahoac confederacy living about 1610 on the headwaters of Rappahannock River, Virginia.

H Unknown Location Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico. Haeser. A former tribe near the lower Rio Grande, living with the Gueiquesales, Manos Prietas, Bocores, Pinanaca, Escaba, Cacastes, Cocobipta, Cocomaque, Codame, Contotores, Colorados, Babiamares, and Taimamares. Probably Coahuiltecan. Haglli. A Yuman tribe or division which in 1604-05 occupied 5 rancherias on the lower Rio Colorado, between the Cohuanas (Yuma) and the Halliguamayas, of which latter (identifiable with the Quigyuma) they apparently formed a part. High Tower Forks. A former Cherokee settlement mentioned in a document of 1799 (Royce in … Read more

H Texas Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico. Hacanac. Mentioned by the Gentleman of Elvas in 1557 (Hakluyt Soc. Publ., ix, 132, 1851) as a province of which Moscoso was informed in 1542; apparently on the N. E. Texan border. Unidentified. Han. An unidentified tribe living on a part of the island of Malhado (Galveston id.), Texas, on which Cabeza de Vaca suffered shipwreck in 1528. The language of the Han differed from that of their neighbors, the Capoque (probably Coaque), but they had customs in common. They … Read more

H Tennessee Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico. Halfway Town. A former Cherokee settlement on Little Tennessee r., about halfway between Sitiku and Chilhowee, about the boundary of the present Monroe and London cos., E. Term. Timber-lake, Mem., map, 1765. Hiwassee (Ayuhwa′sĭ, ‘savanna’, ‘meadow’). The name of several former Cherokee settlements. The most important, commonly distinguished by the Cherokee as Ayuhwa′sĭ  Egwâ′hĭ, or Great Hiwassee, was on the N. bank of Hiwassee r., at the present Savannah ford, above Columbus, Polk co., Tenn. Another was farther up the … Read more

H Pennsylvania Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico. Hickory Indians. A small band formerly occupying a village near Lancaster, Pa. (Day, Penn., 397, 1843). Probably a part of the Delawares. Hickorytown. A former Munsee and Delaware village, probably about East Hickory or West Hickory, Forest co., Pa. On account of the hostility of the western tribes the Indians here removed in 1791 to the Seneca and were by them settled near Cattaraugus, N. Y. (J. M.) Hogstown. Described as an old (Delaware) village between Venango and Buffalo cr., … Read more