Biography of Hon. John Kelly

HON. JOHN KELLY. – Prominent in almost every department of business and public life, Honorable John Kelly is known throughout the length and breadth of our state as a man of great abilities and irreproachable integrity. As a pioneer, none has a more deserving record, nor has sustained amore honorable part. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1818, he crossed the Atlantic to Canada in 1838, and in 1840 came to Franklin, Vermont. Three years later he began a career at the West, coming to Wisconsin, and there exercising his natural bent for business and capacity for organization, by which he … Read more

Biography of Edward C. Peck

Edward C. Peck was born in Canada in 1834. When a young man he came to the United States and in 1858, he joined a party of emigrants en route to California. He came over the old Santa Fe Trail as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico, at which point they decided to strike westward along the Whipple trail and emigrant route between Albuquerque and Los Angeles. Without any serious mishaps, the party reached the villages of the friendly Zunis. Although warned against the Navajos and Apaches, the party continued their journey to the west. They reached the little Colorado and … Read more

Mound Builders

Bottle Creek Mounds

The types of the human skulls taken from those ancient mounds said to have been erected by a prehistoric race, and now called “Mound Builders” a race claimed to be far superior to our Indians are characteristic, not only of the ancient Mexicans, Peruvians and other ancient tribes of South America, but also of the ancient Natchez, Muskogee’s, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Seminoles, Yamases and others of the North American continent. And it is a conceded fact that all Indians ever found in North and South America possess many common features. I have seen the native Indians of Mexico, Arizona and … Read more

Assiniboin Tribe

Assiniboin Indians, Assiniboin First Nation, Assiniboin People (Chippewa: u’sin i ‘stone,’ u’pwäwa– ‘he cooks by roasting’: ‘one who cooks by the use of stones.’). A large Siouan tribe, originally constituting a part of the Yanktonai. Their separation from the parent stem, to judge by the slight dialectal difference in the language, could not have greatly preceded the appearance of the whites, but it must have taken place before 1640, as the Jesuit Relation for that year mentions the Assiniboin as distinct. The Relation of 1658 places them in the vicinity of Lake Alimibeg, between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. On Jefferys’ … Read more

Jack Indians

Jack Indians. An unidentified tribe mentioned by Dobbs, who states that in 1731 they came to trade at the mouth of Albany River, Northwest Territory, Canada

Nipissing Tribe

Nipissing Indians, Nipissing Nation, Nipissing First Nation, Nipissing People (‘at the little water or lake’, referring to Lake Nipissing; Nipisirinien, ‘little-water people’). A tribe of the Algonkin. When they first became known to the French, in 1613, they were residing in the vicinity of Lake Nipissing, Ontario, which has been their home during most of the time to the present. Having been attacked, about 1650, by the Iroquois, and many of them slain, they fled for safety to Lake Nipigon , where Allouez visited them in 1667, but they were again on Lake Nipissing in 1671. A part of the tribe afterward … Read more

The Chickasaw War of 1739

Chickasaw Wars

Through the instigation of The French the war was continued between the seemingly infatuated and blinded Choctaws and Chickasaws during the entire year 1737, yet without any perceptibly advantageous results to either. A long and bitter experience seemed wholly inadequate to teach them the selfish designs of the French. No one can believe the friendship of the French for the Choctaws was unassumed. They were unmerciful tyrants by whatever standard one may choose to measure them, and without a redeeming quality as far as their dealings with the North American Indians go to prove; and their desire for the good of that race of people utterly out of … Read more

Micmac Tribe

Micmac Birchbark Box with Porcupine Quills

Micmac Indians, Mi’kmaq First Nation. (Migmak, ‘allies’; Nigmak, ‘our allies.’ Hewitt). Alternative names for the Micmac, which can be found in historical sources, include Gaspesians, Souriquois, Acadians and Tarrantines; in the mid-19th century Silas Rand recorded the word wejebowkwejik as a self-ascription. An important Algonquian tribe that occupied Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Islands, the north part of New Brunswick, and probably points in south and west Newfoundland. While their neighbors the Abnaki have close linguistic relations with the Algonquian tribes of the great lakes, the Micmac seem to have almost as distant a relation to the group as the … Read more

Choctaw Traditions – The Council Fire, The Nahullo

The faces of the Choctaw and Chickasaw men of sixty years ago were as smooth as a woman’s, in fact they had no beard. Sometimes there might be seen a few tine hairs (if hairs they might be called) here and there upon the face, but they were few and far between, and extracted with a pair of small tweezers whenever discovered. Oft have I seen a Choctaw warrior standing before a mirror seeking with untiring perseverance and unwearied eyes, as he turned his face at different angles to the glass, if by chance a hair could be found lurking … Read more

Etchareottine Tribe

Etchareottine Indians, Etchareottine Nation (‘people dwelling in the shelter’). An Athapascan tribe occupying the country of Great Slave lake and upper Mackenzie river to the Rocky mountains, including the lower Liard valley, British America. Their range extends from Hay river to Ft Good Hope, and they once lived on the shores of Lake Athabasca and in the forests stretching northward to Great Slave lake. They were a timid, pacific people, called ‘the people sheltered by willows’ by the Chipewyan, indicating a riparian fisher folk. Their Cree neighbors, who harried and plundered them and carried them off into bondage, called them Awokanak, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry Hollis

Fred W. Hollis, a prosperous farmer of the town of Hopewell, Ontario county, New York, who has been prominently identified with the public affairs of the town for a number of years, is of English descent on both sides of the family. (I) Henry Hollis, grandfather of Fred W. Hollis, was a native of England, and came to this country in 1854, for a time making his home in Canada, then removed to Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, where he served as a teacher of Greek and Latin in the old Canandaigua Academy.

Blackfeet Tribe

Blackfeet Indians, Siksika Tribe, Siksika Indians (‘black feet’, from siksinam ‘black’, ka the root of oqkatsh, ‘foot’. The origin of the name is disputed, but it is commonly believed to have reference to the discoloring of their moccasins by the ashes of the prairie fires; it may possibly have reference to black-painted moccasins such as were worn by the Pawnee, Sihasapa, and other tribes). An important Algonquian confederacy of the northern plains, consisting of three subtribes, the Siksika proper or Blackfeet, the Kainah or Bloods, and the Piegan, the whole body being popularly known as Blackfeet. In close alliance with … Read more

Nootka Tribe

Nootka Indians, Nootka People, Nootka First Nations. A name originally applied to the Mooachaht of Nootka sound, west coast of Vancouver Island, and to their principal town, Yuquot, but subsequently extended to all the tribes speaking a similar language. These extend from Cook Creek to the north to beyond Port San Juan, and include the Makah of Flattery Creek, Washington. Sometimes the term has been used as to exclude the last named tribe. The Nootka form one branch of the great Wakashan family and their relationship to the second or Kwakiutl branch is apparent only on close examination. In 1906 … Read more

Biography of Frank T. Vaughan

Frank T. Vaughan, one of the younger lawyers of Newport, was born May 4, 1864, in Woodstock, Vt., son of Edwin and Elizabeth L. (Tenney) Vaughan. The father, who graduated at the Albany Law School, New York, followed the legal profession, and at the time of his death was Judge of Probate. Edwin Vaughan commenced his law practice in New York City; but in 1859 he removed to Claremont, N.H., and entered into partnership with Colonel Alexander Gardner. In 1861 he enlisted in the New Hampshire Battalion of the First Rhode Island Volunteer Cavalry, and was afterward transferred to the … Read more

Nakotchokutchin Tribe

Nakotchokutchin Indians, Nakotchokutchin People, Nakotchokutchin First Nation. A Kutchin tribe dwelling on the lower Mackenzie river, north of the Kawchodinneh, in lat. 68° north, lon. 133° west Their hunting grounds are east of the Mackenzie as far as Anderson River, and their chief game is the caribou. In former days they waged intermittent warfare against the Eskimo of Mackenzie river, with whom, however, they have always traded. Their men numbered 50 in 1866.

Ntlakyapamuk Tribe

Ntlakyapamuk Indians. One of the four great Salish tribes inhabiting the interior of British Columbia and popularly called Thompson Indian from the river on which a large part of them live. Internally they are divided into the Lower Thonlpsons living from a short distance below Spuzzum on Fraser river, nearly to the village of Cisco, and the Upper Thompson, whose towns extend from tile latter point nearly to Lillooet on the Fraser, to within a short distance of Ashcroft on the Thompson, and over all of Nicola valley. The Upper Thompsons are subdivided by Teit into 4 minor bands, the … Read more

Nipmuc Tribe

Nipmuc Indians (from Nipamaug, ‘fresh-water fishing place’). The inland tribes of central Massachusetts living chiefly in the south part of Worcester county, extending into Connecticut and Rhode Island. Their chief seats were on the headwaters of Blackstone and Quinebaug rivers, and about the ponds of Brookfield. Hassanamesit seems to have been their principal village in 1674, but their villages had no apparent political connection, and the different parts of their territory were subject to their more powerful neighbors, the Massachuset, Wampanoag, Narraganset, and Mohegan, and even tributary to the Mohawk. The Nashua, dwelling farther north, are sometimes classed with the … Read more

Biography of Hector Ross

In the town of Sherburne, and near the village of the same name, Chenango county, is a locality known as the “Quarter,” taking its name from the fact that it comprises one-quarter of the town. Here is located a thriving little manufacturing and trading settlement. By far the greater part of the life and prosperity of this place are due to the business capacity and the energy of the man whose portrait appears above. Hector Ross was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1811. His father’s name was John Ross, who was a molder. living in Greenock. His mother’s maiden name … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Morand King

Morand King, hotel and livery, was born in Canada, June 18, 1870. He came to Nebraska in 1867, and to Jewell County, Kan., in 1871, and took a homestead; came to the town of Jewell City in 1876, and engaged in the livery business. In June 1881, he took charge of the City Hotel of Jewell City. Mr. King started in the world with but little money, but by perseverance and push has accumulated considerable property. Was married May 15, 1871, in Richardson County, Neb., to Miss Catherine Keffer, and has four children – Powell, born June 29, 1872; Morand, … Read more

Piegan Tribe

Piegan Indians (Pikuni, referring to people having badly dressed robes). One of the 3 tribes of the Siksika or Blackfoot confederacy. Its divisions, as given by Grinnell, are: Ahahpitape, Ahkaiyikokakiniks, Kiyis, Sikutsipmaiks, Sikopoksimaiks, Tsiniksistsoyiks, Kutaiimiks, Ipoksimaiks, Silkokitsimiks, Nitawyiks, Apikaiviks, Miahwahpitsiks, Nitakoskitsipupiks, Nitikskiks, Inuksiks, Miawkinaiyiks, Esksinaitupiks, Inuksikahkopwaiks, Kahmitaiks, Kutaisotsiman, Nitotsiksisstaniks, Motwainaiks, Mokumiks, and Motahtosiks. Hayden gives also Susksoyiks. In 1858 the Piegan in the United States were estimated to number 3,700. Hayden 3 years later estimated the population at 2,520. In 1906 there were 2,072 under the Blackfeet agency in Montana, and 493 under the Piegan agency in Alberta, Canada.