Native American

The list of items below have been tagged as part of the Native American historical collection here at AccessGenealogy.

Patwin Tribe

Patwin Indians (‘man,’ ‘person’). A name adopted by Powers to designate a division of the Copehan family. They occupied the area extending from Stony creek, Colusa County, to Suisun Bay, Solano County, California, and from Sacramento river to the boundary of the Kulanapan family on the west, but excluding the so-called Coyote Valley Indians on the headwaters of Putah creek in the south part of Lake County, determined by Barrett to be Moquelumnan and not Copehan. The dialects of this division differ considerably from those of the Wintun. Powers believed the Patwin were once very numerous. The manners and customs … Read more

Koyeti Tribe

Koyeti Indians. A Yokuts tribe formerly living in south central California, in the vicinity of Tule river and southward.  Mentioned in 1852 as friendly tribe on Paint (White) creek, and described as possessing unusual courage and intelligence.  They are entirely extinct.

Konomihu Tribe

Konomihu Indians. A subsidiary tribe of the Shasta, living at the forks of Salmon River, Siskiyou County, California, extending 7 miles up the south fork and 5 miles up the north fork.  Their language is very divergent from that of the main body of Shasta.

Kawaiisu Tribe

Kawaiisu Indians. The most westerly subdivision of the Ute-Chemehuevi linguistic division of the Shoshonean family.  They occupy an isolated area on both sides of the Tehachapi mountains, California, but particularly the west side around Piaute mountains and the valleys of Walker basin in Caliente and Kelso Creeks as far south as Tehachapi.

Mono Tribe

Mono Indians. Monache Indians. A general term applied to the Shoshonean tribes of south east California by their neighbors on the west.  The origin and meaning of the name are obscure, its identity with the Spanish mono ‘monkey” and its similarity, at least in certain dialects, to the Yokuts word for ‘fly’ (monai, etc.) are probably only coincidences.

Miwok Tribe

Miwok Indians (‘man”) One of the two divisions of the Moquelumnan family in central California, the other being the Olamentke.  With a small exception in the west the Miwok occupied territory bounded on the north by Cosumnes River, on the east by the ridge of the Sierra Nevada, on the south by Fresno creek, and on the west by San Joaquin River.  The exception on the west is a narrow strip of land on the east bank of the San Joaquin, occupied by Yokuts Indians, beginning at the Tuolumne and extending northward to a point not far from the place … Read more

Brief History of the French and Indian War

1776 Cherokees Map

Most histories of the French and Indian War make little mention of events in the Southeast during this period.  The primary reason is that European armies did not battle each other in the South. The bulk of the bloodshed in the Southeast occurred in battles between colonial militias and Great Britain’s former ally, the Cherokees. In contrast, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia lost over 90% of its population during the French and Indian War, while the British settlements in northern New York temporarily ceased to exist. While the European settlers of what was to become the states of Georgia, Alabama, … Read more

Wishosk Tribe

Wishosk Indians. A small tribe, whose name Powell adopted for the Wishoskan linguistic family, on the coast of North California about Humboldt Bay. The word seems to be a misapplication of their own name for their Athapascan neighbors, Wishashk. Wiyot, which has sometimes been used as an equivalent, is therefore probably a better term than Wishosk, though not entirely exact. Consult Further Wiyot Tribe

Mattole Tribe

Mattole Indians (Wishosk name) An Athapascan tribe whose principal settlements were along Bear and Mattole Rivers, California.  They resisted the white race more vigorously than the natives of this region generally did and suffered practical extermination in return.  They were gathered on a reservation near Creek Mendocino for a time and some of them were afterward taken to Hupa Valley Reservation.  A few still live in their old territory.  They differ somewhat from their Athapascan neighbors in language and culture; they burn the dead; the men tattoo a distinctive mark on the forehead, but in other respects they are similar … Read more

Kato Tribe

Kato Indians. A Kuneste tribe or band formerly living in Cahto and Long valleys, Mendocino County, California.  These were probably the people mentioned by McKee as occupying the second large valley of Eel River, numbering about 500 in 1851, and differing in language from the Pomo, a fact which has long been lost sight of.  Powers divides them into Kai Pomo, Kastel Pomo, and Kato Pomo, and gives a Kulanapan vocabulary.  They have recently been found to belong to the Athapascan stock and closely related to the Wailaki, although they resemble the Pomo in culture.

Kuneste Tribe

Kuneste Indians (Wailaki: ‘Indian’). The southernmost Athapascan group on the Pacific Coast, consisting of several tribes loosely or not at all connected politically, but speaking closely related dialects and possessing nearly the same culture. They occupied the greater part of Eel River basin, including the whole of Van Duzen Fork, the main Eel to within a few miles of Round Valley, the south fork and its tributaries to Long and Cahto Valleys, and the coast from Bear River range south to Usal. Their neighbors were the Wishosk on the north, the Wintun on the west, and on the south the … Read more

Huchnom Tribe

Huchnom Indians. A division of the Yuki of northern California, speaking a dialect divergent from that of the Round Valley Indians.  They lived on South Eel river above its confluence with the middle fork of the Eel river, or in adjacent territories, and on the headwaters of Russian River in upper Potter valley. To the north of them were the Witukomnom Yuki, to the east the Wintun and on the other sides were Pomo tribes.  The Pomo call them Tatu, the whites Redwoods, from Redwood Creek.

Diegueños Tribe

Diegueños Indians. A collective name, probably in part synonymous with Comeya, applied by the Spaniards to Indians of the Yuman stock who formerly lived in and around San Diego, in California, whence the term; it included representatives of many tribes and has no proper ethic significance; never the less it is a firmly established name and is there accepted to include the tribes formerly living about San Diego and extending south to about lat 31º 30.  A few Degueños still live in the neighborhood of San Diego.  There are about 400 Indians included under this name attached to the Mission … Read more

Dakubetede Tribe

Dakubetede Indians. A group of Athapascan villages formerly on Applegate creek, Oregon.  The inhabitants spoke a dialect practically identical with that employed by the Taltushtuntede who lived on Gallice Creek not far from them.  They were intermarried with the Shasta, who, with the Takilman, were their neighbors.  With other insurgent bands they were removed to the Siletz reservation in 1856.

Cuñeil Tribe

Cuñeil Indians. A tribe, evidently Yuman, described as inhabiting the territory between San Diego, southern California and the mouth of the Rio Colorado…

Coanopa Tribe

Coanopa Indians. A tribe, apparently Yuman, residing probably on or in the vicinity of the lower Rio Colorado early in the 18th century. They visited Father Nino while he was among the Quigyuma and are mentioned by him in connection with the Cuchan (Yuma) and other tribes . Possibly the Cocopa.

Juaneño Tribe

Juaneño Indians. A Shoshonean division on the California coast, named from San Juan Capistrano mission, at which they were principally gathered.

Manso Tribe

Manso Indians (Span; ‘mild’) A former sedentary tribe on the Mexican frontier, near El Paso, Tex., who, before the coming of the Spaniards, had changed their former solid mode of building for habitations constructed of reeds and wood. Their mode of government and system of kinship were found to be the same as those of the Pueblos proper-the Tigurites, Piros, and Tewa, from whom their rites and traditions clearly prove them to have come. They are divided into at least  four clans-Blue, White, Yellow, and Red corn, and there are also traces of two Water clans. This system of clanship, … Read more

Kuitsh Tribe

Kuitsh Indians. A small Yakonan tribe formerly living on lower Umpqua river, western Oregon.

Kalispel Tribe

Kalispel Indians. A Salish tribe around the lake and along the river of the same name in the extreme north part of Idaho and north east Washington.