Native American

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

Hunkpapa Sioux Tribe

Hunkpapa Tribe, Hunkpapa Indians, Hunkpapa Sioux Indians. ( Hunkpapa is variously interpreted ‘at the entrance, ‘at the head end of the circle,’ ‘those who camp by themselves,’ and `wanderers’). A division of the Teton Sioux. From the meager data relating to the history of this band it seeing probable that it is one of comparatively modern formation. When Hennepin, in 1680, found what are believed to have been the Teton as far as the banks of the upper Mississippi, no mention of the Hunkpapa at that early date or for 100 years there after can be found unless it be under some … Read more

Dakota Tribe

Dakota Indians (‘allies’). The largest division of the Siouan family, known commonly as Sioux, according to Hewitt a French Canadian abbreviation of the Chippewa Nadowe-is-iw, a diminutive of nadowe, ‘an adder,’ hence ‘an enemy.’ Nadoweisiw-eg is the diminutive plural. The diminutive singular and plural were applied by the Chippewa to the Dakota, and to the Huron to distinguish them from the Iroquois proper, the true ‘adders’ or ‘enemies.’ According to Chippewa tradition the name was first applied to a body of Indians living on an island somewhere east of Detroit. Dakota, Nakota, Lakota are the names used by themselves, in … Read more

Congaree Tribe

Congaree Indians. A small tribe, supposed to be Siouan, formerly living in South Carolina. The grounds for including this tribe in the Siouan family are its location and its intimate relation with known Siouan tribes, especially the Catawba, with which it was ultimately incorporated; but according to Adair and Lawson the Congaree spoke a dialect different from that of the Catawba, which they preserved even after their incorporation. In 1693 the Cherokee complained that the Shawnee, Catawba, and Congaree took prisoners from among them and sold them as slaves in Charleston. They were visited in 1701 by Lawson, who found … Read more

Dakota Indian Divisions

Early explorers usually distinguished the Dakota Indians into an Eastern or Forest and a Western or prairie division. A more complete and accurate classification, one which is also recognized by the people themselves, is the following: Mdewakanton Wahpeton Wahpekute Sisseton Yankton Yanktonai Teton Each of these are again subdivided into bands and subbands. These seven main divisions are often known as “the seven council fires.” The first four named together constitute the Isanyati, Santee, or eastern division, of which the Mdewakanton appear to be the original nucleus, and speak one dialect. Their home was in Minnesota prior to the outbreak of 1862. … Read more

Cape Fear Tribe

Cape Fear Indians. A small tribe, possibly Siouan, formerly living near the mouth of Cape Fear river, North Carolina. The proper name of the tribe is unknown, this local term being applied to them by the early colonists. They were first known to the English in 1661, when a colony from New England made a settlement near the mouth of the river, and soon incurred the ill will of the Indians by seizing their children and sending them away under pretense of instructing them in the ways of civilization, resulting in the colonists being finally driven from the country. In … Read more

Cheraw Tribe

Cheraw Indians. An important tribe, very probably of Siouan stock, formerly ranging in central Carolina, east of the Blue ridge, from about the present Danville, Va., southward to the neighborhood of Cheraw, S. C., which takes its name from them. In numbers they may have stood next to the Tuscarora among the North Carolina tribes, but are less prominent in history by reason of their almost complete destruction before the white settlements had reached their territory. They are mentioned first in the De Soto narrative for 1540, under the name Xuala, a corruption of Suali, the name by which they … Read more

Blackfoot Tribe

Sihasapa (‘black feet’, so called because they wore black moccasins). A small division of the Teton Sioux. The name, like the names of some other Teton tribes, does not appear to have come into notice until a recent date, no mention being made of it by Lewis and Clark, Long, or earlier authorities. Catlin in his Letters and Notes, written during his stay among the northwestern Indians (1832-39), mentions the Blackfoot Sioux. In a note to De Smet’s Letters they were estimated to number 1,500. Culbertson estimated the tribe at 450 lodges, an exaggeration, and mentions five bands or subtribes, … Read more

Brule Sioux Tribe

Brulé Sioux Indians, Brulé One Nation, Brulé Tribes (‘burned,’ the French translation of, Sichángχu, ‘burnt thighs,’ their own name, of indefinite origin). A subtribe of the Teton division of the great Dakota tribe. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark (1804) as the Tetons of the Burnt Woods, numbering about 300 men, “who rove on both sides of the Missouri, White, and Teton rivers.” In 1806 they were on the east side of the Missouri from the mouth of the White to Teton river. Hayden describes the country inhabited by them in 1850 as on the headwaters of the White and Niobrara, … Read more

Biloxi Tribe

Biloxi Indians. A name of uncertain meaning, apparently from the Choctaw language. They call themselves Taneks haya, ‘first people.’ A small Siouan tribe formerly living in south Mississippi, now nearly or quite extinct. The Biloxi were supposed to belong to the Muskhogean stock until Gatschet visited the survivors of the tribe in Louisiana in 1886 and found that many of the words bore strong resemblance to those in Siouan languages, a determination fully substantiated in 1892 by J. Owen Dorsey. To what particular group of the Siouan family the tribe is to be assigned has not been determined; but it … Read more

Shoshoni Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Washakie

Washakie’s Band The easternmost division of the Shoshoni proper, so called from their chief. They formerly ranged from Wind river in lat. 43° 30′ on the north, in Wyoming, and from South pass to the headwaters of the North Platte on the east, and to Bear river near the mouth of Smith fork, in Idaho, on the west. On the south they extended as far as Brown’s hole, on Green river, Wyo. They are known officially as Shoshoni in distinction front the Bannock, Sheepeaters, etc., and were placed upon the Shoshoni reservation in west Wyoming by treaty of 1868. They … Read more

Shoshoni Tribe

Shoshoni Indians, Shoeshone Indians, Shoeshone tribe. The most northerly division of the Shoshonean family. They formerly occupied west Wyoming, meeting the Ute on the south, the entire central and southern parts of Idaho, except the territory taken by the Bannock, northeast Nevada, and a small strip of Utah west of Great Salt Lake. The Snake River country in Idaho is, perhaps, to be considered their stronghold. The northern bands were found by Lewis and Clark in 1805, on the headwaters of the Missouri in west Montana, but they had ranged previously farther east on the plains, whence they had been … Read more

Shoshonean Indians

Shoshonean Family, Shoshonean People, Shoshonean Nation. The extent of country occupied renders this one of the most important of the linguistic families of the North American Indians. The area held by Shoshonean tribes, exceeded by the territory of only two families – the Algonquian and the Athapascan, – may thus be described: On the north the south west part of Montana, the whole of Idaho south of about lat. 45° 30′, with south east Oregon, south of the Blue Mountains, west and central Wyoming, west and central Colorado, with a strip of north New Mexico; east New Mexico and the … Read more

Luiseno Tribe

Luiseño Indians. The southernmost Shoshonean division in California, which received its name from San Luis Rey, the most important Spanish mission in the territory of these people. They form one linguistic group with the Aguas Calientes, Juaneños, and Kawia. They extended along the coast from between San Onofre and Las Animas creeks, far enough south to include Aguas Hedionda, San Marcos, Escondido, and Valley Center. Inland they extended north beyond San Jacinto river, and into Temescal creek; but they were cut off from the San Jacinto divide by the Diegueños, Aguas Calientes, Kawia, and Serranos. The former inhabitants of San … Read more

Serrano Tribe

Serrano Indians (Spanish: ‘highlanders’, ‘monntaineer-‘ ). A Shoshonean division with a common dialect, centering in the San Bernardino mountains, southern California, north of Los Angeles, but extending down Mohave river at least to Daggett and north across the Mohave desert into the valley of Tejon creek. They also occupied San Bernardino valley. Fray Francisco Garcés. in 1775-76, described the Serranos near Tejon creek, under the name Cuahajai or Cuabajay (their Mohave name), as living in large square communal houses of toile mats on a framework of willow, each family having its own fireplace; they made small baskets, flint knives, and … Read more

Bannock Tribe

Bannock Indians (from Panátǐ, their own name). A Shoshonean tribe whose habitat previous to being gathered on reservations can not be definitely outlined. There were two geographic divisions, but references to the Bannock do not always note this distinction. The home of the chief division appears to have been south east Idaho, whence they ranged into west Wyoming. The country actually claimed by the chief of this southern division, which seems to have been recognized by the treaty of Ft Bridger, July 3, 1868, lay between lat. 42° and 45°, and between long. 113° and the main chain of the … Read more

Chemehuevi Tribe

Chemehuevi Indians. A Shoshonean tribe, apparently an offshoot of the Paiute, formerly inhabiting the east bank of the Rio Colorado from Bill Williams fork to the Needles and extending westward as far as Providence Mountains, California, their chief seat being Chemehuevi valley, which stretches for 5 miles along the Colorado and nearly as far on either side. When or how they acquired possession of what appears to have been Yuman territory is not known. They may possibly have been seen by Alarcon, who navigated the Rio Colorado in 1540; but if so, they are not mentioned by name. Probably the … Read more

Shawnee Indian Towns and Villages

The following were the Shawnee villages so far as recorded: Bulltown Catawissa Chillicothe (several) Conedogwinit Cornstalk’s Town Girty’s Town Grenadier Squaw’s Town Hog Creek Kagoughsage Kickenapawling Lewistown (with Mingos) Lick Town(?) Logstown (with others) Long Tail Lowertown Mequachake (several) Nawake(?) Old Shawnee Town Peixtan (?) Pigeon Town Piqua (Pequea; several) Prophet’s Town Sawanogi Scoutash Shawneetown (III) Sonnioto Standing Stone Tippecanoe Wapakoneta Will’s Town