Native American

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

Shasta Tribe

Shasta Indians (from Sǔsti’ka, apparently the mane of a well known Indian tribe living about 1840 near the site of Yreka).  A group of small tribes or divisions forming the Shastan linguistic family of north California and formerly extending into Oregon.  The area occupied by the Shasta is quite irregular, and consists of one main and three subsidiary areas.  The main body, comprising the Iruwaitsu, Kammatwa, Katiru, and Kikatsik, with whom there was little diversity in language, occupied Klamath river from Klamath Hot Springs to Happy Camp, the north half of Shasta valley, the whole of Scott valley, and the … Read more

Shawnee Tribe

1710 Senex Map Portion

Formerly a leading tribe of South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. By reason of the indefinite character of their name, their wandering habits, their connection with other tribes, and because of their interior position away from the traveled routes of early days, the Shawnee were long a stumbling block in the way of investigators.

Shawnee Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Prophet's Rock view

Big Jim Big Jim. The popular name of a noted full-blood Shawnee leader, known among his people as Wapameepto, “Gives light as he walks”. His English name was originally Dick Jim, corrupted into Big Jim. He was born on the Sabine Reservation, Texas, in 1834, and in 1872 became chief of the Kispicotha band, commonly known as Big Jim’s band of Absentee Shawnee. Big Jim was of illustrious lineage, his grandfather being Tecumseh and his father one of the signers of the “Sam Houston treaty” between the Cherokee and affiliated tribes and the Republic of Texas, February 23, 1836. He … Read more

Shawnee Clans and Divisions

The Shawnee people have historically been organized into five primary divisions, each possibly representing distinct tribes or phratries. These divisions—Chillicothe, Kispokotha, Spitotha, Bicowetha, and Assiwikale—played significant roles in Shawnee society, with each group occupying specific positions in public assemblies and often lending their names to the villages. Additionally, the Shawnee are traditionally associated with 13 clans, including the Wolf, Bear, and Turtle clans, among others. The Turtle clan holds special significance in Shawnee mythology, while the Snake clan was notably represented in the signing of a treaty in 1793. Population estimates varied over time, reflecting the dispersed nature of the tribe, with numbers ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 in the 18th and early 19th centuries. By 1909, the Shawnee population was divided among the Eastern Shawnee, Absentee Shawnee, and those integrated into the Cherokee Nation.

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

Seneca Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Blacksnake Blacksnake (Thaonawyuthe, ‘needle or awl breaker’). A chief, about the close of the 18th century, of the Seneca Indians, who lived on their reservation along the Alleghany River in Cattaraugus County, New York. His residence was a mile above the village of Cold Spring. The date of his birth is not known, but is supposed to have been about 1760, as it is stated that in 1856 he had reached the age of 96 years. He was present on the English side at the battle of Oriskany, N. Y., in 1777, and it is said that he participated in the … Read more

Seneca Tribe

Seneca Tribe: A prominent and influential tribe of the Iroquois. When first known they occupied that part of western New York between Seneca Lake and Geneva River, having their council fire at Tsonontowan, near Naples, in Ontario county.

Seminole Tribe

Seminole Indians, Seminole Nation (Creek: Sim-a-no’-le, or Isti simanóle, ‘separatist’, ‘runaway’ ). A Muskhogean tribe of Florida, originally made up of immigrants from the Lower Creek towns on Chattahoochee river, who moved down into Florida following the destruction of the Apalachee and other native tribes. They were at first classed with the Lower Creeks, but began to be known under their present name about 1775.  Those still residing in Florida call themselves Ikaniúksalgi, peninsula people’ (Gatschet). The Seminole, before the removal of the main body to Indian Territory, consisted chiefly of descendants of Muscogee (Creeks) and Hitchiti from the Lower Creek … Read more

Sauk Indian Religion

Sauk Religion. The religion of the Sauk is fundamentally the belief in what are now commonly known as manitos. The sense of the term is best given by the combined use of the two words “power” and “magic.” The world is looked on as inhabited by beings permeated with a certain magic force, not necessarily malicious and not necessarily beneficent, the manifestation of which might produce one or the other effect. Objects in nature held to be endowed with this force become the recipients of varying degrees of adoration. A child is early taught to get into personal relation with … Read more

Sauk Indian Treaties

The Sauk made or were parties to the following treaties with the United States: Treaty of Ft Harmar, Jan. 9, 1789; St Louis, Mo. (Sauk and Fox), Nov. 3, 1804; Portage des Sioux, Mo. (Sauk of Missouri), Sept. 13, 1815; St Louis, Mo., May 13, 1816; Ft Armstrong, Ill. (Sauk and Fox), Sept. 3, 1822; Washington, D. C. (Sauk and Fox), Aug. 4, 1824; Prairie du Chien, Wis. (Sauk and Fox), Aug. 19, 1825, and July 15, 1830; Ft Armstrong, 111. (Sauk and Fox), Sept. 21, 1832; Ft Leavenworth, Mo. (Sauk and Fox), Sept. 17,1836; near Dubuque, Iowa (Sauk and … Read more

Sauk Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Wabokieshiek

Mokohoko Mokohoko (Mokohokoa, ‘he who floats visible near the surface of the water’). A chief of the band of Sauk that took the lead in supporting Black Hawk in the Black Hawk war. He was of the Sturgeon clan, the ruling clan of the Sauk, and was a bitter enemy of Keokuk. The band still retains its identity. It refused to leave Kansas when the rest of the tribe went to Indian Territory, and had to be removed thither by the military. It is now known as the Black Hawk band, and its members are the most conservative of all … Read more

Sauk Indian Tribe Culture

Material culture of the Sauk tribe. The culture of the Sauk was that of the eastern wooded area. They were a canoe people while they were in the country of the Great Lakes, using both the birch-bark canoe and the dugout. They still retain the dugout, and learned the use and construction of the bull-boat on coming out upon the plains. They practiced agriculture on an extensive scale; they cultivated the ground for maize, squashes, beans, and tobacco. Despite their fixed abodes and villages they did not live a sedentary life altogether, for much of the time they devoted to … Read more

Sauk Tribe

Sauk Indians, Sac Indians, Sac Tribe ( Osā’kiwŭg, ‘people of the outlet,’ or, possibly, ‘people of the yellow earth,’ in contradistinction from the Muskwakiwuk, ‘Red Earth People’, a name of the Foxes). One of a number of Algonquian tribes whose earliest known habitat was embraced within the eastern peninsula of Michigan, the other tribes being the Potawatomi, the “Nation of the Fork,” and probably the famous Mascoutens and the Foxes. The present name of Saginaw Bay (Sāginā’we’, signifying ‘the country or place of the Sauk’) is apparently derived from the ethnic appellative Sauk. There is presumptive evidence that the Sauk, … Read more

Sauk Indian Social Organization

Social organization. Society was rather complex. In the days when the tribe was much larger there were numerous gentes. There may be as many as 14 gentes yet in existence. These are: Bass Bear Bear-potato Eagle Elk Fox Great Lynx or Fire Dragon Grouse Sea Sturgeon Swan Thunder Trout Wolf It seems that at one time there was a more rigid order of rank both socially and politically than at present. For example, chiefs came from the Trout and Sturgeon gentes, and war chiefs from the Fox gens; and there were certain relationships of courtesy between one gens and another, … Read more