Native American

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

Mohave Tribe

Mohave Indians (from hamok ‘three’, avi ‘mountain’). The most populous and war like of the Yuman tribes. Since known to history they appear to have lived on both sides of the Rio Colorado, though chiefly on the east  side, between the Needles (whence their name is derived) and the entrance to Black Canyon. Ives, in 1857, found only a few scattered families in Cottonwood Valley, the bulk of their number being below Hardyville. In recent times a body of Chemehuevi have held the river between them and their kinsmen the Yuma. The Mohave are strong, athletic, and well developed, their … Read more

Modoc Tribe

Modoc Indians (from Móatokni, ‘southerners’). A Lutuamian tribe, forming the southern division of that stock, in south west Oregon. The Modoc language is practically the same as the Klamath, the dialectic differences being extremely slight. This linguistic identity would indicate that the local separation of the two tribes must have been comparatively recent and has never been complete. The former habitat of the Modoc included Little Klamath Lake, Modoc Lake, Tule Lake, Lost River Valley, and Clear Lake, and extended at times as far east as Goose Lake. The most important bands of the tribe were at Little Klamath Lake, … Read more

Captain Jack, Modoc Indian Tribe

The famous warrior, more correctly called Keiutpoos, was born about the year 1840. Little is known of his early history. His fame rests upon his desperate fighting in the lava beds in the winter of 1872-73. In some respects the most extraordinary warrior in the annals of Indian fighting, it is yet a very difficult matter to decide whether Keiutpoos is to be regarded as an accident or a veritable Indian Hannibal. The location of that war was so singular, the forces of the Indians so small in comparison with those of the Whites, the slaughter of the latter so … 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

Piankashaw Tribe

Ni-a-có-mo, Fix with the Foot, a Brave

Piankashaw Tribe – From a population of over 1,500 persons in 1759 to only 9 surviving members in 1936, all the children and grandchildren of George Washington Finley, the Piankashaw’s history mirrors that of many other mid-west tribes and is heavily woven with those of the Miami and Peoria tribes.

Wea Tribe

Wea Indians (probably a contraction of the local name Wawaagtenang, ‘place of the round, or curved, channel’ (Schoolcraft); possibly contracted from Wayahtónuki, ‘eddy people,’ from waysqtonwi, `eddy,’ both renderings coming from the same root. Wawaqtenang was the common Algonquian name for Detroit. (Cf. Wawyachtonoc). A subtribe of the Miami. They are first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation for 1673 as living in east Wisconsin. In the later distribution of the tribes of the confederacy they occupied the most westerly position. Allouez in 1680 found a Wea town on St Joseph River, Indiana. Marquette visited a Wea village at Chicago which … Read more

Miami Tribe

Miami Indians (Chippewa: Omaumeg, ‘people who live on the peninsula’). An Algonquian tribe, usually designated by early English writers as Twightwees (twanhtwanh, the cry of a crane. Hewitt), from their own name, the earliest recorded notice of which is from information furnished in 1658 by Gabriel Druillettes who called them the Oumamik, then living 60 leagues froth St. Michel, the first village of the Pottawatomi mentioned by him; it, was therefore at or about the mouth of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Tailhan (Perrot, Mémoire) says that they withdrew into the Mississippi valley, 60 leagues from the bay, and were established there … Read more

Miami Indian Villages and Towns

Among the Miami villages were: Chicago Chippekawkay Choppatee’s village Kekionga Kenapaconiaqua Kokomo Kowasikka Little Turtle’s Village Meshingomesia Missinquinieschan (Piankashaw) Mississinewa Osaga Pahedketcha Piankashaw (Piankashaw) Pickawillanee Raccoon’s village Seek’s village St Francis Xavier (mission, with others) Thorntown (Eel River Miami) Osage. A former Miami village on Wabash river, just west, of the Mississinewa, in Miami county, Ind. It was so called from its being the residence of an Osage Indian domiciliated among the Miami, and whose name appears in treaties as Osage and Osage the Neutral (J. P. Dunn, inf’n, 1907). In 1838 the site was included in an individual reserve … Read more

Pepikokia Tribe

Pepikokia Indians, Nation de la Gruë. An Algonquian tribe or band mentioned in the latter part of the 17th century as a division of the Miami. In 1718 both they and the Piankashaw were mentioned as villages of the Wea. That the relation between these three groups was intimate is evident. They were located on the Wabash by Chauvignerie (1736) and by other writers of the period. They are spoken of in 1695 as Miamis of Maramek rivers, that is, the Kalamazoo. A letter dated 1701 indicates that they were at that time in Wisconsin. Chauvignerie says that Wea, Piankashaw, … Read more

Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, Kaskaskia Indian Chief

Jean Baptiste Ducoigne. A Kaskaskia chief at the beginning of the 19th century, noted mainly for his firm adherence to the United States and friendship for the whites. Reynolds describes him as a cunning half-blood of considerable talent. In his Memoirs, Gen. W. H. Harrison, who had dealings with Ducoigne, speaks of him as “a gentlemanly man, by no means addicted to drink, and possessing a very strong inclination to live like a white man; indeed has done so as far as his means would allow.” Writing to the Secretary of War, he says: “Ducoigne’s long and well-proved friendship for … Read more

Kaskaskia Tribe

Kaskaskia Indians (perhaps akin to kāskāskahamwa, ‘ he scrapes it off by means of a tool.’ The Foxes have always held the Peoria in low esteem, and in their traditions claim to have destroyed most of them on a rocky island in a river. – Wm. Jones). Once the leading tribe of the Illinois confederacy, and perhaps rightly to be considered as the elder brother of the group. Although the first knowledge of this confederacy obtained by the whites related, in all probability, to the Peoria while they yet resided on the Mississippi, it is probable that the references to … Read more

Miami Indian Bands and Gentes

The French authors commonly divided the Miami into six bands: Piankashaw, Wea, Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia Pepicokia. Of these the first two have come to be recognized, as distinct tribes; the other names are no longer known. The Pepicokia, mentioned in 1796 with the Wea and Piankashaw, may have been absorbed by the a band known as Eel Rivers, formerly living near Thorntown, Boone county, Ind., but they afterward joined the main body on the Wabash. According to Morgan the Miami have 10 gentes: Mowhawa(wolf), Mongwa (loon), Kendawa (eagle), Alipakosea (buzzard), Hanozawa (Kanwasowau, panther), I’ilawa (turkey), Ahseponna (raccoon), Monnato (snow), Kulswa … Read more

Miami Indian Chiefs and Leaders

Little Turtle

Little Turtle Little Turtle (Michikinikwca). A chief of the Miami tribe. Born at his village on Eel River, Ind., in 1752. His father was a Miami chief and his mother a Mahican; hence, according to the Indian rule, he was a Mahican and received no advantage from his father’s rank, that is, he was not chief by descent. However, his talents having attracted the notice of his countrymen, he was made chief of the Miami while a  comparatively young man. Little Turtle was the principal leader of the Indian forces that defeated Gen. Harmaron on the Miami River in Oct. 1790, … Read more

Kutenai Tribe

Kutenai Indians (corrupted form, possibly by way of the language of the Siksika, of Kútonâqa, one of their names for themselves). A people forming a distinct linguistic stock, the Kitunahan family of Powell, who inhabit parts of south east British Columbia and north Montana and Idaho, from the lakes near the source of Columbia river to Pend d’Oreille lake. Their legends and traditions indicate that they originally dwelt east of the Rocky mountains, probably in Montana, whence they were driven westward by the Siksika, their hereditary enemies. The two tribes now live on amicable terms, and some intermarriage has taken … Read more

Menominee Indian Treaties

The Menominee have entered into the following treaties with the United States: (1) Treaty of peace at St Louis, Mo., Mar. 30, 1817; (2) Treaty of Prairie du Chien, Wis., Aug. 19, 1825, with the Menominee and other Indians, fixing boundary lines between the several tribes; (3) Treaty of Butte des Morts, Wis., Aug. 11, 1827, defining boundary lines between the Menominee, Chippewa, and Winnebago; (4) Treaty of Washington, Feb. 8, 1831, defining boundary lines and ceding lands to the United States, a portion of the latter to be for the use of certain New York Indians; (5) Treaty of … Read more

Menominee Tribe

Amiskquew

Menominee Indians (meno, by change from mino, ‘good’, ‘beneficent’; min, a ‘grain’, ‘seed’, the Chippewa name of the wild rice. Hewitt. Full name Menominiwok ininiwok, the latter term signifying ‘they are men’). An Algonquian tribe, the members of which, according to Dr William Jones, claim to understand Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo far more easily than they do Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, hence it is possible that their linguistic relation is near to the former group of Algonquians. Grignon peaks of the Noquet as a part of the Menominee, and states that “the earliest locality of the Menominee, at the first … Read more