Native American

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

Early Western Travels, 1748-1846

Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 comprises thirty-one volumes which contain accurate reprints of rare manuscripts. They were carefully chosen from the mass of material descriptive of travels in the North American interior which this century of continental expansion (1748-1846) provided, and no manuscript has been included unless it possessed permanent historical value. The result is a series which the casual reader will find interesting, and the historian, teacher and scholar, will find invaluable, as it makes available sources of information without which the development of the West, its history and its people cannot be fully understood. The editor has provided numerous footnotes and an introduction to each volume which contains a biographical sketch of the author, an evaluation of the book reprinted and bibliographical data concerning it. The closing volumes are devoted to a complete and exhaustive analytical index to the entire series.

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The Natural Environment of Ocmulgee Bottoms

Beginning in the late 1500s and continuing through the late 1600s, European maps showed a large lake in central Georgia that received both the Ocmulgee and Oconee River. Its outlet was the Altamaha River, which the French called the May River. The memoirs of the commander of Fort Caroline, René de Laudonnière, wrote in his memoir that several expeditions which he dispatched in a northwestward direction from the fort, encountered a large shallow lake at the headwaters of the May. These expeditions continued northward across the lake in their canoes and then traveled up the Oconee River to the Kingdom of Apalache and then the Appalachian Mountains. No mention is made of the Ocmulgee River by Laudonnière, but it also appeared on later maps of the region, flowing into Lake Tama. Apparently someone, either French or Spanish did canoe northwestward across the shallow lake and travel up the Ocmulgee.

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The Natural History of Ocmulgee Bottoms

Ocmulgee Bottoms is a corridor of the Ocmulgee River Flood Plain in the central region of the State of Georgia that begins at the Fall Line in Macon, GA and continues 38 miles southward to near Hawkinsville, GA. This region is located in Bibb, Twiggs, Houston, Bleckley and Pulaski Counties. The Ocmulgee River’s velocity slows dramatically upon entering the Bottoms and has a serpentine channel. Over the eons, the river here has meandered frequently across the breath of the flood plain, leaving hundreds of ponds and swamps, plus a deep layer of rich, alluvial soil. On top of the alluvial soil is from one to ten feet or red clay that was deposited during the period when cotton was cultivated in the Piedmont, upstream.

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Indians in Mason County Michigan 1880 Census

These 355 people were identified as Indians (I) in column 4 (color) of the 1880 census for Mason County Michigan. In order to have been enumerated they are believed to either have renounced tribal rule, and under state law, exercised their rights as citizens; or because they “mingled” with the white population of these Michigan towns were enumerated under the expanded definitions.

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1860 Census West of Arkansas – Creek Nation

Free Inhabitants in “The Creek Nation” in the County “West of the” State of “Akansas” enumerated on the “16th” day of “August” 1860. While the census lists “free inhabitants” it is obvious that the list contains names of Native Americans, both of the Creek and Seminole tribes, and probably others. The “free inhabitants” is likely indicative that the family had given up their rights as Indians in treaties previous to 1860, drifted away from the tribe, or were never fully integrated. The black (B) and mulatto (M) status may indicate only the fact of the color of their skin, or whether one had a white ancestors, they may still be Native American.

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The Indian Register

The Indian Register is the official record identifying all Status Indians in Canada. Status Indians are people who are registered with the federal government as Indians, according to the terms of the Indian Act. Status Indians are also known as Registered Indians. Status Indians have certain rights and benefits that are not available to Non-Status

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Sacred Heart Mission and Church, Konawa, Oklahoma

When hearing of Konawa, many people immediately associate the town with the Sacred Heart Mission and Church, the cornerstone of Konawa history. Sacred Heart is located in the southeast corner of Pottawatomie County in Oklahoma approximately 9 miles east of Asher and 4 miles northwest of Konawa and approximately 1 mile north of Oklahoma Highway 39 on Sacred Heart Road.

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Crystal River Archaeological Zone – Citrus County, Florida

The Crystal River Archaeological Zone, located within Crystal River Preserve State Park in Florida, is a National Historic Landmark spread across 61.55 acres. It contains six mounds and has been one of the longest continually occupied Native American sites in Florida, with habitation lasting for at least 1,900 years. The area served as a major trade route before European involvement and now reveals significant historical artifacts from various Native American cultural periods. Despite minimal reliance on agriculture due to poor soil conditions, the occupants primarily subsisted on fishing and gathering. The complex includes burial mounds and platform mounds used for ceremonies or residences of priests, indicating a rich cultural and religious history. Notably, it also acted as a regional mortuary complex, where rituals and burials took place, drawing thousands annually. The site also features a unique garbage midden and several crudely carved stone monuments, offering insights into the diet and artistic expression of its inhabitants. Over time, there have been theories linking the architecture at Crystal River to Mayan or other Mesoamerican cultures, although these remain speculative.

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Pineland Archaeological District – Lee County, Florida

The Pineland Archaeological District, covering 211 acres on Pine Island, Florida, is a significant historic district recognized since 1973. Managed by the University of Florida Foundation and other partnerships, this region showcases an array of archaeological features including shell and sand mounds, pre-European canals, and artificial structures attributed to the Calusa Indians, who dominated the area from 500 BCE until after 1700. The district evidences dramatic shifts in sea levels and climate that influenced the area’s habitation patterns. Native Americans utilized the land extensively before significant loss due to real estate development over the past 150 years. Significant components of the site include linear shell middens, monumental earthworks, and architectural residues which reflect the complex societal structures and environmental interactions of its ancient occupants. Presently reduced to around 20 acres of protected land, the remaining site still harbors valuable insights into prehistoric life on Florida’s largest island, historically shaped by both natural and human forces.

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Woodland Complexes in Northeastern Iowa

This book, written by Wilfred D. Logan, an archeologist with many years of experience in the National Park Service, increases our understanding of the peoples whose burial mounds are preserved within the national monument and other sites in the surrounding locale. The volume presents data, not heretofore analyzed, from a large number of excavations in northeastern Iowa, and systematizes the material to develop a background against which to view the Effigy Mounds and the people who built them.

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Contributions of the Old Residents’ Historical Association, Lowell MA

The Lowell Historical Society of Lowell Massachusetts published 6 volumes of “contributions” to the recording of the history of Lowell Massachusetts at the turn of the century. These contributions were continued by the contributions by the Lowell Historical Society. Volume I A Fragment, written in 1843, by Theodore Edson Boott, Kirk, by Theodore Edson Carpet-Weaving

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Sir William Johnson and the Six Nations

The Mohawk Valley in which Sir William Johnson spent his adult life (1738-17 74) was the fairest portion of the domain of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. In this valley William Griffis had lived nine years, seeing on every side traces or monuments of the industry, humanity, and powerful personality of its most famous resident in colonial days. From the quaint stone church in Schenectady which Sir Johnson built, and in whose canopied pews he sat, daily before his eyes, to the autograph papers in possession of his neighbors; from sites close at hand and traditionally associated with the lord of Johnson Hall, to the historical relics which multiply at Johnstown, Canajoharie, and westward, — mementos of the baronet were never lacking. His two baronial halls still stand near the Mohawk. Local traditions, while in the main generous to Johnson’s memory, was sometimes unfair and even cruel. The hatreds engendered by the partisan features of the Revolution, and the just detestation of the savage atrocities of Tories and red allies led by Johnson’s son and son-in-law, had done injustice to the great man himself. Yet base and baseless tradition was in no whit more unjust than the sectional opinions and hostile gossip of the New England militia which historians have so freely transferred to their pages.

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Catholic Sioux Herald Newspaper 1896-1912

By the treaty of Washington Apr. 19, 1858, the Yankton Sioux ceded all their lands in South Dakota, excepting a reservation on the north bank of Missouri river, where they have since remained in peace with the whites. Rev. Jerome Hunt and the St. Paul’s Catholic Indian Mission of the Yankton Tribe of the Sioux Indians, at Fort Trotten, published the S’ina sapa wocekiye taeyanpaha (short name of Eyanpaha) for at least the years of 1896-1912 in the Yankton Sioux native language and in English. This newspaper, who’s English translation of it’s name means the Catholic Sioux Herald was published for the Yankton Sioux residing on the reservation about Fort Trotten. Many of the issues from this newspaper have been retained and are presented below. Some of these are labelled as “supplements.” You’ll have to scrounge around a little to find articles in the English language, but they do exist.

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Indian Wars of New England

To the student of Indian history of the early New England period the catalog of the librarian would allow one to infer that the ground had been already preempted by Mr. William Hubbard and some other well-known writers upon the tragedies of the early New England days, whose labors are more famous for being a

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