Yojuane Tribe

Yojuane Indians. A Tonkawan tribe of northern and central Texas, frequently mentioned in 18th century Spanish records. Since their general history, customs, and ethnological relations are outlined under Tonkawa, only a few characteristic facts concerning them need be given here.

The Yojuane and Tonkawa tribes were unmistakably mentioned in 1691 by Francisco de Jesus Maria as the “DiuJuan” and the “Tanqua ay,” among the enemies of the Hasínai. It is probable that the Ayennis, spoken of in 1698 by Talon, and the Yakwal (‘drifted ones’) remembered, according to Gatschet, in Tonkawa tradition, were the Yojuane. That the Joyvan met by Du Rivage in 1719 on Red river, 70 leagues above the Kadohadacho, were the same tribe, there is little room for doubt. 1

Throughout the 18th century the Yojuane shared the common Tonkawan hatred for the Apache. There are indications of an early hostility toward the Hasinai also. For example, about 1714 (the chronology is ‘not clear), according to Espinosa they burned the Neche village and destroyed the main fire temple of the Hasinai confederacy. Ramón in 1716 likewise mentions them among the enemies of the Hasinai 2. Before the middle of the century, however, these relations with the Hasinai seem to have been changed, and in the latter half of the century the tribes frequently went together against the Apache.

The Yojuane tribe comes most prominently into notice between 1746 and 1756, in connection with the San Xavier missions on San Gabriel river, Texas. The four chiefs who went to San Antonio to ask for the missions were of the “Yojuanes, Deadozes, Maieves, and Rancheria Grande,” and Yojuane were among the neophytes gathered at the missions established as a result of that request. With some exceptions the indications are that by the middle of the 18th century the tribe had moved southward with the Tonkawa into central Texas. One of these exceptions is the statement that they had a village on Rio del Fierro, between San Sabá and the Taovayas (the Wichita river, perhaps), but that about 1759 it was destroyed by the Lipan, when the Yojuane fled to the Tonkawa, one of their number becoming a chief of that tribe 3. The village on the Rio del Fierro could not have been the permanent residence of a large part of the tribe, for several times before this the Yojuane are referred to as living near the Hasinai, who were in east Texas. In 1772 the Yocovane, apparently the Yojuane, were included by Mezicres among the Tonkawa. This is one of several indications that the Yojuane tribe was absorbed. by the Tonkawa in the latter half of the 18th century. In 1819 Juan Antonio do Padilla wrote in his report on the Texas Indians that a tribe of 190 people called ” Yuganis,” and having customs like the “Cadó,” lived ‘east of Nacodoches on the Nechas river.” Terán, in 1828, called what appears to he the same tribe the “Yguanes.” These names suggest the Yojuano, whom they may possibly have been, but it seems improbable that they were identical 4.

Citations:

1. see Francisco de Jesus Maria, Relation, 1691, MS.; Interrogations faites à Pierre et Jean Talon, 1698, in Margry, Dec., 111, 616, 1878; LaHarpe, ibid., vi, 277, 1886; and cf. Yakwal.[↩]
2. Espinosa, Cronica Apostolica, pt. 1, 424, 1746; Dietain Fiscal, MS., in 51em. de Nueva Espana, xxvii, 193[↩]
3. Cabello to Loyola, Bexar Archives, Province of Texas, 1786, MS.[↩]
4. Padilla, Indies Barbaros de Texas, 1819, MS.; Terán, Noticia, in Bol. Soc. Geog. Mex., 269, Apr. 1870[↩]