Why Does This Blog Exist?

You never know what you'll find here - anything with genealogical or historical value is fair game. This blog will be updated as I clean out my office, go through boxes and piles, or find pertinent items at antique shops. In the meantime, I hope you find something of interest here.

Friday, September 30, 2011

St. Paul – Chapter XIII – Chippewas and Sioux

(From “St. Paul Location-Development-Opportunities” by F. C. Miller, Ph. D., Webb Book Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1928)
Those intrepid and unflinching men
Who knew no homes save ever-moving tents
                                   --Ella Wheeler Wilcox

bigdog
When white men first came to the vicinity of St. Paul, they found the territory occupied by two powerful tribes of Indians, the Chippewas, occupying, in general, the lands east of the Mississippi, and the  Dakotas, or Sioux, occupying the lands west of it.

THE CHIPPEWAS

The Chippewas belong to that great group of Indian tribes called by the early French explorers the Algonquins, who had occupied all the territory on the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the James River in Virginia and extended westward to the Mississippi River and north to Lake Itasca and Hudson Bay.

In their midwestern home the Chippewas lived almost without exception in forests.  Their wooded territory was full of lakes and streams. Here, living in tepees and villages, they found food, shelter, and clothing.

Their history is principally a record of wars against those tribes that pressed them from the East and the Sioux who confronted them on the West. Defeated in the East, they were, nevertheless, successful in driving and keeping the Sioux to the West of the Mississippi.   The struggle between these two tribes for possession of this immediate site was a bitter one and engendered a lasting hatred. Two scenes of battles, pioneer writers say, arc Battle Creek Park and Mendota.

birchbark
Like practically all other Indians, the Chippewas lived by hunting, trapping, fishing, and, to a small extent, by raising corn and pumpkins. Within the woods were moose, bear, elk, and deer. Their weapons were bows made of hard wood or bone, sharp stone-headed arrows, and spears tipped with sharp bone points. Animals were trapped or caught in dead-falls, and fish were taken in nets made of the inner bark of cedar and basswood and nettle fibers. Knives were made from the ribs of moose and awls from the thigh bone of the
muskrat.

Clothing was made of furs and hides. Roughly shaped kettles and pots were made of  clay. Wigwams were made by bending over and twisting together young trees and covering them with hides.   A hanging mat sufficed for a door.

Compared to the conveniences of white people nearly all their tools and implements were very crude. In three respects, however, they have excelled the palefaces. The moccasin, the snowshoe, and the birch-bark canoe could hardly be improved for such a life as Indians lived.

Although harsh and cunning in warfare, the Chippewas were strictly honest and very hospitable. The peaceful stranger was sacred and the best they had was given to him.

When the French explorers came into contact with the Chippewas, they were received with open arms. These explorers and missionaries captured their hearts by kind and considerate treatment. It was only later that adventurers of other nations unfortunately did a good deal to engender in them a hatred against the whole white race.

The coming of the white man had a profound influence on the monotonous life of the  Chippewas. They threw away their crude kettles and pots for copper and brass ware. Instead of bows and arrows and spears, they used the gun, the steel knife, and the metal tomahawk. Instead of taking game for use only, the value of the skins of fur-bearing animals became an incentive to become butchers and trappers.   Vast numbers of animals were killed.

Changes were also made in then manner of dress and in their personal habits. Firewater became a curse. Diseases that had been unknown were now contracted. And yet in many respects the white man exerted a beneficial influence.

The Indians were taught mercy and charity; and churches, schools, and hospitals were provided for them. The government also, for the most part, gave them very fair treatment. In the short space of a generation, however, it could not be expected that they should  make the same progress which it had taken centuries for the white man to make. In the struggle between the two races they were destined to failure to keep pace with the trend of civilization and were gradually removed to reservations.

The treaty of Fort Snelling, made in 1837, provided that a large part of their lands east of the Mississippi should be ceded to the federal government. In 1847 another treaty was made by which more lands were ceded.   Henry M. Rice,  former U. S. Senator, of St. Paul, was one of the commissioners who induced the Indians to sign this treaty. In other treaties they disposed of all their lands and they were placed on reservations in the northern part of the state.

Hole-in-the-Day was one of the most prominent Chippewa chiefs. In 1851 he addressed a public meeting in St. Paul and complained bitterly of the wrongs he believe that his
people had suffered. He charged that they had to go too far to receive their money and that poor food producing disease had been dealt out to them.

The following is taken from this speech.

"Though we have sold the greatest portion of our lands, we have gained nothing by it. We are poorer than ever. The more treaties we make, the more miserable we become."

The chief family names of the Chippewas were Loon, Bear, Crane, Martin, Catfish, Wolf, Kagle, Rattlesnake, Goose, Lynx, Cormorant, Beaver, Reindeer, and Merman.

THE SIOUX

During the early days of St. Paul the Sioux, or Dakotas, lived on the west side of the  Mississippi. They were a very large tribe, occupying the vast area from the upper Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. They regarded themselves as the most powerful Indian nation. Indeed, they were of the opinion, before their chiefs hail visited the Great Father at Washington, as they were accustomed to call the President, that the United Dakota nation, under the leadership of their best war chiefs, would prove more than a match for the white invaders.

The territory in which they lived, unlike that of the Chippewas, was almost free of timber except near watercourses and in the foothills of the Rockies. The Sioux in this region were, therefore, aptly named Prairie Indians.

Before these Indians disposed of their lands to the   government they lived almost exclusively by hunting and fishing and on wild plants, berries, fruit, deer, buffaloes, wild ducks, and geese. In swampy regions and  shallow lakes and river bottoms they gathered wild rice.

SiouxChiefIt was a unique custom when an Indian chief or his head men visited another settlement for the resident chief to serve dog meat as a delicacy out of respect for his guests. The Sioux had summer houses and winter houses. The summer house was a rude structure made of bark supported by a framework of poles.   When they secured their supply of meat they built winter tepees of buffalo skins. About twelve poles formed the framework which was covered with eight buffalo skins, fastened together with sinews. The floor was covered with hay on which buffalo robes were spread. Such a tepee was comfortably warm even in the coldest weather.

Their axes and knives were made of stone. Their arrows and spears were headed with deer horn, stones, and the white ligament of the neck of the buffalo, which became hard like iron.   The tough skin from the neck of the tortoise furnished bowstrings.

They cooked their food in earthen vessels which they made, or placed it on skin or bark in a hole in the ground where it was cooked by means of heated stones. The stomach of the deer was used for carrying water, fish bones served for combs, and a bone from the forearm of a small animal was used as an awl.

In pottery, the Sioux women did superior work. They also produced works of art in ornamentation and weaving.  They made yarn from the tough outer coating of nettles or from bass wood hark which had been softened by boiling.

Custom and public opinion were their only laws. They, too, like the Chippewas were affected with some of the white man's vices, but were sharers also in many of his efforts to assist them to a better life.

SiouxTeepees

The principal treaty with these Indians was made in 1851. They had a magnificent rich empire that was eagerly coveted by the whites. The lands given up consisted of nearly twenty-four million acres of the most fertile land in the Mississippi and Minnesota  valleys.   For this immense territory a little more than $3,000,000 was agreed to be paid, something like twelve cents an acre. The Indians were to be paid in annuities.

On the announcement of the signing of this treaty, The Pioneer of July 31,1851, said: "The news of this treaty exhilarates our town. It is the greatest event in the history of the territory. We behold now clearly the red savages vanishing, and, in their place, a thousand farms, waving wheat fields, villages and cities, and railroads with trains of cars rumbling afar off."

Thus they, too, were compelled to fall back before the advance of civilization, and, like the Chippewas, to find their home on government reservations. It was too much to expect that they could be assimilated. No hunting tribes can withstand the coining of agriculture.  An Indian family needs something like sixteen square miles to make a living, while a white family can do so on forty acres.

Wabasha and Little Crow were two of the most conspicuous Sioux chiefs.

executed

Except for a few names of towns, streets, and lakes nothing remains from the Indian occupation. Practically their only impression was that which they made upon their own times.

Their lot was inevitable.   Walt Whitman says:-
“I see swarms of stalwart chieftains, medicine men, and warriors,
Ah, flitting like ghosts, they pass and are gone in the twilight."
It is, however, gratifying that with only rare exceptions they were treated fairly by the whites and the government. Nothing reflects more credit upon St. Paul than the fact that her leading pioneer settlers, such as Ramsey, Kittson, Sibley, Rice, Neill, Marshall, and others were firm friends of the Red Man. Both as private citizens and as officials they did everything in their power to deal justly and fairly with the Chippewas and the Sioux. They frowned on all efforts of unscrupulous whites who regarded the Indians as legitimate prey. When their personal influence was insufficient, they used the force of the law to protect them. In cases of want and distress they helped with food, clothing, and care.

rescued

They even made efforts to educate them and to train them in the culture of crops and other fundamentals of white civilization.

Even the Indian trader, according to General Sibley, was fair and friendly with the Indians.  Sibley says, "The reliance of the savage upon his trader became almost without limit. The white man was the confidant and sharer of his joys and his sorrows and his influence was, therefore, almost boundless, an influence sometimes used to accomplish selfish and unworthy purposes, but more frequently employed for the benefit of the Indian himself." When Indians were sick, the trader often loaned them money and provided care for them.

The Indians themselves have attributed much of their hospitality, or at least the suppression of overt antagonism towards the whites, to the influence of the Christian missionaries who taught them to have mercy and charity.   There is no doubt that the doctrine of peace and good will had a good influence on their attitude and conduct.   Less bloodshed was the result.   But the common occupation of the same territory by whites and Indians was impossible.   The modes of life and the ambitions of the two peoples were too different to exist together.   The consequence was that the Red Man had to withdraw.   It was a repetition of the world-old principle of supremacy by the superior nation.   More and more the Indians were compelled to retreat before the on-coming of civilization.   They became wards of the government, living on reservations and in a less natural environment.   Their numbers have, therefore, gradually diminished. A few of each of these tribes are, however, still living in St. Paul.

QUESTIONS
Why were these two tribes enemies?
How did the lands they occupied affect their life?
What causes account for their passing away?
Where can you find some Indian relics?
Write a story about them.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Early Bath County, Virginia Marriages

from Annals of Bath County, Virginia, Oren Frederic Morton, Staunton, Va.: McClure Co., 1917
Armstrong, John (Polly Crawford) – 1790
Armstrong, John (Jane Kincaid of Robert)—1797
Armstrong, Archibald (Nancy Scott)—1797
Baxter, William (Margaret Toms)—1788
Beard, Robert (Sarah Mitchell of James)—1785
Berry, John (Janet Given)—1790
Betty (Beaty), Andrew (Agnes Sitlington of John)—1786
Black, William (—) —1764
Black, Alexander (Mary Ann Ham)—1793
Black, George (Elizabeth Miller of Patrick)—1796
Bourland, William (Sarah Dean—or Mary?)—1786
Bratton, James (—) --1774
Bratton, Adam  (Elizabeth Feamster of Thomas)—1788
Bratton David (Agnes Kirk of John)-- 1799
Brown, Josiah (Jane Waddell)—1801
Burns, Peter (Jane Miller)—1789
Burns, John (Margaret Monroe)—1801
Burns, Polly (James McCourt)--1792
Burns, Eva (John Miller)—1791
Burnside, Alexander (Elizabeth Gilliland of John)—1800
Carlile, John (---) —1762
Callison, Mary of Daniel   (Benjamin  Delany)—1801
Clark, Samuel (Jane Mathews of Sampson)—1790
Cleek, Elizabeth (Daniel McGlaughlin of John)—1795
Cleek, Sophia (William Hartman)—1801
Cleek, Margaret, (Benjamin Potts)—1792
Coffey, Margaret of James (John McWilliams)—1781
Corbett, Mary of Samuel (Joseph Chestnut)—1794
Crawford, William (Martha Cooper)—1786
Crawford, James (Mary ——) —1786
Crow, Thomas (Nancy Donally of Charles)—1789
Davis, James (Ann Estill)—1786
Dean, John (—) —1758
Dean, Sarah (James Venable)—1797
Dean, Mary (Samuel Depew)—1787
Dickenson, Martha (John Shrewsbury)—1793
Dickenson, Nancy (Joseph Kincaid)—1795
Donally, Andrew  (---) —1766
Donally, Catharine (James Ward)—1800
Daugherty, William (Mary Bridge)—1786
Daugherty, Isabella (William Nicholas)—1796
Elliot, Archibald (Sarah Clark)—1748
Elliott, Abraham (Nancy) Campbell)—1786
Elliott, Wiliam (Agnes McCampbell)—1788
Estill, Solomon-(--—) —1773
Ewing, John S. (Rebecca Cackley)—1801
Ewing, William (Mary Taylor)—1791
Ewing, Jean (Moses Moore)—1786
Feamster, William (—) —1763
Fitzpatrick, Mary (John Jones) —1792
Frame, Elizabeth (John Duffield)—1790
Frame, Mary (George Roebuck)—1795
Frame, John (Martha Daugherty of Michael)—1798
Francisco, John  (Eizabeth [sic] S. Lewis)—1798
Gay, Thomas (Mary Swearingen)—1791
Gay, Samuel (Margaret Mustoe)—1799
Gillespie, Mary (Samuel Blake)—1792
Gillespie, Rachel of Jacob (John Sutton)—1795
Gillespie, John (Comfort Griffith)—1798
Gillespie, James (Elizabeth Gillespie of Simon and Rebecca)—1779
Gillespie, Robert  (Mary Galloway)—1791
Gillespie, William (Margaret Eddy)—1792
Given, William (Agnes Bratton)—1764
Given, Samuel  (Elizabeth Robertson)—1785
Given, William (Rebecca Kenny of Matthew)—1789
Given, Adam (Nancy McGuffin)—1797
Given, Isabella of Agnes (Isaac Duffield)—1795
Graham, Sarah  (James Waddell)—1798
Graham, James (—) —1763
Graham, Lancelot (-—) —1763
Gregory, David of Mary (Margaret Warrick)—1786
Gregory, Elizabeth (John Robinson)—1800
Gregory, Isaac (Hannah Given)— 1790
Griffith, Mary (Peter Flack)—1793
Gwin, David (Violet Crawford of William)—1790
Gwin, James (Jane Hicklin of John)—1792
Gwin, Robert (Ursula Robinson of Peter)—1793
Gwin, (—) —1765
Gwin, Robert (Margaret Elliott of William)—1785
Hall, James (Nancy Hicklin of Thomas)—1785
Hall, Jane (Robert Hutchinson)—1788
Hamilton, James (Rachel Vance of Samuel)—1786
Hodge, William (Martha Benson of George)—1800
Hughart, Thomas (—) —1761
Hughart, Mary Elstock of Joseph of Louisa County)—1799
Hughart, James (Nancy Thomas) —1792
Hughart, Jane of James (Edward McGlaughlin)—1796
Jackson, Rhoda (Edward Morris)—1795
Jackson, H---. (John Townsend)—1786
Jackson, Elizabeth (David Caruthers) --1786
Kelly, Mary (Patrick McGraw)—1798
Kelly, James  (Margaret Sloan)—1796
Kelso, James (Elizabeth Sitlington)—1789
Kincaid, Andrew (Ann Poage)—1785
Kincaid, David (Jennie Lockridge of Robert)—1800
Kincaid, Ferdinand (Margaret Fulton of James)—1799
Kincaid, James (Jane Curry)—1791,
Kincaid, James (Margaret Wiatt)—1793
Kincaid, John (Mary Dinwiddie)-1786
Kirk, Robert (Martha Moffett)—1785
Knox, Alice (Francis A. Dubois)—1801
Knox, Elisha (Nancy Parker)—1801
Knox, John (Sarah Robinson of Joseph)—1793
Knox, William (Sarah Acklin of Green-Craig County)—1792
La Rue, Abraham (Sarah Lower)—1792
Laverty, Ralph (—) —1764
Lewis, Charles (Sarah Murray)—1762
Lewis, Charles (Ann Honce)—1792
Lewis, John (—) --1793
Lewis, John (Rachel Miller)—1789
Liptrap,  Isaac (Mary Bright)—1785
Mann, Thomas (Elizabeth Armstrong of Robert)—1792
Marshall, Robert (Jean Vance)—1792
Mayse, Isaac (Ruth Hicklin of Thomas)—1788
Mayse, Joseph (Agnes Hicklin of Hugh)—1787
Mayse, Nancy (George Shaw)—1787
Mayse, Richard (—) —1760
Mayse, Robert  (Margaret McClenahan)—1790
McAvoy, Robert (Sarah Burns)—1798
McCallister, Garnett (Ann Sprowl)—1792
McCallister, John (Mary Kincaid)—1800
McCartney, Lucy (Zachariah Barnett)—1792
McCarty, Timothy (Jane Waugh)—1800
McCausland, Mary (Samson Sawyer)—1790
McClintic, Jane of Robert (James Brown)—1800
McClintic, Samuel (Susanna King of Adam)—1793
McClung, John (Mary Stuart of Benjamin)—1788
McCIung, John, Jr.,  (Jane McClung)—1793
McClung, Elizabeth of Joseph (John Moore)—1793
McClung, Margaret (James Musson)—1797
McCreery, John (Martha ----) —1762
McCreery, Robert (Mary ----) —1764
McCreery, John (—) —1771
McCreery, John of Robert (Margaret Black of William) --1787
McMullen, Edward (—) —1759
WcWhortcr, David (Barzillai McCorkle of Robert)—1800
Means, High (Nancy Armstrong of Robert)—1785
Milhollen, Sarah (Jeremiah Simms)—1800
Miller, Patrick  (—) —1785
Milligan, John (Isabella Doak)—1786
Montgomery, James (—) —1765
Montgomery, John (—) —1753
Montgomery, John (Sarah Hicklin)—1785
Morris, Richard (---) —1761
Morris, Frances (Abraham Garnett)—1794
Payne, Lewis (Nancy Davis)—1794
Porter, Amelia (Nimrod Bogges—Boggs?)—1801
Porter, James (Catharine Hughes)—1795
Porter, Nancy (Robert Nutt)—1800
Ramsey, Charles (Polly Mounts)—1801
Ramsey, William (Sarah Fulton)—1794
Rhea, Elizabeth (Tolliver Wright)—1797
Rhea, James (Margaret Still)—1800
Rhea, Robert (Catherine Bailor)—1798
Ross, John (Mary Harvey Davis)—1795
Ross, James (Elizabeth Griffin of William)—1795
Scott, Hugh (Betsy Bell)—1800
Smith, Barbara of William (Joseph Warman)—1794
Smith, James (Elizabeth Wilson of Robert)—1794
Smith, John (Sarah Moore of Levi and Susanna)—1794
Sprowl, William (—) —1757
Stephenson, David (Mary Davis)—1783
Stephenson, James (Margaret Smith)—1796
Stephenson, Robert (Jane Smith of John)—1798
Stephenson, Susanna (William Hughes)—1801
Stewart, Isaiah (Martha Stewart)—1786
Stuart, Henry (Sarah Moore)—1791
Stuart, James (Nancy Moore)—1794
Swearingen, Alexander (Sarah Layne)—1800
Swearingen, Samuel (Hannah Scott)—1798
Tharp, Daniel (Margaret Barkley)—1795
Thompson, Hannah (Peyton Walker)—1794
Thompson, Thomas (Jean McClung)—1795
Trotter, Christopher (Prepare McClintic of Wllliam) ---1786
Usher, Ann of Robert (Hugh Donaho)—1795
Usher, Jean of Robert (Clements Graham)—1791
Usher, James (Catherine Whitesides)—1788
Vance, Samuel (----) —1763
Vance, Mary of James (William Bridger)—1795
Waddell, Isabella of Alexander (James Boggs)—1797
Wallace, Matthew (Sarah Brown)—-1801
Ward, James (Catharine Donally)—1800
Warwick, John (—) —1771
Warwick, John (Mary Poage)—1794
Warwick, Margaret (Adam See)—1794
Wilson, John (—) —1769
Wilson, George (Elizabeth McCreery)—1750
Wilson, Jane (Cornelius Vanosdale)—1785
Wooton, William (Jane Gilliland)—1793

Monday, September 19, 2011

Madness Monday–Some Son-in-Law!

The Quincy (Illinois) Whig and Republican, Saturday Morning, April 2, 1869
Horrible Affair

A Desperado Murders his Father-in-law in Peoria County - He is Captured at Peoria
[From the Peoria Transcript]

    The people in the vicinity of Princeville, in this county, have been thrown into a state of excitement by the attempted murder of Mr. Joseph Parnell and family, by his son-in-law, Joseph H. Newkirk.  It seems that Newkirk married a daughter of Mr. Parnell, some eighteen months since, in opposition to the wishes of her parents and friends.  They lived near Princeville for a short time, and last spring removed to Ford county.  Not long ago Newkirk stole a span of horses and a wagon from his father and came back to Princeville.  He has since so badly treated his wife, failing to properly provide for her, that she was obliged to leave him and go out to work for a maintenance.

    It is said that a week ago Newkirk threatened to kill the whole family of his father-in-law, and told a friend so, who reasoned with him and extracted a promise that he would never talk in that manner again.  Newkirk bears a hard character and is drunk, or nearly so, the greater part of the time.  Week before last, he came to this city and sold the horses he had taken from his father, for $100.

    At about eight o'clock on Monday evening, of the present week, he went to the house of his father-in-law, who lives four and a half miles south-west of Princeville.  He broke in the door and entered, carrying in his hand an old corn knife, some two feet in length.  He said that he intended to kill the whole family, and they had better prepare for death.  Mr. Parnell has been crippled with the rheumatism for years, and since last spring has been confined to the house for most of the time.  He was lying on the bed when Newkirk entered.  The latter then made an attack upon him, striking at him several times.  The first time, Parnell threw up his hands and Newkirk completely split his left hand to the wrist.  He next gave him a severe cut on the head and the left shoulder.  Mrs. Parnell begged him not to kill them, and Newkirk finally desisted and demanded money.  A pocket book, containing between $80 and $90 was given him and Newkirk coolly lite a pipe and ordered one of the boys to saddle a swift horse.  The boy did so, and Newkirk sprang into the saddle, shouting, "Now for Spoon River Timber" and started on the road to Peoria.

    As soon as he was gone, the neighbors were summoned.  Mr. Parnell was found to be seriously wounded and bleeding profusely.  Word was dispatched to Solomon Bliss, Esq., of Princeville, Captain of the Princeville Detective Society, who called up three of his assistants and started in pursuit.  Mr. Bliss left the residence of Mr. Parnell at day-break, yesterday morning, at which time he says the actual condition of Mr. P's wounds were unknown.

    Mr. Bliss and his men tracked Newkirk to Edmunds Station, and then took the cars for this city.  Arriving here they found Newkirk had been arrested on suspicion of officer Banvard of the night police.
    He had arrived in this city at 3 o'clock, yesterday morning, and his appearance aroused the suspicions of policeman Banvard and Reid who followed him to the Washington House, where he dismounted.  Banvard questioned him and he first said that he had come from Knoxville, and afterwards that he had come from Princeville.  None of his stories agree, and the police took him to the calaboose.

    Upon the arrival of the Princeville party, Newkirk was taken before Esq. Sweet, and after a partial examination was committed to jail to await the result of Mr. Parnell's wounds.

    Newkirk is between 31 and 32 years of age.  His victim is about 60.

    The prisoner when confronted by the Princeville party and the officers yesterday, was informed that Mr. Parnell was dead.  He replied, "I am glad of it, G-d d-n him; he ought to have died long ago."

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Sports Center Saturday–1926 Huron Tiger Basketball Team

001b
1926 Huron (South Dakota) High School Tigers Basketball Team
Row 1: Sheridan, Crawford, Perrin, Capt.; Washabaugh, Marquis
Row 2: Hoppel, Campbell, Coach Campbell, Van Camp, Ayres