Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

Indiana: The influence of the Indian upon its history Indiana State Library photo
1. December 26, 1862 the largest mass execution in American history, the U.S. government hanged 38 Santee men for their actions in Minnesota’s so-called Dakota War. The relationship with the Civil War, war crimes, devolping the April 24, 1863 Lieber Code which led to the Hague Conventions establishing rules of war and more was briefly discussed December 26, 2022 by political historian Heather Cox Richardson who uses facts and history to put the news in context on Facebook.
2. 7 Foods Developed by Native Americans These dietary staples were cultivated over thousands of years by Indigenous peoples of America. By Dave Roos Updated: Nov 11, 2021, Original: Nov 1, 2021 on History.com. Today, we join all Americans in honoring our continent's Indigenous People. We can thank them for cultivating and sharing many of the foods we enjoy today. What would pizza be without tomato sauce? Imagine a cheeseburger with no French fries! Purdue University's Emeritus Professor of Horticulture Jules Janick contributed to this article from the History Channel. Copied October 10, 2022 post by Allen County Master Gardener Association, Inc..
3. A New History of the First Peoples in the Americas The miracle of modern genetics has revolutionized the story anthropologists tell about how humans spread out across the Earth. By Adam Rutherford, October 3, 2017 on the Atlantic.com.
4. American Indians publications on the IN.govwebsite.
5. ARE THERE ANY NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES IN INDIANA? at CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, INDIANA at IN.gov
6. Blood on the Ohio Tales of the Frontier blog of Indian activities by Fritz Zimmerman. He had a comment to a July 30, 2022 post on Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne Private Facebook Group on Facebook stating: The Miami Indians had 3 torture grounds in Fort Wayne, one at the confluence of the rivers off of Edgewater, One at Swinney Park east and another near Waynedale where people were burned at the stake and in some cases cannibalized. He said more information would be in his new book to be released in December 2022.
7. Civilizing the Indians of the Old Northwest, 1800-1810 a 22 page article by Joseph A. Parsons, Jr. in Volume LVI, September 1860, Number 3 of Indiana Magazine of History journal in the archives at Indiana University Scholarworks.
8. Finding the First Americans Archaeology and genetics can’t yet agree on when humans first arrived in the Americas. That’s good science and here’s why was posted December 23, 2022 by Purdue FW Anthropology on Facebook.
9. Historical Indians of Indiana for young readers at IN.gov.
10. Indiana: The influence of the Indian upon its history - with Indian and French Names for Natural and Cultural Locations is a high resolution zoomable map in the Indiana State Library Map Collection in their Digital Collections. Similar information is posted on Indiana Memory and WorldCat shows libraries where copies can be found. A cropped image of Allen County is shown on the right. This 1933 map details county-by-county the Native American place names, treaty lines, trails and traces in the state was posted January 29, 2019 by Indiana Archives and Records Administration on Facebook and Twitter. The map designed by Elam Young Guernsey (1883-1975) and its inaccuracies was mentioned in the Introduction page xxiii of the book Native American Place Names of Indiana by Michael McCafferty published in 2008 by University of Illinois Press. This map is Call number G4091.E1 1968 .G8 2000 in the Indiana Historic Maps in the Image Collections Online at Indiana University.
11. Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission webpage states: The Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission studies and makes recommendations to appropriate federal, state and local governmental agencies in areas of Employment, Education, Health, Housing and Civil Rights. State of Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission statement on Facebook says: State agency supporting cultural awareness and opportunities for Native Americans in Indiana.
12. Indiana Prehistory Collection About this collection This collection includes photographs created for Eli Lilly's book Prehistoric Antiquities of Indiana. The photographs include arrowheads, tools, pottery and other artifacts, as well as mound sites and other earthworks associated with prehistoric Indiana and Native Americans. At We Do History online digital collection by the Indiana Historical Society.
13. Indian Removal and the Transformation of Northern Indiana, by Thomas J. Campion, 2011, in Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 107, Issue 1, pp 32-62
14. Indigenous American Cylinder Recordings and the American Folklife Center by Stephanie Hall posted November 27, 2013 at the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress. The archival collections of the Library include the largest body of early indigenous American music recordings in the U.S.: about 10,000 wax cylinders of songs and stories. Many of them are recordings made by Omaha ethnographer Francis La Flesche (pictured). La Flesche was the first professional Native American ethnologist and a member of the Omaha Nation. His recordings and others like them are used by both native and non-native researchers. Their greatest value lies in the cultures and languages they help preserve, allowing us to hear voices of the past. Click the link to learn more, and listen to an example of a digitized La Flesche wax recording below. Its title is "Funeral Song." Copied from an October 10, 2022 post on Facebook.
15. Indigenous Tribes of Indiana at ALA American Library Association.
16. A mission to the Indians, from the Indian committee of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, to Fort Wayne, in 1804 by Hopkins, Gerard T; Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; Tyson, Martha Ellicott, 1795-1873 published 1862 posted on the Internet Archive.
17. Native American on September 29, 2022 on Facebook posted: The ancestors of living Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia via Beringia. A vast variety of peoples, societies and cultures subsequently developed. European colonization of the Americas, which began in 1492, resulted in a precipitous decline in Native American population because of new diseases, wars, ethnic cleansing, and enslavement. After its formation, the United States, as part of its policy of settler colonialism, continued to wage war and perpetrated massacres against many Native American peoples, removed them from their ancestral lands, and subjected them to one-sided treaties and to discriminatory government policies, later focused on forced assimilation, into the 20th century. Since the 1960s, Native American self-determination movements have resulted in positive changes to the lives of many Native Americans, though there are still many contemporary issues faced by them. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 78% of whom live outside reservations: California, Arizona and Oklahoma have the largest populations of Native Americans in the United States. Most Native Americans live in small towns or rural areas.
18. Native American Genealogy Free Native American Resources from Family Tree Magazine at FamilyTreeMagazine.
19. Native Americans in the Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology section at Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
20. Native Americans in American History a 26 page article in Hoosiers and the American Story at IndianaHistory.org. Includes biographies and a map of the Potawatomi Trail of Death 1838.
21. Native American Portraits from the Aboriginal Portfolio About this collection James Otto Lewis accompanied government treaty negotiators in the 1820s to make portraits of the Native Americans attending. In 1835 and 1836, Lewis published The Aboriginal Port Folio, with the first eight plates appearing in May 1835. These portraits were the first such images ever to be published. Subsequent parts appeared monthly, but the project bankrupted Lewis in 1836. The ninth and 10th parts were issued in much smaller press runs. IHS’s set contains all 80 plates as well as the lithographed title leaf, a one-leaf “Advertisement,” and one leaf of reviews. At We Do History online digital collection by the Indiana Historical Society.
22. Potawatomi Trail of Death in 1838 posted August 11, 2018 on the Archives of Hoosier History Live podcast on Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM introduction starts with: One of the most tragic episodes in Indiana history occurred during two months in 1838. The Potawatomi Trail of Death was the forced removal of more than 840 Potawatomi Indians from their villages in the Twin Lakes region of northern Indiana on a grueling march of more than 660 miles to Kansas. Soldiers initially under the command of Gen. John Tipton enforced the march, during which many Potawatomi - particularly the elderly and young children, including babies - died of illness and exhaustion.Beloved Potawatomi leader Chief Menominee and other tribal chiefs were caged in a "jail wagon" during the Trail of Death. The march began near the towns of Plymouth in Marshall County and Rochester in Fulton County.
23. Native Americans in Indiana at IndianaHistory.org.
24. Native American History Timeline As explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various stages, from cooperation to indignation to revolt. on History.com.
25. A Territorial Land Grab That Pushed Native Americans to the Breaking Point The 1809 treaty that fueled Tecumseh’s war on whites at the Battle of Tippecanoe is on view at the American Indian Museum by Alicia Ault published October 9, 2017 on Smithsonian.com. TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES, ETC., 1809 on the INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES Vol. II, Treaties page. Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
26. The Glorious Gate - The program brochure to the Glorious Gate pageant presented by the Anthony Wayne Anniversary Association at the Palace Theatre, September 18, 19, 20, 1934. Pageant was directed and written by Bessie K. Roberts. Per the program: 'A pageant in nine episodes, tracing the story of the Miami village which became Fort Wayne, from the days when it was a trading-post until modern times. Presented in narrative and picture, symbol and pageantry, so that the events of a glamorous past may live again.' Description from Indiana Memory referring to images on the History Center Digital Collection on the mDON mastodon Digital Object Network.
27. Great documents in American Indian history by Moquin, Wayne, Publication date 1973, on Archive.org.
28. Not the “Last of the Miamis” published September 27, 2013 discussed a historical photograph titled The Last of the Miamis 1810–1910 Kil-so-quah and son and other photographs taken in 1910 by L. M. Huffman published on NMAI The National Musuem of American Indian. She was the granddaughter of Miami Chief Little Turtle and was allowed stay with her son in Indiana because of a resolution passed by Congress in 1850 exempting Miami who held treaty reserves, and their descendants, from remova. The Miami—or Myaamia in their language, meaning Downstream People and are originally from the Great Lakes area. This blog mentioned the 1862 book above. On September 4, 1915, Kiilhsoohkwa died in Huntington County at the age of 105. From a September 4, 2017 post about this blog by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.
29. Mound Builders in Fort Wayne (Allen County) Indiana includes photos, maps and19th century history articles published in October 2011 on MoundBuilder blog.
30. Kramer Iroquois Indian Earthen Fortification in Allen County, Indiana Near Fort Wayne - Kramer Iroquois Indian Earthen Fortification in Allen County, Indiana constructed on the St. Joe River near Fort Wayne and at the headwaters of the Eel River in Whitley County, Indiana published in December 2012 on MoundBuilder blog.
31. Mound builder (people) on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
32. Language, culture being restored during Miami Tribe youth camp by Kevin Kilbane published July 16, 2015 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
33. The Voice of the Miami published November 9, 2014 by The History Centeron the Visit Fort Wayne blog.
34. Map of Indian Lands of Federally Recognized Tribes of the United States at the U. S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs.
35. NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGIONan older web page.
36. Miami Heritage Days - History Center sponsors annual Miami Indian Heritage Days at the 1827 Chief Richardville House. See Sacred drumming opens Miami Heritage Days by Keiara Carr published May 2, 2014 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Teen shares Miami heritage through dance by Keiara Carr published July 6, 2014 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Miami Indians celebrate major milestone 20th anniversry by Sara Wagner published August 9, 2015 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.
37. Native Americans in Indiana by David G. Vanderstel, Phd. from the Conner Prairie Interpreter Resource Manual.
38. Return of Miami Tribe of Okla. generates excitement by Kevin Kilbane published January 17, 2015 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
39. Eastern and Western Siouian Tribes and the White Buffalo Legend ... by Roberta Estes published May 27, 2012 on her Native Heritage Project.
40. 20th century citizens about the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, also known as the Snyder Act, was sponsored by Rep. Homer Snyder of New York, and signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge posted on June 3, 2014 by Judy G. Russell the Legal Genealogist.
41. Researching American Indians and Alaska Natives is a page on Facebook with some information and links to various sites at The National Archivespage above. 
42. Native American Indian News in Indiana is a Facebook page. Their About page states: I have created this group for the Native American Indian population of Indiana. Share by posting news of your family,your groups and organizations, your events, and projects. This is for colleges groups, non profits, tribal information. What ever you would like to share with other native people around the state. As long as we are all respective to each other most anything can be posted.
43. AIM True People of Indiana and Kentucky Chapter is a Facebook page. The first paragraph of their About page states: The American Indian Movement The True People of Indiana and Kentucky (AIMTPIK) is a Spiritual Movement serving to protect our people, our cultures, and our traditions in a prayerful way throughout Indiana, Kentucky and nationwide.
44. Early History of the Maumee Valley by Hosmer, Hezekiah Lord (1814-1893), Publication date 1858, on Archive.org. This book's contents are also included at the front of the Toledo City Directory of 1858. It begins with General Anthony Wayne's decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. It includes a speech given by General William Henry Harrison to the Miamis and other chiefs of their nation, as well as the replies of Lapussia and other chiefs of the Miami Nation. It also covers the Maumee Valley's involvement in the War of 1812 and formation of Lucas County.
45. Forty years among the Indians : a descriptive history of the long and busy life of Jeremiah Hubbard by Hubbard, J. (Jeremiah), 1837-1915, Publication date 1913, on Archive.org. The author was born 7 April 1837 in Henry County, Indiana.
46. The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue In truth, massacres, disease and American Indian tribal politics are what shaped the Pilgrim-Indian alliance at the root of the holiday by Claire Bugos Correspondent November 26, 2019 in Smithsonian Magazine.

47. November 11, 2022 post by State of Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission on Facebook:

    Today we honor all Veterans and share our gratitude for all who have served. During this month we also are proud to share facts about Native American Veterans who have a long and distinguished history of serving in our armed forces and defending freedom. #VeteransDay #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

    The Remarkable and Complex Legacy of Native American Military Service Why do they serve? The answer is grounded in honor and love for their homeland by Alicia Ault Museums Correspondent on November 11, 2020 in Smithsonian Magazine from November 11, 2022 post by Smithsonian Magazine on Facebook.

48. January 16, 2023 post by Purdue FW Anthropology on Facebook:

    PFW is NOT one of the Indiana universities that still hold the remains of indigenous people.

    "Three decades after legislation pushed for the return of Native American remains to Indigenous communities, many of the nation’s top museums and universities still have the remains of thousands of people in their collections." 

    The Repatriation Project Does Your Local Museum or University Still Have Native American Remains? Use this database to find out where Native American remains were taken from and which institutions report still having them. Check on institutions near you. by Ash Ngu and Andrea Suozzo Jan. 11, 2023 Data from Dec. 9, 2022 at Propublica.

    Indiana University 2 subunits · Located in Indiana Indiana Univ. has the 5th largest collection of unrepatriated Native American remains in the U.S. The institution reported still having the remains of at least 4,800 Native Americans that it has not made available for return to tribes. The institution has made available for return 17% of the more than 5,800 Native American remains that it reported to the federal government.

49. March 10, 2023 post by Native American on Facbook:

    American Indian Dog

    It’s not a wolf, and it’s not a coyote; it’s an American Indian dog. known for its long, pointy ears, thick coat, intense stare, and impressive build.

    These working companion animals were almost lost to history after our American Indians were segregated onto reservations, and often left without the resources necessary to maintain the ancient breed.

    According to the experts at Animal Corner, the Native American Indian Dog is believed to be up to 30,000 years old. Yes, it's possible that the breed shared parts of North America with some of the earliest Native Americans to inhabit the land. Some specialists have theorized that the Native American Indian Dog breed could even be the missing link between wolves and the modern dog as we know it today.

50. May 4, 2023 post by Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana on Facebook

51. October 21, 2023 post by the DAR Museum on Facebook:

    During the 19th century, westward expansion brought increased interest in and conflict with Native Americans. American attitudes towards Native Americans were shaped by stories and art. In the 19th century, the US War Department commissioned portraits of Native American delegations to Washington. Interest in these paintings was so high that the original paintings were reproduced as prints for mass consumption in a book, History of the Indian Tribes of North America. Painted by Charles Bird King, these subjects were posed in ways that were familiar to Bird and his white audience. This portrait resembles the mother and child paintings so prevalent in European art. One contemporary reviewer of the book even called the portrait the “Indian Madonna.” However, behind this pleasing portrait is a dark truth that reveals a gap between how Native Americans were portrayed and the violent exploitation they experienced in the 19th century.

    The adult in this portrait is an Osage woman named Mohongo, also known as Sacred Sun. The Osages controlled a large region that included what is now Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Osages were forced to cede most of their territory to the US through a series of treaties. In 1827, Mohongo and her husband were among a group of several Osages who were targeted by a con man named David Delauney, who claimed to be a representative of the US government and invited them on an official trip to Washington, D.C. The group boarded a ship in New Orleans and, to their surprise, landed in France, where Delauney planned to make them performers in his wild west show. At first, the group drew great interest in Europe and even met royalty. However, when their popularity waned, Delauney abandoned them in Paris. The Osages struggled to survive on their own and during this time, Mohongo gave birth to a child.

    Eventually, the group caught the attention of the Marquis de Lafayette, who paid for them to travel back to America. On the trip, Mohongo’s husband and several others died of smallpox. The group landed in Virginia, and soon after, Thomas McKenney, the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs, brought them to DC in 1830. There, Mohongo was given a peace medal by President Andrew Jackson and Charles Bird King painted this portrait of her before she returned to the Osage Nation. That very same year, President Jackson enacted the Indian Removal Act, which forced the Cherokee and other southeastern tribes to move onto land that had been taken from the Osages. The Osage Nation moved to its current reservation in Oklahoma in 1872. In the early twentieth century, oil was discovered on the reservation, leading to a series of murders that are investigated in David Grann’s book, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is coming to theaters this month as a film adaptation by Martin Scorsese.

    Almost 1,000 book titles such as History of the Indian Tribes of North America are at Archive.org
    

52. October 22, 2023 post by Native American Indians on Facebook:

    The Indian culture such as the great warrior, Crazy Horse, believed in lying their deceased on scaffolds, wrapping them in buffalo blankets. There to be exposed to the elements and delivered over a year or two back to nature. Then to come back as buffalo grass, and eaten by the buffalos, which would be eaten by the Sioux, thus completing the cycle. Versus the Anglo belief of burial in a metal casket preventing breakdowns over a longer time. I got this from Stephen Ambrose book of Custer and Crazy Horse.

53. October 31, 2023 post by the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art on Facebook:

    Have you seen the new Native-directed documentary series “Native America” on PBS stations? Last week’s episode featured artist TahNibaa Naataanii (Navajo) and her fascinating weaving work. Many Eiteljorg visitors have met TahNibaa at her booth during Indian Market and Festival, or remember the exhibit about her home that previously appeared in the museum’s R.B. Annis Western Family Experience. We are thrilled to see TahNibaa recognized on this national show. The next episode of “Native America” airs at 9 p.m. tonight, Tuesday Oct. 31, on WFYI-20, WTIU-30 and other PBS stations nationwide. Future episodes are Nov. 7 and Nov. 14. You can stream the documentary series at this link: https://www.pbs.org/show/native-america/. TahNibaa is in the first episode, titled “New Worlds.”

54. November 22, 2023 post by Native American Indians on Facebook:

    Why Do Native Ameircans Often Wear Long Hair?

    Native Americans are famous for their long hair and there is a reason why they let it grow. To Native Americans, hair is of special spiritual significance.

    Though the meaning of the hair varies among the tribes, it is nevertheless very important not to cut it. Hairstyles among the tribes can be different and hair can be loose, braided, or worn in a knot. Wearing long hair is much more than a tradition. Native Americans deeply believe hair is a source of strength and power. Hair is considered to be an extension of the soul and a way of having a union with the infinite. By cutting your hair, you lose a small part of your relationship with yourself.

    Many cultures, not only native Americans see hair as something very precious. “hair has so often been thought of as containing the essence of individuality and personhood; a lock of hair can serve as a synecdoche for the body whence it came, possessing in the eye, or rather fingers, of the beholder stronger representational power than, for example, a painted portrait. It is for this reason not surprising that the growing, grooming, cutting, shaving or losing of hair – on the body and head – were often associated with transformative life experiences, with rites and rituals, and with the marking of cultural difference.” 1

    Tribes have different teachings about the value of hair, but children are taught they shouldn’t cut their hair unless they have experienced a significant loss. This could be the death of a loved one, a traumatic event or something else that changed one’s life dramatically.

    When someone passed away, there is a custom to take a lock of the beloved dead, covering in pretty clothing, something it was supposed that he or she would like to wear if living.

    “This “spirit bundle,” as it was called, was suspended from a tripod, and occupied a place of honor in the lodge. At every meal time, a dish of food was placed under it, and some person of the same sex and age as the one who once was must afterward be invited in to partake of the food. At the end of a year from the time of death, the relatives made a public feast and gave away the clothing and other gifts, while the lock of hair was interred with appropriate ceremonies.” 2

    In modern times it happens far too often that Native Americans are bullied and discriminated for wearing long hair. According to L.G. Moses, a professor at Oklahoma State University government officials in the 1800s tried to force native Americans to be more like settlers. This was done by forcing youngsters and adults to cut their hair. The argument was that long hair was symbolizing a wild, uncivilized person.

    This practice is still alive and there are many modern schools, prisons and some workplaces where Native Americans are not allowed to keep their long hair. They must simply cut it. Native Americans consider this discrimination, and some had the courage to resist the pressure to cut the hair. In many cases, natives were forced to take legal action to fight for their rights.

    Source: Ancientpages

55. This is a picture of Standing Holy, who is listed as Sitting Bull's daughter. It brings to mind the traditional Oceti...

    Posted by Native American Indians on Monday, February 12, 2024

    February 12, 2024 post by Native American Indians on Facebook:

    This is a picture of Standing Holy, who is listed as Sitting Bull's daughter. It brings to mind the traditional Oceti Ŝakowiŋ style of parenting. The first time that Sitting Bull traveled and observed non-Native people spanking their children, he was shocked.

    There was never a need to continually scold a child, belittle them, or strike them. They cuddled their children from birth to about seven because they believed crying wasn't good for children.

    Often, if a child did not stop crying, some grandmothers would cry along with them to help them get over whatever had made them sad.

    At an early age, they begin to take on the responsibility of their clothing and bedding. Our people traveled with the buffalo and had to be mobile. By the age of 10, most of our children knew how to take care of the materials needed for travel.

    Love, teaching, structure, and community raised our children.

    Colonization tells us that physical discipline helps shape our children and turn our boys into men. Yet, without ever being spanked, we produced the greatest warriors that ever walked this land.

    Our lifeways and ceremonies through the different stages of life were more valuable than anything colonization offered.

Back to top