2/25/1846, p. 1
|
|
Office of Miami & Eel River Sub
Agency |
Sir,
Permit me to submit the following statement in relation to the Eel River band of the Miamies
At the last payment of Annuities to the Miamies, after I had paid the money over to the Chiefs & head men of the tribe, including $1,100. stated as the aggregate of four items of permanent annuities to the Eel River (Miamies) as stipulated by 4 Art of Treaty of August 3d, 1795. 3d Art of Treaty of Augt 21, 1805. 3d Art. of Treaty of Sept 30, 1809 and a seperate Treaty of same date, I was requested to assist in dividing the money amongst them, and immediately proceeded to make out a list of persons, families & bands who would be entitled to receive a share; this list was, as is usual, made in the presence of the Chiefs & head men of the tribe - who determine the right of every one presenting a Claim to a participation of the money. During the time I was engaged in making this list either five or seven women, the remnant of the Eel River band, presented themselves and asked the privilege to participate in the annuities of the tribe, to this the Chiefs at once objected, I asked them if those women were of the Eel River band, and was answered by the principal Chief that they were but that an agreement had been made in an old Treaty (see Art. 4. of Treaty of Augt. 21, 1805) that neither the Eel Rivers Weas or Miamies should sell any portion of their country without the consent of the others, and that the Eel Rivers had violated that agreement by entering into a Treaty with Genl Tipton (see Treaty of Febry 11, 1828) and on that account they had determined not to let them have any share of their Money, I stated to the Chiefs that $1,100 of their money arose from
2/25/1846, p. 2
|
treaty stipulations with the Eel Rivers, and that they were doing a great wrong
by witholding from those women the amount of money they would be entitled to in
a fair division, but they opposed the claim with much warmth, stating that they
had not been allowed to draw with them for the last four years, and that they
would not permit them to do so now - The money having passed into the hands of
the Chiefs & head men of the Tribe, it was thought that I had no right to
controll it & the women were excluded. It may be proper to remark that Genl
Tipton who made the Treaty with this band in 1828 continued payments to them
while he acted as agent; And by a Treay with the Weas Augt. 11, 1820 it was
stipulated that the Annuities arising to them from the Treaty of St Marys
should be paid to them at Kaskaskia Illinois, notwithstanding the obligation
resting upon them by the 4 Art of Treaty of Augt 21, 1805 that they would not
sell without the consent of the Miamies & Eel Rivers.
I thought at the time of the payment, and still think it most unjust to withold from these women their portion of Annuities, there is not a man of that band living, and the women are objects of charity - My predecessor Mr. Hamilton furnished them with $200. worth of provisions last winter and I made provisions for the payment of his orders at the last payment, I would now arrange for their subsistence with pleasure if in the opinion of the Department I would be right in so doing.
I have stated this case I believe fully & fairly, and it remains for the Department to decide whether these women in the removal & subsequent payments are to be treated as Miamies or not, and if they are to be so treated, will they
2/25/1846, p. 3
|
be entitled to receive at the next payment any portion of the money witheld?
At the last payments the halfbreeds who are at the Choctau Accademy were excluded from any participation in the annuities, while those remaining here of the same families & blood were permitted to draw their shares. One orphan Boy (Fay Columbia) always considered a full blood & received his share as such, was sent by me to the Choctaws Accademy, the tribe only allowed him half pay and gave notice that hereafter they would cut him off entirely. I make these statements to explain my reasons for asking the following question. May an Agent exercise a sufficient controll over their Annuities after it has been delivered over to the Chiefs & head men of the nation, to present an unfair distribution of it? Will he be permitted to interfere after the money is so paid over & receipted for, in order to secure to all their just & undoubted rights?
|
|
Very Respectfully
|
4/10/1848, p. 1
|
|
Washington City |
Hon. William Medill
Commissioner of Indian Affrs.
Sir:
There is now living within the County of Miami in the State of Indiana, the remnant of the tribe of Eel River Indians, where they have lived for many years. They constitute the entire tribe now extant, and have become reduced to the number of about twenty persons, whose names I have, and can produce if required. By different treaty stipulations they are entitled to receive from the Government of the United States, permanent annuities amounting to the sum of Eleven hundred dollars per annum. For a number of years they have not received any portion of this annuity; but by some error or inadvertence as it is believed, it has been paid to the Miamies. During this time they have been excluded from any participation in the annuities of the Miamies who at the investigations of claims in 1840, and ever since, have with the Sanction of the Agents of the Government, refused to recognize them as Miamies, or to investigate and pay their debts.
They have thus been left entirely without any resources; and although they have frequently Stated their greevances to Some of their white friends, the old men of the tribe who even more familiar with the facts being all dead, and the matter not being completely understood by the persons with whom they communicated they have failed to Succeed in bringing their case to the notice of the Department.
Learning that I was about to visit this City, they have authorized me to present their case to the President, and ask that this annuity be paid them, as also that which has been heretofore witheld.
The appropriations to pay this annuity of Eleven hundred dollars per annum, has been regularly made by Congress, And
4/10/1848, p. 2
|
I propose to prove to the Satisfaction of the Department the facts which I have
Stated, and also that the persons I represent are the "Eel River"
tribe, and the whole of it, and the regular decendants of the persons Composing
it at the time the treaties under which these annuities were guarantied to be
paid were made; that they are the only decendants of the said "Eel
River" tribe and have always lived together as a Separate band or tribe;
and I wish to ascertain whether upon this state of facts the Department will
order the refunding of the annuities heretofore withheld from them, and the
payment of them in future or either.
Your early reply would greatly oblige me.
|
Very respectfully |
7/21/1848, p. 1
|
|
Fort Wayne July 21, 1848. |
Sir.
I transmit to you herewith my report on the condition &c of the Weas and Pot-o-wat o mies remaining in and about the late Miamis Country in Indiana, and my account for services &c, all of which I hope will be satisfactory
|
Very
Respectfully |
Col Wm Medill
Coms Indian Affairs
Washington
DC.
7/21/1848, p. 2
|
Sir.
Having, in accordance with your requests of the 12th ultimo, made the proper inquiry relative to the number, and general condition of the Weas, and Pot- o-wah o mies remaining in and about the late Miami country. I submit the following as the result.
Pot o-wat-o-mies
|
Ben-ack, |
with his wife and two children, and an old man, a Chip-pe-wa reside in Kascinsko County, he owns a half section of land in Kascinsko County, and two or three sections in Marshall County, he has about 80 acres of his land in Kascinsko County under cultivation and lives rather independently. |
|
Pe-ash-way, |
with his wife and two children reside in Kascinsko county, where he owns one & a half sections of land, of which he has 70 or 80 acres improved, and supports himself and family well by farming. |
|
Na-i-go |
with his wife and an orphan boy reside in Marshall Co, he owns 40 or 80 acres of land & supports himself & family by farming. |
|
A. Widow |
of a Pot-o-wat-o-mies by the name of Gum-o-way with four children, lives a portion of the time with Ben ack, and a portion of the time in Marshall County, this family own no land and is in rather a destitute condition |
|
To-pash |
with his wife & five children, his mother and sister and his wifes brother & sister have formerly resided in Kascinsko County, but at the time of collecting the Indians for the last emigration they all fled, and it was afterwards ascertained that they took up their residence at Po-ca-gans village in Michigan, I know nothing of their condition |
7/21/1848, p. 3
|
|
William Marshall, |
resides a portion of the time with Ben- ack- a portion of the time with Pe-ash-way, and a portion of the time at Po-ca-gans village- He is represented to be a wanderer without any means of support. |
Weas
|
|
Ching-shing-gah, |
|
a Woman |
55 or 60 years of age. |
The Weas are poor, they live on Deer Creek in Miami County, none of them own land except Ching-go-quah who holds James Avalines Deed (without his wifes relinguishment of dower) for 160 acres. Me-sen-e-je-quah, Wau-sah-co-mo-quah, Wau- kau-ko-nong, and Sah-kau-quih have been once emigrated
|
|
Very Respectfully
|
7/24/1848, p. 1
|
|
Fort Wayne July 24, 1848 |
Sir,
Your letter of the 12th has been received, the Indians about whom you inquire are those given as Weas in the list I transmitted to you on the 21st instant.
There can be no doubt but that most, if not all the persons named in the list as Weas, are of that portion of the Miamies usually disignated as Eel River Miamies, and that they are the remnant of the Thornton party of Eel Rivers which entered into a Treaty with Genl Tipton at the Wyandot village on the 11th Febry 1828; Ching-shing-gaw, the old woman of 55 or 60 years of age named in the list, was the wife of the principal man of the party.
I have long been of the opinion that these Indians should be treated in every respect as Miamies, and while acting as Sub Agent I took the liberty to address a letter to the Department on the subject, this letter bears date Febry 25th 1846, to which permit me to refer you for a portion of the information you now seek.
I do not think that the Indians in question should be regarded as having distinct and seperate interests from the other portion of the Miamies. By Art 4 of Treaty at Grousland of Augt 21, 1805, it was declared that the "Miamies, Eel Rivers, and Weas were formerly, and still consider themselves as one Nation," and I know of no act or treaty which can be regarded as dissolving this connexion between the Miamies & Eel Rivers; the Weas by treaty of Augt 11, 1820. 3d Art. withdrew from the connexion, and agreed to receive their annuities at Kascaskias in the State of Illinois. No separation from the other Miamies could have been contemplated by the Eel Rivers by their treaty with Genl Tipton of Febry 11, 1828, (the last treaty made with this band) and no interruption occurred in the intercourse with, or of the position occupied by the two portions of the Miamies at the time, nor until the year 1838 or 1839, when all, or nearly all the men of the Eel Rivers having died or been assassinated, the Chiefs
7/24/1848, p. 2
|
by an unreasonable exercise of the privilege which they enjoyed under the old
regulations concerning payments, excluded the Eel Rivers from a participation
in any part of their National Annuities &c.
No reasonable man would charge the Department with neglect towards these unfortunate Indians, for, under the old regulations the head men of a tribe had the power to determine who should, and who should not share in their annuities payments, and no officer of the Government had a right to interfere.
It must be well known to all who reside in the vicinity of these Indians, that the Department directed their emigration with a view to their restoration to their position & privileges as Miamies, from which they had been improperly excluded; and that in accordance with such directions the contractors for the Miami emigration commenced their collection at the emigration camp, when in conformity with a decision of Judge Coles of Miami County the Indians were taken out of their custody. I hope this with the letter of Febry 25th 1846 will sufficiently explain the relation on position which should be allowed by the one portion of the Miamies to the other, if however any farther explanation is acquired of me I shall cheerfully attend to it
|
Very Respectfully |
Col Wm Medill
Comt Indian Affairs
Washington
D. C.
Continue to
next page
Continue
to Dft. Ex. 129.
Return
to Docket 317 Table of Contents
Return to Ohio Valley -
Great Lakes Ethnohistory Archive Menu
Return to Glenn A. Black
Laboratory of Archaeology List of Publications
Return to Glenn A. Black Laboratory
of Archaeology Home
Last updated: 2
October 2000
Comments: webmaster@www.gbl.indiana.edu
Copyright 1997, Glen Black Laboratory of Archaeology and The Trustees of Indiana University.