Native Origins Narrative

The Ioway, Missouria, and Otoe tribes are descended from the Winnebago. The Winnebago are from the Northern United States, particularly the Great Lakes area. Many of the origin tales for this overarching tribe say that they worked their way down from the North, and as they traveled they ran into food shortages. When the shortage was particularly bad, certain groups within the larger tribe would split off and travel to a new area. This is what happened with the Ioway, Missouria, and Otoe. They left the Winnebago and the Great Lakes region and settled throughout current day Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois.

These three current day tribes had similar origins and subsequently similar origin tales. The tribes are said to be made up of clans such as the Bear, Beaver, Elk, Eagle (Thunderbird), Buffalo, Pigeon, and Owl. One of the websites that I looked at said that the Bear Clan is mostly made up of descendants of the Whitecloud family. Since many of the Ioway stories and artifacts that I have seen mention a Chief White Cloud, it is possible that the Ioway from our area are part of the Bear Clan. Additionally, it seems that most of the Whitecloud family settled in the Kansas Nebraska tribal lands.

There are many origin narratives for the Bear Clan with 12 different ones listed on one site. One of the most consistent parts of the tales is that the Bear Clan members actually started out as bears and were transformed into humans. They were/are also the soldiers of their people; they protected them and were policed the other tribes. Additionally, the Bear Clan is connected to the day and the earth. Elements such as colors (blue) and directions (north) are used in the stories to signify this connection. Some histories also say that they were leaders of the tribe or that they were secondary leaders after the Thunderbird Clan which was considered to be the most powerful.

Check out the links below to learn more about the Ioway’s cultural origins and read some of the stories.

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ia-ioway/

http://hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.IowayMissouriaOrigins.html

http://ioway.nativeweb.org/culture/clans.htm

http://ioway.nativeweb.org/culture/legends.htm

https://hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.BearClanOriginMyth.html

Online Newspaper Search

This article is about the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The tribe has recently been making efforts to regain more of their tribal land. This article talks about one of their recent triumphs as they regain land in Nebraska along the Missouri River. While this is not immediately in the Kirksville vicinity, this article shows how the Ioway are working to regain portions of the reservation that they moved to after leaving the Kirksville area.

The article does claim that the “newly acquired land…is a piece of the last remnant of historic tribal land of the Iowa” (Hendee).

Iowa Tribe regains part of its reservation in Nebraska in deal with Nature Conservatory

Hendee, David. “Iowa Tribe regains part of its reservation in Nebraska in deal with Nature Conservatory.” Omaha World Herald, 5 April 2018, www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/iowa-tribe-regains-part-of-its-reservation-in-nebraska-in/article_4921e9f4-3709-57d8-a00b-2146fcf0ec2e.html. Accessed 20 Oct. 2018.

The Town Myth

Adair County’s Town Myth is relatively well documented in a few different sources. It was named “The Big Neck Affair” because of the Ioway Indian chief who was involved with the affair.

The Story:

In 1829, Chief Big Neck leads a group of Ioway Indians into the Chariton River area for a hunting expedition. A group of white pioneers had recently settled the area because of the treaties that the natives had signed giving up their land. The natives of the area had ceded the land in treaties in 1804 and 1824. There was some confusion about which lands had been ceded in the earlier treaty that led to the signing of the second treaty. Additionally, there is also some uncertainty which Native tribes actually signed the treaty. Some say that the Ioway, Sac, and Fox signed them while others claim it was only the Sac and Fox. Both of these events led to confusion among the Native Americans, and probably helped create this event.

In any event, both sets of people were laying claim to this land which created a lot of tension. Some pioneers claim to have been threatened by Ioway Indians and other accounts say that the Indians were falsely accused of stealing. The build up of these events led to a confrontation between the Ioway’s and the white settlers on July 17, 1829. The settlers approached the Ioway encampment of men, women, and children, and tried to force the Ioway’s to give up their weapons even though the Indians were willing to talk peacefully with them. The account becomes muddled at this point becomes some claim that the white men shot first while others believe the Indians were at fault. In the end, three of the Indians, Chief Big Neck’s brother, sister-in-law, and their child, were killed as well as John Myers, James Winn, and Powell Owenby.

The Ioway Indians fled, but were eventually caught and brought to trial in St. Louis where they were proved innocent of any wrongdoing.

Some Background Information:

There are no accounts of any white pioneers settling in Adair County until the 1828 attempt by pioneers from Howard County, including: James Myers, Isaac Gross, Stephen Gross, Nathan Richardson, Reuben Myrtle, and Jacob Gupp. These pioneers created a small settlement that became known as “The Cabins.” This settlement was primarily focused on forestry because the land was not easily worked for agriculture at this time.

These settlers fled back to Howard County after the altercation with Chief Big Neck, and they did not return. However, other settlers moved into the area in 1830.

The Native Americans in the area continued to have contact with the white settlers between 1835 and 1845 with no other major altercations being recorded. After 1845, there are no other accounts of Native Americans in this (Chariton River/Adair County) area of Missouri.

These events happened within a thirty mile radius of Kirksville which is presently the largest town in this area and the host of Truman State University. After talking to some of the residents and workers at the Adair County Historical Society, this seems to be the only major event between Native Americans and white settlers in this area.

Additionally, some of the historical books that reference this account also mention the Black Hawk War of 1832, but Adair County did not play a large role in the war.

 

One of Truman State University’s reference librarians Carol Lockhart.

 

Note:

As I was looking through different books for information on this event, I realized that only the first few pages of the books even mentioned Native Americans. One of the books is over 1000 pages long and only 20 or so pages were devoted to the areas first inhabitants.

Sources:

Book of Adair County History published by The Kirksville-Adair County Bicentennial Committee

History of Adair County by E. M. Viollette

History of Missouri by E. M. Viollette

“The Big Neck Affair: Tragedy and Farce on the Missouri Frontier” by Dorothy J. Caldwell

Native Artifacts

The Native Artifacts assignment is an opportunity to investigate some artifacts specifically related to the Native Americans in our area. I found artifacts directly related to the Ioway Indians because the tribe was one of the prominent ones in Northern Missouri.

This first artifact I have is actually a Non Native Artifact, but it could have belonged to the Ioway Indians; specifically, Chief Dave Tohee. It is a President Zachary Taylor peace medal. This artifact is dated between 1849 and 1900 which corresponds with a great deal of disruption for the Ioway Indians.

Data Source: National Museum of the American Indian

Catalog Number: 24/449

Zachary Taylor peace medal (dated 1849) and pouch

This artifact is a picture of Ioway Indians who are said to have traveled to London in 1844. The description of the picture says that some of the Ioways pictured are The White Cloud, The Walking Rain, The Blistered Feet, etc. Like the picture above, the mid 19th century was a turbulent time for the Ioways and I am surprised that members of the tribe traveled to London.

Data Source: National Anthropological Archives

Local Call Number: NAA INV 10000931/OPPS NEG 3925 A

Negative 3925 A, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Group of Ioway Indians who visited London in 1844?

 

This Indian Pipe is said to have been found in 1824 by the Missouri River. It was given to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1866 by John Varden and is said to be an Ioway Indian artifact. The fact that this pipe was found by the Missouri River proves that the Ioways either traveled all the way South to the Missouri River or traded with people who traveled those trade routes.

Data Source: NMNH – Anthropology Dept.

USNM Number: E1762-0

Indian Pipe. Flat.

All of these artifacts are related to the Ioway Indians from the 19th century. This era was one of the primary times that the Ioway’s faced removal from their lands by the colonial powers. The fact that these artifacts have survived is a testament to how important they were to the Ioways.