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8 July 2005
BIOGRAPHIES M
MC COY, Reverend Isaac --The name of Rev. Isaac McCoy is thoroughly identified with the history of the establishment of the Indian Territory. All the best years of his life were spent in efforts and sacrifices for the advancement of the Indians, his work for fourteen years--from 1828 to 1842--being chiefly in Kansas. Mr. McCoy was born near Uniontown, Fayette Co., Penn., June 13, 1784. His youth was spent in Kentucky. In 1817, he commenced his missionary work among the Miami Indians on the Wabash River in Indiana, the first mission being near the present site of the town of Roseville. He remained at that point until May 1820, when he removed to Fort Wayne, re-opened his school, and continued it until the Pottawatomies were granted a reservation on the St. Joseph River, in Michigan, when he removed to that point and established the Carey Mission, December, 1822. Thomas Mission, on Grand River, Michigan, was established in 1826, by Messrs. McCoy, Lykins, Meeker and others. The latter mission was among the Ottawas. During his labors at Carey, Mr. McCoy became convinced that much missionary toil and effort was, and would be, wasted, unless the Indians could be removed farther from the vicinity of the white settlements, where the precepts and example of the missionaries were continually counteracted by the evil habits and the alluring vices of the frontier traders.
In January, 1824, Mr. McCoy visited Washington, and submitted a scheme for the removal of the Eastern tribes to the west of the Mississippi, to Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War. He approved the idea, and from that time was a faithful and valuable friend to the measure. In regard to this visit, Mr. McCoy naively writes: "I was so much afraid that his (Mr. Calhoun's) answer would be unfavorable, that, after mentioning the outlines of the plan, I proceeded to offer many reasons for adopting it, before I paused to allow room for his reply. Somewhat contrary to my expectation, but greatly to my satisfaction, his answer was such as I desired. He not only approved the plan, but urged its practicability, and said nothing was wanting to insure success but a right feeling in Congress."
From 1824 until 1828, various efforts were made by Mr. McCoy and others to further the object they deemed so essential to the welfare of the Indians, but no bill was passed providing for the emigration of the Indians. An appropriation was, however, made in 1828, for an exploration of the territory designed eventually for the tribes, and on the 15th of July, Mr. McCoy, one of the Commissioners appointed for the purpose, arrived at St. Louis, with three Pottawatomies and three Ottawas, to explore the country now Kansas, and, if desirable, select homes for those tribes. On the 21st of August, Mr. McCoy, with his Northern Indians, set out on his tour of exploration in advance of the other Commissioner, Mr. Kennerly, who, with his delegation of Choctaws and Creeks, had not yet arrived at St. Louis. According to instructions from Mr. Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, the delegation explored a portion of the territory purchased of the Osages and Kanzas, and east of the country of the Pawnees. The party crossed Missouri to the Presbyterian Mission of Harmony, on the Marais des Cygnes, and, with a half-breed Osage for a guide, followed the Osage and Neosho Rivers until they arrived at the head-waters of the latter, when they crossed to the Kansas and returned on its south bank to the Shawanoe settlement on the Missouri State line.
On his return to Missouri, Mr. McCoy selected the town of Fayette, in that State, as a temporary residence for himself and Mr. Lykins, until they should locate permanently in the Territory. He afterward accompanied the Southern delegation to the Territory, entering on the 30th of November, at the Shawnee settlement. Their instructions were to explore the northern and western portions of the Territory as far as practicable, but, receiving word at the western line of Missouri from Maj. John Dougherty, Agent at Fort Leavenworth, that 1,500 Pawnees were on the war-path, they turned to the south, visited the Osages at White Hair's village, on the Neosho, and thence proceeded to the Arkansas River, where they visited the Creeks. The Southern delegation of Indians left the party near the junction of the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers. The remainder of the party went west as far as the Rocky Mountains, and returned to St. Louis December 24, 1828.
In January, 1829, Mr. McCoy visited Washington and submitted his report of these explorations to the Department of Indian Affairs, a map of the region explored accompanying the report. The bill for the organization of the Indian Territory, which was finally adopted, described the boundaries of the Territory according to the recommendation contained in this report. On the 27th of July, 1829, he again started for the West, accompanied by Mr. Lykins, and, in the fall of that year, made an expedition of twenty days into the interior of the Territory. The act of May 26, 1830, organizing the Indian Territory, finally passed the Senate by a vote of twenty- eight to twenty.
In l837, Mr. McCoy was sent by Government to survey the Delaware lands. He started with his two sons and a small party, comprising several Delawares, on the 16th of August, and was absent about four months-- ninety-six nights without the shelter of a roof. During this expedition, he made arrangements for the establishment of missions among the Omahas and Otoes. he also visited the Kanzas at their villages, and held a council with a party of Pawnees at Fort Leavenworth. On this expedition Mr. McCoy explored the country 200 miles west of Missouri, along the Kansas Creeks, and adjusted the unsettled boundaries of their reservations; also proposed locations for the remainder of the Pottawatomies, Ottawas, New York Indians, Miamis and other tribes, which selections were confirmed by the department.
From this time until his
removal to Louisville, Ky., in 1842, Mr. McCoy labored unceasingly for the
advancement of the tribes in the West. He thoroughly believed in the possibility
and almost certainty of elevating the Indians in the Territory to a condition
where they should be at least industrious, honest and self-supporting; and the
strength and energy of the best years of his life were devoted to this work.
After removing to Louisville, Mr. McCoy took charge of the work of the American
Indian Mission Association, and remained in that position until his death, which
occurred in Louisville in 1846.
(Submitted by Arlene Micucci from William G. Cutler's
History of the State of
Kansas, Chicago, 1883, Part 6, Indian History, "Early Missionaries." This article was a
part of the Kansas Collection of Books from the University of Kansas.
[The inclusion of this and other entries
concerning the missionaries in Kansas editor does not mean that the editor makes
a judgment endorsing their work, which is a matter of controversy.]
MEKINGEES/MEKINGES/MEKINGIS Elizabeth possibly KETCHUM--[Data are being entered and edited. This is a difficult entry. I would appreciate any of your comments or ideas. Editor swifthahn@aol.com ]
Revised 12 November 2002. Mekinges and its other spellings, is a variation of the Lenape word Macunchis, meaning "Last Born," that is, "the Youngest". Her English name is Elizabeth (possibly Ketchum). She was born after 1780. Some have said that Mekinges may have been the daughter of Chief William Anderson, but there is evidence to the contrary and nothing to support the Anderson connection. (See end notes 1 and 2 for a further discussion of her ancestry). In any event, she grew up in Chief Anderson's home on the White River in Indiana on the lands reserved to the Delaware.1 Mekinges's mother was Ahkechelungunaqua. Her mother is said to have been the sister of Mehshayquowha (Captain Patterson) and the widow of Twehullalla or Tweehulala (George Ketchum). William Anderson married second Ahkechelungunaqua who brought with her two sons, Lapahnihe (Big Bear) Ketchum and Queshatowha (John Ketchum), and a daughter, Aukeelenqua ( Nancy Ketchum).2 Mary Smith Witcher, the compiler of Cherokee-Delaware Heritage, lists Makengiss as the eighth child of "Delaware George." Witcher, p. 145). She says, "Various names in this list were given to me by George Bullette, Jr. [...Henry Armstrong...and Sol C. Ketchum." She also says that Mekinges is a corruption of Muchenchase.3 Regarding Lenape family relationships and oral history, Ruby Cranor said "All children born to one mother are brothers and sisters regardless of who their father was." And, speaking of Sarah Finney's affidavit, said that Sarah Finney , "…was an old lady at the time she gave these affidavits, so perhaps she had forgotten some of her history."4
Mekingees was the common-law wife, in the Delaware custom, of William Conner (whom see in Biographies). He and his brother John moved to Indiana in 1800. They were the sons of Richard Conner and his wife Margaret Boyer, a white woman who was raised by the Shawnee.5 Mekinges and William Conner lived in Chief Anderson's town from 1802 until 1812, then moved south of there, to a site four miles south of present Noblesville, on the east side of the White River.6 Thompson states also states on page 43, using the same footnotes cited above above, "...the town of Chief Anderson, whose daughter, Mekinges, he married at at unrecorded time. (See 7 and 8 for a discussion of Mekinges's family relationship) William Conner built and operated a trading post there on the east side of the White River. [I will try to include a map of the area in the future.-Editor.] Because of his service to the United States Government, he was secretly promised title to the 640 acres occupied by him and his family. He eventually received title to the land.9
The children of
Mekinges and
William Conner are:
1. John (Jack) Conner born 1802 at Wapeminskin, near present
Anderson, Indiana10
2. Harry or Howard Conner.
3. Nancy
Conner died before 1856.
4. William Marshall
Conner, undoubtedly named after William
Conner's partner/friend, William Marshall.
5. James Conner born 1817.
6. Eliza
Conner born 1818.11
Timothy Crumrin of Conner Prairie, said that they had seven children.
More detailed entries for Nancy Conner
and Eliza Conner can be found just below at the end of this entry for Mekinges]
William Conner became a successful trader. When he was away, it is possible that Mekinges helped run the trading post with William’s partner, William Marshall.12 Mekinges's and William Conner's relationship changed completely as a result of the Treaty of Greenville in 1818, under terms of which the Delaware were forced to agree to move west of the Mississippi River into Missouri. After the treaty, Chief Anderson began gathering his people together as they had to make the move within three years of the treaty. According to tribal custom, Me-king-es was expected to move with the tribe. Because William Conner became increasingly involved in political affairs in Indiana and did not want to leave there, he decided not to move west with Mekinges and the Delaware.13
When the Delaware began their move out of Indiana to their new home in southwest Missouri in September 1821, Mekingees and her children went with them under the protection of William Marshall, the partner of William Conner. The latter provided with Mekinges with sixty horses and supposedly her share of the business.14 In addition, William Conner made the promise that his Indian children should return to visit him from time-to-time and that if land came to him through the United States' government, he would pay them for their interest in the land.15 William Conner married Elizabeth Chapman, the step-daughter of John Finch on 30 November 1820, just a few months after the departure of Mekinges.16 The Conners had considerable land that could not be legally divided in 1820. Me-king-es and her six children began the hazardous trip to southwest Missouri in 1821 down the west fork of the White River to the mouth of the Wabash River. They forded this river and made their way across southwest Illinois to Fort Kaskaskias where they camped.17 They had spent several months on the trail before arriving at Fort Kaskaskias on 2 December 1820.18 Many Delaware encountered hunger, sickness, and starvation on that dangerous journey, and white people along the way threatened them and stole their horses.19 It was noted that when the vanguard reached Kaskaskias that the Delaware were "poor starving humans without any means of caring for themselves.20 Me-king-es and her family were better off than most of the emigrants because of what she had received from William Conner and because of the guardianship of William Marshall who also had his wife, Betsy Wilaquenaho ( whom see) with him. [Some time in the future I will attempt to cover the entire migration in more detail and will probably put it in a separate article in the History section.-Editor]
Because of inclement weather, Mekinges and her family and the tribe could not leave Fort Kaskaskias for their new home on the James River in southwest Missouri until the spring of 1822. The mainstream of the Delaware finally made their way to Nixa, about four miles south of Springfield, Missouri, where they remained until 1830.21 William Marshall was with the advance party of the Delaware. Mekinges and her family went with him and was with him when he established a trading post on the Jack Fork of the Current River. They were there in 1821 and 1822. It is possible that Me-king-es and her family went with William Marshall when he went to a place near the mouth of the Sulphur Fork of the Red River in southern Arkansas where he opened a trading post.22 Ferguson suggests that, "It is possible that Me-king-ees and her family moved to this area because Mekinges had been working in the store when it was in Indiana and knew the Delaware language. 23 Though there is no evidence to support her presence there, it is an interesting idea. When the tribe moved to the Delaware Reserve in present Kansas, Mekinges and her younger children migrated there.24
There is a lack of information dealing with the life of Me-king-es on the Delaware Reserve. She is in the "Roll or Census of the Delaware Tribe of Indians within the Fort Leavenworth Agency for the Year 1842" as No. 151Muck-cun-chase with one male under 10, two males 10 and under 40, one female under 10, three females 10 and under 40, and one female over 40.25 Assuming one son (probably John) was off on his own, who are the two extra females who are with her in 1842, and who is the father? One would think that she would have died before 3 July 1861, on which date a suit was brought by her survivors against the estate of William Conner in the United States Circuit Court in Indianapolis.26 But perhaps the word "survivors" is misleading. William Conner and Mekinges had petitioned for land that they felt was due them under the St, Mary's Treaty of 1818. Conner received deeds for the land beginning in 1830 and ending in 1855.27 On his death in 1855, he left his 6,000-acre estate to his second family.28 In 1861, his Indian family brought suit against William Conner's white children heirs. The claim was "quieted" against the Indian plaintiffs in 1863.29 There is a Mu-cun-chus #58 on "Delaware Allotments Treaty May 1860" with an 1862 Census Roll #473. That person's allotment was W/2 SW/4 of Section 36. Township 10, Range 23, 80 acres.30 This person appears to be Ma-cun-chis because in the "Delaware Census of February 15, 1862" she is listed again as #473, 12-15-1862 #58, at age 73, that is born about 1879. On that record, there is a Macunchis Kecharleequa, #474, 2-15-1862 Allotment #59, listed with her.31 Weslager states that "Mekinges, who lived to an old age, is believed to have married into the Ketchum family, although there is some doubt about this. She died a much-respected matron among her people in Oklahoma."32 (Weslager, The Delaware Indian Westward Migration, p. __.)
If Mekinges were 79 in 1862, then she would have been about 84 when the mainstream of the tribe moved to Indian Territory in 1867. One wonders why, If she is in the records in 1860 as Macunchus, and in the 1862 records as Macunchis, then why isn't she on the "Delaware Payroll of April, 1857" or the "Delaware Payroll of January 1, 1858"? Perhaps she was there but simply didn't qualify to be on those listings. The absence of her name on Delaware Dwelling Structures, Crop Products and Livestock ca. October 1, 1865, indicates that she might be living with someone else, but whom?33 Mekinges does not appear on the listing of for the Delaware Semi-Annual Annuity Payment in October 1865 nor for 1866. (Arellano, pp. 153-164 and pp. 171-184, respectively. She also does not appear in the listing of "Delaware Indians Who Elected to Dissolve Their Tribal Relations and Become Citizens of the United States on 18 February, 1866."34 She is not in [text missing] nor in the listing of "Delaware Persons Who Have Elected to Retain Their Tribal Relations at the Delaware Agency, Kansas-February 1867."35 An enigmatical "Index" with a penciled in 1862 includes the name Macumchis, 761.36 The name Macumchis, No. 761, Dead, appears in a Listing entitled "Delawares" by Arellano in which she describe the document as a small paperback which contained the names of Delaware Indians who moved from their Kansas home into Indian Territory. The list was supposedly published in Tahlequah, I. T. between 1898 and 1904.37 Mekinges appears to be in "The Delaware Indians Residing in the Cherokee Nation, As a Tribe and Individuals Showing Their Lands, Improvements, Location and Valuation of Improvements in Possession of Them Prior to and on August 4, 1898" under Register No. 761 (as it was also in the document above) under the name Nacumchis, dead, niece Mary White age 50 and under Child Living 8-4-1898: a. H. M. Adams, Jno Bullette. b. See Reg. 768 for improvements. c. Apr. 11, 1899. Those three items were also listed under Register No. 758 Lomoose white, dead. The Register No. 768 just mentioned with the name Ohlenow, dead, with Mary White, grandchild living as heir 8-4-1898 60 acres cultivated, 160 acres enclosed, value $500 and child living 8-4-1898. a. H. M. Adams, Jno Bullette (as it was in No. 761). b. On Double Creek 3 miles west Ringo IT. c. Apr. 11, 1899. The name H. M. Adams also appears with the names Joseph Griffy and Elias Griffy.38
The later documents indicate that the person known as Macumchis and Nacumchis moved from the Delaware Reserve in Kansas to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. It is not certain that these names all represent the same person, that is, Mekinges, however. People tend to mix up Elizabeth (Macunchis) with Elizabeth Ziegler who married Lewis Ketchum and also with Elizabeth Swannock who married John Conner and as his widow, married James Ketchum. Did Me-king-es remarry after leaving William Conner in Indiana? It would have been the natural thing for a woman with six children to do. Did Mekinges have another English name on the Delaware Reserve or in Indian Territory? Did she remarry? Did she live with one of her children in later years? And where did she die and where is she buried? Some of her descendants believe that she went back to Missouri. These are all questions that need to be answered. Let us know if you know any of the answers!
End-notes:
1 Ruby Cranor,
Kik-Tha-Whe-Nund: The
Delaware Chief William Anderson and His Descendants, p. 109; Charles N.
Thompson, Sons of the Wilderness: John and William Conner, p. 43 citing
Harry Emilius Stocker, trans., "A History of the Moravian Mission Among the
Indians on the White River in Indiana," p. 246 and Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana
and Indianans. A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century
of Statehood, vol. III, p. 1476 in Moravian Historical Society, Transactions,
X, parts 3 and 4 (Bethlehem, Pa., 1917).
2 Cranor,
Kik-tha-whe-nund, p.109 and Affidavit of Sarah Kinney, Nov. 24, 1925, Bartlesville
Oklahoma Library. Mary Smith Witcher, the compiler of Cherokee-Delaware
Heritage, lists Ma-ken-giss as the eighth child of "Delaware
George." Witcher, p. 145.
3 Witcher, f/n
5 (what page) and 170a, p. 184, according to Kinney.
4 ?
5 C. A.
Weslager: The Delaware Indians: A History, p. 334.
6 Stanley Draper Collection,
Book 11 YY, Wisconsin Historical Society cited in Cranor, p. 136; Stocker,
"History of the Moravian Mission on the White River, pp. 279-280 and Dunn,
Indiana and Indianans, III, p. 1476, both cited in Thompson,
p. 43.
7 According to the Delaware historian C. A.
Weslager in The Delawares: A critical Bibliography (See Bibliography),
"The major study of the sojourn in Indiana is treated in an unpublished
dissertation by Roger James Ferguson, "The White River Indiana Delawares:
An Ethnographic Synthesis, 1795-1867" (See Bibliography). Ferguson
made liberal use of Charles N. Thompson's Sons of the Wilderness: John and
William Conner (See Bibliography)...Thompson, however, made an error that
Ferguson and others perpetuated. He mistakenly identified Mekinges (mother
of the Delaware chiefs John and James Conner) as the daughter of Chief William
Anderson." Weslager, The Delaware Indian Westward Migration
introduces evidence that she was a member of the Ketchum family." In the
latter work, Weslager writes, "Charles N. Thompson...stated in Sons of
the Wilderness That Mekinges, Conner's Delaware wife, was the daughter of
Chief Anderson. This has been repeated by others quoting from Thompson,
including the present author [Weslager] in The Delaware Indians, A History.
Information has since come to life causes one to doubt that Mekinges was
Anderson's daughter, and a reexamination of the sources cited by Thompson
indicates that there is no documentary support for his statement in these
references. An affidavit regarding the genealogy of a number of Indian families
was taken in Oklahoma in 1925 from an old Delaware woman named Sarah Kinney. In
this affidavit she referred to the Ketchum family which she said she knew very
well, adding that there were four brothers (whom she did not name) and the two
daughters, Nancy and Elizabeth. She stated that Elizabeth married William Conner
and six children were born to them, John, James, William, Nancy, Eliza, and
Howard. Assuming that Elizabeth and Mekinges were one and the same person, which
seems likely, then she was a Ketchum and could not have been the daughter of
Chief Anderson" (pp. 763-74).
8 Weslager (The Delaware Indian Westward Migration,
p. 74), states : For further evidence that Mekinges was a
Ketchum is
found in the Morgan Journals, 1859-1862, based on information Morgan
obtained from an elderly Delaware female informant in Kansas. This is what he
wrote: "Captain Ketchum at the time of his death [July 12,
1857] was head chief, a principal chief of the Turtle Tribe of the Delawares.
This title or office is hereditary as she thought in the tribe, for she said the
Turtles could not have a man of the Wolf or Turkey for their chief, Ketchum's
name was Ta-whe-la-la (Catch Me). He died leaving a son, but was succeeded by
John Konner, the present principal or hereditary chief who was the son of the
youngest sister of Captain Ketchum of the Turtle Tribe." Weslager continues
saying, "What this seems to me is that Mekinges and the chief called
Captain Ketchum were brother and sister, and that Ketchum's successor as
principal chief was his nephew John Conner, oldest son of Mekinges by William
Conner."
9
Weslager, The
Delaware Indian Westward Migration, p. 73.
10 Thompson, Sons of
the Wilderness, p.46.
11 Thompson, Sons of the
Wilderness, p. 19.
12
Thompson, p. 109.
13 Weslager, The Delaware
Indians: A History, p. 5.
14 Weslager, The Delaware
Indians: A History, p. 5.
15 Thompson,
p. 122.
16 Thompson, p. 14.
17 Robert
Ferguson, "White River Indiana Delawares," cited in Cranor, p. 140
18
Thompson, p. 107.
19
American
State Papers, U.S. Congress, Class 2, Indian Affairs, vol. 11, p. 90 cited
in Cranor,
p. 114.
20 Ferguson, p. 107.
21 Thompson, p. 122.
22 Cranor, p. 112.
23 Ferguson, p. 122
24 St. Louis Historical Co.,
History of Greene Co., Missouri, p. 131
cited in Cranor, p. 128.
25 Arellano,
Delaware Trails: Some Tribal Records 1842-1907,
p. ____.
26 Thomson, f/n 40, Chapter 11, p.
242.
27 Thompson, p. 110.
28 Weslager, The Delaware Indian
Westward Migration, p. 74.
29 United States Circuit Court, at
Indianapolis, Case No. 44, 3 July 1861,
cited in ______?
30
Arellano, Delaware
Trails, p. __.
31 Arellano, Delaware
Trails, p. 104.
32 Westlager,
The Delaware
Indian Westward Migration, p. __.
33 Arellano,
Some Delaware
Trails, pp. 139-152.
34 Arellano,
Some Delaware
Trails, pp. 185-187
35
Arellano, pp. 189-222.
36
Arellano, Some Delaware Trails, p.
250.
37 Arellano, p. 281.
38 Arellano, ibid.
An additional item on
Mekinges was submitted by
Descendant Laurence C. Heady:
MeKingEes (sometimes spelled
Mekinges)
English name was Elizabeth Anderson Conner.
She was the only daughter of Kikthawenund-Chief
Anderson and his last wife Ahkechelungunaqua,
and was born sometime around 1780. Mekingees grew up on the White River in
Indiana and eventually married the white trader, William Conner, when she
was still in her teens. Conner settled in Chief Anderson's Town operating a
trading post there with the help of Mekingees. The first of their six children
was born in 1802. After the 1818 Treaty of Greenville, the Delaware prepared for
the Tran Mississippi removal. Mekingees and her children were among those to
leave Indiana. However, her husband had become involved in political and
economic development there and decided to send hi
[something missing here]
(For documentation or further comment or questions on this item, please contact
Laurence Heady lenapelh@hotmail.com with an
information copy to the Editor swifthahn@aol.com )
The children of Mekinges and William Conner
are:
1. John (Jack) Conner born 1802 at Wapeminskin, near present Anderson, IN
(Thompson, Sons of the Wilderness, p. 46).
2. Harry or Howard Conner.
3. Nancy
Conner
- The birth date for
Nancy Conner is not known, but it would probably
have been between 1805 and 1815 in the White River area of Indiana near present
Noblesville. She died in 1833 or 1834 in Delaware Territory (in
probably present Wyandotte County, Kansas). Nancy was also known as
Elizabeth
Ketchum. She was probably the third of six (possibly seven) children. She married
Mutsetutsese (on son
William Adam's Cherokee Roll File),
a Delaware from Missouri, a son of Paymarhting.
(Laurence D. Heady, lenapelh@hotmail.com
)
The children of Nancy Conner
and Mututsesse are to be added. Editor]
(Researchers:
kal@annapolis.net,
zoe@txcyber.com,
swifthahn@aol.com
, lenapelh@hotmail.com )
4. William Marshall
Conner, undoubtedly named after William
Conner's partner and friend, William Marshall.
5. James Conner born 1817.
6. Eliza
Conner was born in 1818.
(Thompson, Sons of the Wilderness,
p. 19) Eliza Conner was
probably the sixth of six (but possibly seven) children. She
was born at her father's trading post in Indiana. Eliza was only two
years old during the migration of the Delaware People from Indiana to Missouri.
She grew up on the banks of Big Stranger Creek [in Missouri]. When she was about
twenty-one years old, she married Delaware Bill
Halfmoon. It is not known what became of Bill Halfmoon, but one
child, Sarah Halfmoon, was born of that
union. Eliza then married Delaware Tom Wilson.
He was killed soon thereafter by a bull buffalo. Eliza then married
Pendoxie, or George Bullette. He was
one-half Delaware and one-half French and much older than Eliza. He was a trader
on Spavinaw Creek. Pendoxie had commanded Delaware warriors in the battle of
Claremore Mound in 1818 and had fought in the Mexican War. Pendoxie raised
Eliza's children, Sarah Halfmoon and
Laura Wilson, and he fathered four children with
Eliza. Pendoxie died in 1855. Eliza died in 1877.
(For documentation or further comment or questions on this item, please contact
Laurence Heady lenapelh@hotmaol.com
with an
information copy to the Editor swifthahn@aol.com
)
[Timothy Crumrin of Conner Prairie, said that they had seven children.] One of
their children was:
1.
HALFMOON, Sarah -
Sarah Halfmoon was born on the Delaware
Indian Reservation near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in October of 1839 or 1840. Her
mother was Eliza Conner, the daughter of
Mekinges and granddaughter of
Ahkechelungunaqua of the Turtle Clan,
matrilineal descent. Sarah's father, Bill Halfmoon,
died either shortly before or after her birth. Her stepfather was
George Bullette, a man of French and Lenape
heritage. During the final removal of the Delaware in the late 1860s, she moved
with members of her family to lands along the Verdigris River, Cooweescoowee
District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (Nowata County, Oklahoma). She was
noted for her eccentricities, including the fact that she would speak only
Lenape of French and pretend not to understand English. Sarah could not abide
fools and often advised others not to trust anyone who didn't like horses or
dogs. She was officially a full-blood Delaware. She was married several times to
mixed-blood Cherokee and Delaware men. She apparently already had two children
by the time of her first marriage to Albert Compston. (See the Biography
of their daughter Ella Eliza Compston, just
below) Tradition holds
that she was a great supporter of the Dalton Boys, often giving them, food and
shelter when they were fugitives. After their violent death on the streets of
Coffeyville, an ordinance was passed making it a crime to decorate their graves.
Ignoring the law, Sarah continued to place flowers on the outlaws' graves until
she died. She was a devout Baptist for over 80 years. She died in Bartlesville,
Oklahoma, on December 7, 1934, the oldest member of the Delaware Tribe.
(For documentation, comments, or questions, contact Descendant
Laurence D. Heady
lenapelh@hotmail.com
with an information to
Editor, swifthahn@aol.com. Larry has
additional personal information that he will share with family members.) Her
child with Albert Compston was:
* * *
1.
COMPSTON, Ella Eliza - Ella Eliza Compston was the daughter of
Sarah Halfmoon and
Albert Euing (or Ewing) Compston, described above.
Ella was presumably born on the Verdigris River, Cherokee Nation, Indian
Territory in 1970. She went by the name "Ella". Ella
married Joshua Bonaparte Heady, also known as "J. B" or "Bud" Heady,
sometime after legal charges against her mother, Sarah Halfmoon, were resolved.
J. B. had been the deputy U.S. Marshal who was dispatched from Fort Smith to
arrest her.
Apparently he was born in Green County, Missouri, in 1858 or 1859, and lived in
Missouri and Arkansas for much of his early life. He was the son of Eli P. Heady
and Mary Ann "Polly" Presley and was of undocumented mixed
Cherokee and
Anglo-American heritage. He first wife was Elizabeth Berlew (1860-1929) and he
had two or three children of that union. It is unknown under what circumstances
J. B left his former wife and children. He served as a deputy United
States marshal for the Western District of Arkansas--the district of "Hanging
Judge" Isaac Parker of Fort Smith. J. B. was among the marshals that
maintained peace and order in the lawless Indian Territory immediately after the
Civil War. He swore oaths of office in 1887, 1889, and 1895, all signed by Judge
Parker. He was probably an Indian Territory "posse man" prior to 1887 and he
rode with Frank Dalton and others. J. B. served as a deputy U. S. Marshal for
the Western District of Arkansas--the district of "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker
of Fort Smith. J. B. was among the marshals who maintained peace and order in
the lawless Indian Territory after the Civil War. He swore oaths of office in
1887, 1889, and 1895, all signed by Judge Parker. J. B. Heady and Ella
(Compston) Heady maintained a large house in Watova, Cooweescoowee District,
Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, that still stands today. There are many
stories about J. B.'s adventures as a marshal and as an oil company agent. He
wasn't beyond making whiskey during the Prohibition or hiding a fugitive who was
a friend of the family. J. B. died in Nowata County, Oklahoma, in 1935. Ella has been described as
a very warm, loving and long-suffering woman, simply referred to as "Mother".
She is on the Dawes Roll No. 31501, along with her children. and is listed as
one-half Delaware blood quantum. Ella died in Nowata County, Oklahoma, in
1949. She and J. B. had nine children:
1.
Alba Heady
married Chance
2.
Frank Heady,
named for Frank Dalton
3. Ada Heady
4. Leona Heady,
also known as Princess Wyhnemah, was born in Cooweescoowee
District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, the daughter of
Ella Eliza Compston and James Bonaparte "J.
B." Heady. Leona was a screen actress of some notoriety. Princess Wyhnemah
was her screen name. She played in numerous B-movies of the period and was a
founding member of the Indian Screen Actors Guild. She apparently was a
good friend of Indian actor Jay Silverwheels. She
spent most of her life in Southern California pursuing her acting career. She
was loving and supportive of her younger siblings. Her brother
Euing [James Euing] Heady was much influenced
by her and spent much time with her in California. Leona Heady died in
California, but was buried in Nowata County, Oklahoma.
5.
Oneida Heady
6.
Clay
(for Henry Clay) Heady
7.
James Euing Heady was born in Cooweescoowee District Cherokee Nation,
Indian Territory, in 1901, the son of Ella Eliza
Compston and James Bonaparte Heady.
He appears on the Dawes Cherokee Roll, No. 31508, along with his
mother Ella and all her other children. He was of dark complexion and very
handsome. Toward the end of World War One, Euing enlisted in the army and was
attached to a cavalry unit stationed in Southern California. According to oral
history, Euing got homesick for a girl in Kansas and rode a horse all the
way from California to Kansas. He married an unknown woman in Kansas, but
the marriage was later annulled. There was one child of that union. Sometime
later he married Violet May Hightower and had two children,
Zelda Heady and Edythe
Wyvonna Heady. He then married Sylvia Remington Price. They
had one child, Arthur Euing Heady who was
born 1930 and who died in 1959. He married Pauline Anita Babb (living).
They had two children,
Laurence
D. Heady and Cathy Lynn Heady
(both living). He was later estranged from Sylvia, but apparently they didn't
divorce. Later, he had a common-law marriage with Eva Althea Young.
Karee (Heady) Hada was the only child of
that union. Euing role the rodeo circuit for a while, during which time he met
Eva Althea. Euing spent much of his life in and out of hospitals while being
treated for tuberculosis, and he died in 1949 in a
Veterans Administration hospital in Southern California. After hearing of
Euing's death, his wife, Sylvia took her own life.
8.
Blanche Heady
9.
Ruth Heady
(For documentation, comments, or questions, contact Descendant
Laurence D. Heady
lenapelh@hotmail.com
with an information
to Editor, swifthahn@aol.com. Larry, a
member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians from Minnesota, has additional
personal information that he will share with family members. He is the son of
Arthur Euing Heady and the grandson of J. B. Heady Sylvia Remington Price.)
Charles N. Thompson, Sons of the Wilderness, page not known at present, said, "MaKenGis or Elizabeth, the Delaware daughter of Chief William Anderson, and the Aunt of William Marshall's Delaware wife Willaquenaho/Willaquanaho.
The following data are from a Document in the
Bartlesville, Oklahoma Library as they were recorded under KETCHUM LINE
69-25-1 F#I D#3. We will try to sort them out. Give us your comments. Editor]
*brothers and sisters [apparently of James Conner and William Conner]
[Mekinges] Elizabeth Ketchum (much en
chase) (Wm. Conner)
Nancy m[arried] Adams
(TataneSHA) John [Adams] ch; William
Jim
Mary
William
Howard
Eliza
Nancy (Au-khe-len-quah)
Dau: Auh-pa-mum-da-quah
m. 1. Journeycake
Los-set-on-au-quah
m. Bill Ketchum
Auhpee-heli-quah
m. Jim Ketchum
*Tew-he-land
*Kes-he-nond
*Potch-e-nond
*Pok-eng-opolis
(Eliza Connor Bullette, 1st cousin to Sallie Owl Honeywell, mother of [?] Honeywell Dodge, grandmother to John [?])
***
MUNDY, ISAAC -- Isaac Mundy and his wife Lucy Hines Mundy came from Patrick County, Virginia by wagon train to Westport, Missouri in 1835. They were accompanied by two slaves, George and Ruth, given to them by Lucy's father, Henry Hines, a plantation owner. When Isaac and his family first came to the are they found shelter at the Methodist Delaware Indian Mission, but soon thereafter a log cabin was built for the, behind the church. [The White Church in present Kansas, City, Kansas?] They may later later moved to Nebraska Territory. According to a letter dated 1/29/1842 from Fort Leavenworth Indian Agent Richard Cummins, Isaac was nominated to be blacksmith for the Delawares in Kansas Indian Territory. His first assistant was to be Powhatan Phifer. They moved from Westport sometime that year and continued to live and work among the Delaware until Isaac's death in February, 1858. Some records suggest he was also a paymaster and supervised a government farm near Fort Leavenworth. Isaac Mundy was possibly a delegate to the at Wyandotte Council House, 25 July 1853, where the provisional government of the Nebraska Territory was established. Isaac was elected to the office of councilman in that government. He held other positions in te Government as was a leader in the early community. In 1858 Isaac Mundy, age 43, was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun while he was hunting wit [Delaware] Indian friends. The Delaware honored him by burying him in their cemetery at White Church beside Chief Ketchum. The inscription Isaac Mundy's tombstone reads, "A man among a thousand distinguished for his integrity, his piety and his extensive influence in [the' community." 1859, with the help of Delaware friends, Lucy, her seven surviving children, George Mundy and Ruth Mundy and probably their three children, moved to Weston, Missouri. Contact for Isaac Mundy is young@jatnet.wcmo.edu (Bill Young, Professor of Religious Studies, Westminster College, Fuller, MO. He reports: My descent is through Isaac and Lucy's daughter Annie Elizabeth Mundy, who married Thomas Magers of Weston. My mother Rhoda Magers Young, now 90, remembers both Annie and Thomas well from her childhood. Along with about a dozen other Mundy descendants I attended the April, 1997, re-dedication of the White Church Delaware cemetery coordinated by Deborah Nichols. It was an inspirational event. I am now engaged in a long-term research and writing project focusing on the story of the Mundey's, their slaves, and the Ketchum family in the context of the tumultuous events during the period when the Mundey's were living at Delaware Crossing. I am particularly interested in trying to learn how these families interacted and succeeded in crossing cultural and religious boundaries in a multi-ethnic community. A photograph of his grave marker can be found under White Church Cemetery under Cemeteries. Isaac Mundy is listed in the 1855 Territory of Kansas Census as being "from Virginia."
MUTSETUTSESE--Mutsetutsese was a Delaware from Missouri, whose son was William Adams and whose father was Paymarhting. William Adams recorded his father as being a Delaware from Missouri named Mutsetutsese. (From William Adam's Cherokee enrollment records and Dawes Commission file from microfilm records from the Oklahoma Historical Society and from the family records and the Bible of Nathan Francis Adams, a son from the second marriage of William Adams. ) Researcher: kal@annapolis.net
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