Treaty with The Ottawa of Blanchard's Fork and Roche De Boeuf
June 24, 1862
Articles of agreement and convention, made and concluded
at Washington City, on the twenty-fourth day of June, eighteen
hundred and sixty-two, by and between William P. Dole, commissioner,
on the part of the United States, and the following-named
chief and councilmen of the Ottawa Indians of the united bands
of Blanchard's Fork and of Roche de Boeuf, now in
Franklin County, Kansas, viz: Pem-ach-wung, chief; John T.
Jones, William Hurr, and James Wind, councilmen, they being
thereto duly authorized by said tribe.
Article 1.
The Ottawa Indians of the united bands of Blanchard's
Fork and of Roche de Bæuf, having become sufficiently
advanced in civilization, and being desirous of becoming citizens
of the United States, it is hereby agreed and stipulated that
their organization, and their relations with the United States
as an Indian tribe shall be dissolved and terminated at the
expiration of five years from the ratification of this treaty;
and from and after that time the said Ottawas, and each and
every one of them, shall be deemed and declared to be citizens
of the United States, to all intents and purposes, and shall
be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities
of such citizens, and shall, in all respects, be subject to
the laws of the United States, and of the State or States
thereof in which they may reside.
Article 2.
It is hereby made the duty of the Secretary of the Interior
to cause a survey of the reservation of the said Ottawas to
be made as soon as practicable after the ratification of this
treaty, dividing it into eighty-acre tracts, with marked stones
set at each corner; and said Ottawas having already caused
their reservation to be surveyed, and quarter-section stones
set, it is hereby stipulated that such survey shall be adopted,
in so far as it shall be found correct.
Article 3.
It being the wish of said tribe of Ottawas to remunerate
several of the chiefs, councilmen, and head-men of the tribe,
for their services to them many years without pay, it is hereby
stipulated that five sections of land is [are] reserved and
set apart for that purpose, to be apportioned among the said
chiefs, councilmen, and head-men as the members of the tribes
shall in full council determine; and it shall be the duty
of the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents, in fee
simple, of said lands, when located and apportioned, to said
Indians. In addition thereto, said last-named persons, and
each and every head of a family in said tribe, shall receive
160 acres of land, which shall include his or her house and
all improvements, so far as practicable; and all other members
of the tribe shall receive 80 acres of land each, and all
the locations for the heads of families, made in accordance
with this treaty, shall be made adjoining, and in as regular
and compact form as possible, and with due regard to the rights
of each individual and of the whole tribe.
Article 4.
To enable said tribe to establish themselves more fully in
agriculture, and gradually to increase their preparations
for assuming the responsibilities and duties of citizenship,
it is stipulated that, subject to the limitations hereinafter
mentioned, the sum of eighteen thousand ($18,000) dollars
shall be paid to said tribe in the manner of annuities, out
of their moneys now in the hands of the United States, in
September, 1862, and subject to the limitations of this treaty.
There shall be paid to them in four equal annual payments
thereafter, as near as may be, all the moneys which the United
States hold, or may hold, in any wise for them, with accruing
interest on all moneys remaining with the United States.
Article 5.
It being the desire of the tribe to pay all lawful and just
debts against them contracted since they were removed to Kansas,
it is agreed that such demands as the council of the tribe
and the agent shall approve, when confirmed by the Secretary
of the Interior, may be received in payment for the lands
hereinafter provided to be sold, or otherwise such debts shall
be paid out of the funds of said Ottawas, but in no case shall
more than $15,000 be allowed and paid for such debts.
Article 6.
The Ottawas deeming this a favorable opportunity to provide
for the education of their posterity, and feeling that they
are able to do so by the co-operation of the United States,
now, in pursuance of this desire of the Ottawas, after the
selections and allotments herein provided have been made,
there shall be set apart, under the direction of the Secretary
of the Interior, twenty thousand acres of average lands for
the purpose of endowing a school for the benefit of said Ottawas;
also one section of land, upon which said school shall be
located, which section of land shall be inalienable, and upon
which, and all the appurtenances and property for school purposes
thereon, no tax shall ever be laid by any authority whatever.
Five thousand acres of said land may be sold by the trustees
hereinafter named, the proceeds of which may be devoted to
the erection of proper buildings and improvements upon said
section for reception of the pupils; and the residue of the
school-lands may, in like manner, be sold from time to time,
as full prices can be obtained for the same. The money received
therefor shall be loaned upon good real estate security, to
be improved farms in the county of the reservation, the same
not to be a security for more than half the appraised value
of the land as returned by the county assessor, and no land
to be taken as security for such loan or loans which shall
be encumbered in any manner, or the title to which shall have
been derived from or held by any judicial, administrator,
or executor's sale, or by the sale of any person acting
in a fiduciary capacity. The security shall never be avoided
on account of any rate of interest reserved, and the interest
only shall be applied to the support of the school, so that
the principal sum shall never be diminished.
And to the end that the Ottawas may derive the greatest advantage
from said school, the pupils shall be instructed and practiced
in industrial pursuits suitable to their age and sex, as well
as in such branches of learning as the means of the institution
and the capacity of the pupils will permit.
The lands hereby set apart shall not be subject to taxation
until they are sold. They may be sold upon such credit as
the trustees may think most for the interest of the enterprise.
Security for the payment shall be taken with interest, the
interest to be paid annually, but no title shall be made until
the purchase money is all paid.
John T. Jones, James Wind, William Hurr, Joseph King, who
are Ottawas, and John G. Pratt, and two other citizens of
Kansas, who shall be elected by the said Ottawa Indians, are,
by the parties agreed, to be trustees to manage the funds
and property by this article set apart. They and their successors
shall have the control and management of the school, and the
funds arising from the sales of lands set apart therefor,
and also the reserved section whereon the school is situated.
Upon the death, resignation, or refusal to act, by either
of them, the vacancy shall be filled by the survivors, provided
that the board of trustees shall always have three white citizens
members of said board.
A majority of the trustees shall form a quorum to transact
business, but there shall be two of the white trustees present
at the transaction of business. All acts of the trustees shall
be recorded in a book or books to be by them kept for that
purpose, and the proceedings of each meeting shall be signed
by the president, to be by them elected out of their number.
They shall also elect a treasurer and secretary from their
number. All contracts of the trustees shall be in the name
of their treasurer, who shall be competent to sue and be sued
in all matters affecting the trust; he shall give bond conditioned
for the faithful discharge of his duty, and the proper accounting
for all money or property of the trust coming to his hands,
with at least two good freehold sureties, in the penalty of
ten thousand dollars, to be approved by a judge of a court
of record in Kansas.
And the secretary and treasurer may be allowed, from time
to time, such sum, from the proceeds of the trust, as the
trustees in their judgment shall think just. Upon a sale of
any of the lands by the trustees, upon their request, the
same shall be conveyed by the United States, by patent, to
the purchaser.
And it is hereby expressly provided and agreed that the children
of the Ottawas and their descendants, no matter where they
may emigrate, shall have the right to enter said school and
enjoy all the privileges thereof, the same as though they
had remained upon the lands by this treaty allotted.
Article 7.
There shall be set apart ten acres of land for the benefit
of the Ottawa Baptist church, and said land shall include
the church buildings, mission-house, and graveyard, and the
title to said property shall be vested in a board of five
trustees, to be appointed by said church, in accordance with
the laws of the State of Kansas.
And in respect for the memory of Rev. J. Meeker, deceased,
who labored with unselfish zeal for nearly twenty years among
said Ottawas, greatly to their spiritual and temporal welfare,
it is stipulated that 80 acres of good land shall be, and
hereby is, given, in fee-simple, to each of the two children
of said Meeker, viz, Emmeline and Eliza; their lands to be
selected and located as the other allotments herein provided
are to be selected and located, which lands shall be inalienable
to the same as the lands allotted to the Ottawas.
And all the above-mentioned selections of lands shall be
made by the agent of the tribe, under the direction of the
Secretary of the Interior. And plats and records of all the
selections and locations shall be made, and upon their completion
and approval proper patents by the United States shall be
issued to each individual member of the tribe and person entitled
for the lands selected and allotted to them, in which it shall
be stipulated that no Indian, except as herein provided, to
whom the same may be issued, shall alienate or encumber the
land allotted to him or her in any manner, until they shall,
by the terms of this treaty, become a citizen of the United
States; and any conveyance or encumbrance of said lands, done
or suffered, except as aforesaid, by any Ottawa Indian, of
the lands allotted to him or her, made before they shall become
a citizen, shall be null and void.
And forty acres, including the houses and improvements of
the allottee, shall be inalienable during the natural lifetime
of the party receiving the title: Provided, That such of said
Indians as are not under legal disabilities by the local laws
may sell to each other such portions of their lands as are
subject to sale, with the consent of the Secretary of the
Interior, at any time.
Article 8.
That upon the ratification of this treaty a census of all
the Ottawas entitled to land or money under the treaty shall
be taken under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.
The principal to be paid to the minors shall be paid to their
parents, unless the council of the tribe shall object because
of the incompetency of the parent, growing out of ignorance,
profligacy, or any other good cause; the council may also
object to the payment of the money to any such incompetent
which may be coming to himself or herself; and in all such
cases the principal sum shall be withheld, and only the annuity
paid, until such minor comes of age, or the disability is
removed by the action of the council: Provided further, That
the money of minors may, in all cases, be paid to guardians
appointed by the local laws.
Article 9.
It being the desire of the said Ottawas, in making this treaty,
to insure, as far as possible, the settlement of their reservation
by industrious whites, whose example shall be of benefit to
the tribe at large, it is stipulated that after all the above-mentioned
locations, assignments, and sales are made, the remainder
of the land shall be sold to actual settlers at not less than
$1.25 per acre, in the following manner: Any white person
desiring to obtain any unsold, unlocated tract of the land,
may file his proposition, in writing, with the agent of the
Ottawas, for the purchase of the tract, stating the price
which he proposes to pay for said tract, not less than $1.25
per acre, a copy of which proposition, as well as all others
herein contemplated, shall be posted for thirty days, dating
from the first posting at the agency, in some conspicuous
place; and if no person will propose a better price therefor
within thirty days next after the first posting, in which
further proposition the first person may join, he, or such
other person as shall have offered the best price, shall,
upon the payment of one-quarter of the price offered, be taken
and deemed the purchaser of said tract, and shall be entitled
to a patent therefor from the United States at the end of
one year, if he shall pay the remainder of the price offered,
have occupied the land, and placed lasting and valuable improvements
upon said tract to the extent and value of two hundred dollars
to each quarter section entered: Provided, That if said Ottawas,
by their council, shall, at any time before any person shall
become the purchaser of any tract of land, file their protest
in writing against such purchaser, he shall not be permitted
to enter upon said lands or become the purchaser thereof,
and white persons not purchasers shall not be permitted to
settle upon said lands, it being the duty of the agent to
prevent such settlement, or their occupancy by the whites
who are not purchasers, and only to the extent of their purchase:
And provided, further, That if any purchaser shall fail to
pay for the land by him purchased under this treaty at the
time stipulated, it shall be the duty of the agent to dispossess
him as an intruder upon the lands, and his advances, payments,
and all his improvements, shall enure to the benefit of the
Ottawas, and the land shall be sold for their benefit, as
herein provided. But no person under this article shall be
entitled to enter more than 320 acres.
And all the lands which are not thus entered with the agent
within two years from the ratification of this treaty may,
upon the request of the council, be offered for sale at not
less than $1.25 per acre, upon a credit of one year, under
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior; and if any
lands thereafter remain unsold, they may be sold upon such
terms as the council of said tribe and the Secretary of the
Interior shall mutually agree upon. And all the moneys derived
from the sales of the above-described lands shall be paid
at the time and place where the Secretary of the Interior
may direct.
Article 10.
And it is stipulated that the United States shall pay to
the said Ottawas the claims for stolen ponies, cattle, and
timber, already reported and approved by the Secretary of
the Interior, amounting to $13,005. And also other claims
for damages within two years, or since the taking of testimony
for the above-mentioned damages, upon the presentation of
sufficient proof: Provided, Such last-mentioned claims shall
not exceed $3,500.
Article 11.
It is hereby made the duty of the Indian Department to appoint
an interpreter for said tribe, in the customary manner, to
be continued during the pleasure of the Secretary of the Interior.
And it is expressly understood that all expenses incurred
by the stipulations of this treaty shall be paid out of the
funds of the aforementioned tribe of Ottawas, and their annuities
shall be paid semi-annually.
In testimony whereof, the said Wm. P. Dole, commissioner,
as aforesaid, and the undersigned chief and councilman of
the United Bands of Blanchard's Fork and of Roche de
Boeuf, in Franklin county, Kansas, have hereunto set their
hands and seals at the place and on the day and year hereinbefore
written.
- Wm. P. Dole, commissioner. [SEAL.]
- Pem-ach-wung, his x mark. [SEAL.]
- John T. Jones. [SEAL.]
- William Hurr. [SEAL.]
- James Wind. [SEAL.]
Interpreted by John T. Jones, and signed by the respective parties in presence of -
- Clinton C. Hutchinson, Indian agent.
- Charles E. Mix.
- Antoine Gokey, his x mark, United States interpreter.
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