native.BrokenClaw.net

Most of these photographs are part of the Smithsonian Institution Archival, Manuscript, and Photographs Collections. The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) allows for “casual, non-commercial redistribution” of these images. Please read their copyright statement before downloading any images from this page. Also, refer to the their Catalog Record for the complete reference citation. Please […]

The following text was transcribed for the Web from a pamphlet published by Earl Big Soldier Plumley sometime after 1972. He wrote the words syllable by syllable, using common English spelling fragments. The pamphlet is still used at the Otoe Baptist Church in Red Rock. These hymns are not the only ones that Mr. Plumley […]

When researching Indian names, it’s important to realize that a name may be spelled in different ways, depending on who recorded it and how they heard it pronounced. Also, individuals usually changed their name throughout their life. Anyone who’s ever studied a foreign language knows that other languages contain sounds and inflections that are absent […]

Shortly after the original allotments were assigned, the Otoe-Missouria petitioned the Commissioner to revise the schedule to include newly-born children and to provide a more equitable distribution to previous allotees. It was decided that the final allotment would include all persons living on 30 June 1904. In other words, children who were born after the […]

The following list was adapted for the web from The Otoes and Missourias by Berlin Basil Chapman, pages 385-392, Appendices B, Times Journal Publishing Company (Stillwater, OK), 1965. The ages of allottees were recorded at the time of allotment, so exact birthdates cannot be determined from this list. Ms. Clarke apparently updated her records periodically, […]

Allotment, or allotment in severalty, was the process of assigning specific plots of land on the reservation to specific individuals, a concept of land-ownership that was completely contrary to the communal livelihood of most native tribes, especially nomadic hunters like the Otoe-Missouria. Allotment, authorized by US Congress in the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, was […]

First Contact
The people who would become the Missouria, the Otoe, and the Ioway once belonged to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Nation, one of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region. At some point, a large group separated themselves and began to migrate to the south. In the simplest sense, the Ioway settled along the Mississippi […]

The Otoe-Missouria genealogy database includes members and descendants of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, who purchased land and established their last reservation in the Cherokee Strip of what is now north-central Oklahoma in 1881. The database also includes other members of families who married into the Otoe-Missouria tribe. This database is an extension of my […]