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62-447: European Americans thought Fontenelle was a chief but, because of his white father, he was not considered part of the tribe. As the Omaha had a patrilineal system, only if he had been formally adopted by a man of the tribe could he have advanced to be a chief. The Omaha considered him a half-breed and, because of his father, a "white man." Fontenelle lived on the reservation and died young at

124-535: A French-American fur trader from New Orleans . Their other children were Albert (1827–1859), Tecumseh (Felix) (1829–1858) (named after the Shawnee chief ), Henry (born 1831), and Susan (1833–1897). The senior Fontenelle sent his sons to St. Louis, Missouri , for European-American schooling. His daughter Susan was educated at home with her mother and family, received extended training in the local mission schools, and married Louis Neals. In 1828, Lucien Fontenelle purchased

186-591: A French-Canadian fur trader , and Waoowinchtcha , his Ponca wife. (An 1889 account said she was related to Big Elk , chief of the Omaha. ) From the age of 10, the younger LaFlesche accompanied his father on trading trips. His father worked for the American Fur Company (AFC) and traded with the many tribes: Ponca, Omaha, Iowa, Otoe, and Pawnee, living between the Platte and Nebraska rivers. They spoke closely related Siouan languages. The father and son learned

248-609: A band of Brulé Sioux killed and scalped Fontenelle and five of his party, who were part of the Omaha summer buffalo hunt, along Beaver Creek in the present-day Olson Nature Preserve in Boone County, Nebraska . John Bigelk, nephew of Big Elk, described the Sioux attack: "They killed the white man, the interpreter, who was with us." As the historian Melvin Randolph Gilmore has noted, Big Elk called Fontenelle "a white man because he had

310-673: A communal way. The Omaha stayed in their villages rather than going out to farm the land. But by 1880, the Omaha produced 20,000 bushels of wheat , including a surplus for sale. The following year was a poor season, and they had less than needed of all their crops. The government's estimate of sufficient land allotments for the Native Americans restricted them to dividing their lands among heirs, in portions that in future years were too small to be farmed effectively or to be developed for other purposes. In addition, when government annuities and supplies were delayed or arrived in poor condition, as

372-474: A dash like I did, but he laid down in the grass and attempted to fight the Sioux alone. His first shot missed, but with the second he killed a Sioux. The Sioux thought that there were two men there, and those in the front halted. Another party of about a dozen made a charge on him from behind. Logan had reloaded his gun, and as they came up he turned and killed two of them. The party that were in front dashed in before he could reload and killed and scalped him." When

434-589: A delegation of seven gente chiefs of the Omaha who traveled overland to Washington, D.C., for further talks. Fontenelle was one of the signatories of the treaty, perhaps because he was the only Omaha speaker at the meeting who was literate in English. Forced to accept changes to the treaty during that trip, the Omaha chiefs agreed to cede 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km) of their land to the United States. They believed that at least that they were securing US protection from

496-555: A ferry across the Platte River near the present-day site of Columbus, Nebraska , to accommodate the increasing migrant traffic. Later, they started another ferry across the Elkhorn River near Fremont, Nebraska . After making a profit, they sold the ferries to English immigrants. In the summer of 1854 a group of town site promoters from Quincy, Illinois arranged for Fontenelle to select a location for their new colony. He took them to

558-522: A location overlooking the Elkhorn River about forty miles northwest of Bellevue. The men asked Fontenelle the price for twenty square miles of land for their township and his reply was a hundred dollars; however, he lowered the price when the promoters decided to name the town and a nearby creek in honor of him. This town was incorporated March 14, 1855; unfortunately "the good people of Quincey were innocent of correct French pronunciation [Font-nel, ] uttered

620-496: A missionary errand, baptized Marie and Susan. Fontenelle allied with the future Omaha chief Joseph La Flesche (1822–1888), a Métis fur trader who had been adopted as a son of the principal Omaha chief Big Elk . About 1848, the Omaha removed to the Bellevue Agency. By that time designated by Big Elk as his successor, LaFlesche brought his family to settle with the tribe. About this time, LaFlesche and Fontenelle established

682-479: A passage from The Omaha Tribe that "on account of business and governmental interferences, two classes of chiefs developed in Indian tribes : one class was called regular chiefs, because they had attained their position through inheritance or through adoption by a former chief ; and a second class was known as 'paper chiefs,' because they usually had some document assuring them official and extra-tribal favor...it

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744-567: A teacher on the Yankton Sioux Reservation; and the physician Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte , the first Native American in the United States to be certified as a doctor. Susan worked with the Omaha and eventually established the first privately funded hospital on an Indian reservation for them. Rosalie Farley helped negotiate grazing treaties on unallocated land to generate revenue. She also helped tribal members with their finances, including managing donations sent by Americans from across

806-556: A trader. Several years later, in August 1846 he acted as an interpreter for Big Elk when he signed an illegal treaty with Brigham Young to allow the Mormon pioneers to create a settlement on Omaha territorial lands. (The United States wanted to be a party to all treaties related to Native American territory.) Not having guns, the tribal leaders were seeking aid from the Mormons for protection from

868-408: A white father. This was a common designation of half-breeds by full-bloods, just as a mulatto might commonly be called a [black] by white people, although as much white as black by race." Because the tribe was patrilineal , it considered children's social identity to be determined by that of the father. Iron Eyes ( Joseph LaFlesche ) account of Fontenelle's death states: "Logan could have made

930-412: Is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, rights, names, or titles by persons related through male kin. This is sometimes distinguished from cognate kinship, through the mother's lineage, also called the spindle side or the distaff side. A patriline ("father line")

992-508: Is a person's father, and additional ancestors, as traced only through males. In the Bible , family and tribal membership appears to be transmitted through the father. For example, a person is considered to be a priest or Levite , if his father is a priest or Levite, and the members of all the Twelve Tribes are called Israelites because their father is Israel ( Jacob ). In the first lines of

1054-405: Is likely that [Logan Fontenelle] had acquired titular and other influence as the United States interpreter, and then through personal effort and natural ability attained prestige which made him a de facto chief." Fontenelle is honored in the names of several places, and with a monument: Patrilineal Patrilineality , also known as the male line , the spear side or agnatic kinship ,

1116-755: The New Testament , the descent of Jesus Christ from King David is counted through the male lineage. Patrilineal or agnatic succession gives priority to or restricts inheritance of a throne or fief to male heirs descended from the original title holder through males only. Traditionally, agnatic succession is applied in determining the names and membership of European dynasties . The prevalent forms of dynastic succession in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa were male-preference primogeniture , agnatic primogeniture , or agnatic seniority until after World War II . The agnatic succession model, also known as Salic law , meant

1178-516: The Omaha-Ponca language from Waoowinnchtcha , and the Omaha people. The younger Joseph La Flesche started working for the American Fur Company at about the age of 16 and worked for them until 1848. By then he had settled with his family and the Omaha at the Bellevue Agency. He had been adopted into the Omaha tribe as the son of Big Elk , the principal chief, after years of interaction with

1240-747: The Sioux , who had been raiding them. They likely thought it a bad deal in the end, as the Mormons consumed many of their local resources and did little to protect them. In the spring of 1843 Logan took Gixpeaha ("New Moon,") a woman of the Omaha, as his wife. He had a house built near his father's for him and Gixpeaha. They had three daughters: Emily, born mid-winter 1845; Marie, born December 21, 1848; and Susan, born February 8, 1850. Sometime in 1846 while staying at Logan's home, Father Christian Hoecken baptized Gixpeaha and baby Emily, then "solemnized their marriage." During Christmas of 1850 Father Hoecken, back in Bellevue on

1302-561: The Army left the fort in 1827, he left Ni-co-ma and Mary behind with her family. Joseph and Mary LaFlesche had five children together: Louis, Susette, Rosalie , Marguerite and Susan . Iron Eye and Mary believed that the future of American Indians lay in education and assimilation , including adoption of European-style agricultural methods and acceptance of Christianity. They encouraged their children to get formal educations and work for their people; in some cases, LaFlesche sent them to schools in

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1364-773: The Blackbird Hills. About 800 Omaha removed to the reservation. At the beginning, they built their traditional sod lodges, with the clans arrayed in customary positions around a circle. By 1881, the tribe had increased to about 1100. Many had built western-style houses. LaFlesche worked to gain the rights of citizens of the United States for the Omaha. In the late nineteenth century, the US government required American Indians to agree to give up their communal land, tribal government and membership in order to gain voting rights as US citizens. They also had to adopt certain aspects of assimilation and learn United States practices. LaFlesche had supported

1426-451: The East. As chief, Joseph LaFlesche could have multiple wives, and he married Ta-in-ne, an Omaha woman also known as Elizabeth Erasmus. They had a son Francis, born in 1857, followed by other children. His grown children with Mary included activists Susette LaFlesche Tibbles ; and Rosalie LaFlesche Farley , financial manager of the Omaha tribe; Marguerite La Flesche Picotte , who became

1488-410: The Omaha and designated him in 1843 as his successor. LaFlesche was of Ponca and French Canadian ancestry; he became a chief in 1853, after Big Elk's death. An 1889 account said that he had been the only chief among the Omaha to have known European ancestry. In 1854 LaFlesche was among the seven Omaha chiefs in the delegation who went to Washington, DC for final negotiations and signed the treaty with

1550-483: The Omaha and other regional tribes. In the following decades, the Indian agent had the lead for negotiating with regional tribes for land cessions to the United States in order to allow sale to American settlers. After his father died in 1840, the 15-year-old Logan Fontenelle returned from St. Louis to Nebraska, where he began to work as an interpreter for the US Indian Agent at the Bellevue Agency. He also worked as

1612-501: The Omaha. The Omaha were organized into two half-tribes or moitie , which represented the Earth and the Sky. Each had five gentes or clans , which had specific responsibilities related to maintaining the tribe and cosmos. Each gens had hereditary chiefs, through the father's line, for a total of ten. One of the gens chiefs of each moitie was designated as its head; the two collaborated to maintain

1674-432: The Sioux, but were to be disappointed. Within a couple of years, the Omaha removed to a reservation in northeast Nebraska in the Blackbird Hills, essentially present-day Thurston County . Logan Fontenelle was born at Fort Atkinson , Nebraska Territory on May 6, 1825. He was the oldest son of four born to Me-um-bane, a daughter of the Omaha principal chief Big Elk (1770–1846/1853), and her husband Lucien Fontenelle ,

1736-593: The US Indian Office, based on recommendations by the US Indian agent. Unhappy with Gatewood's draft treaty, the US Indian Office replaced the agent with George Hepner in the summer of 1854. In 1855, Fontenelle and four Omaha were killed and scalped by an enemy band of Sioux while on the summer buffalo hunt on the plains. The historians B. Tong and D. Hastings contend that LaFlesche did not become principal chief until after Fontenelle's death, but accounts have varied as to

1798-494: The US Indian agent James M. Gatewood. They had not delegated this important issue to their chiefs but, after reaching their conclusions, chose seven chiefs to go to Washington, DC for concluding meetings on the land sale. The seven chiefs were LaFlesche, Two Grizzly Bears, Standing Hawk, Little Chief, Village Maker, Noise, and Yellow Smoke. Logan Fontenelle , a Métis man born to a white father, accompanied them as an interpreter. The Bureau of Indian Affairs also had an interpreter at

1860-401: The United States by which they ceded most of the Omaha territory. About 1856, he led his people in relocating to the Omaha reservation in what is now northeastern Nebraska. LaFlesche served as principal chief until 1888. He led during the Omaha transition to the reservation and other major social changes. Joseph LaFlesche, also called E-sta-mah-za (Iron Eye), was the son of Joseph LaFlesche,

1922-515: The age of 30, killed with five Omaha on the tribal summer buffalo hunting trip when they were attacked by an enemy band of Sioux warriors. Fontenelle acted as an interpreter in Omaha negotiations with the United States during 1853–1854 for land cessions, first in Nebraska, with 60 Omaha leaders and the US Indian agent Gatewood; they came to agreement in January 1854. Later that year, Fontenelle accompanied

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1984-620: The balance between the two parts. Because a child was considered born to his father and his family, a man born of a white father and Omaha mother had no position in the tribe; he was considered white. To become a member of the tribe, he would have to be formally adopted by the father of a family. He could never advance to be a hereditary chief without such formal adoption, according to the traditional practices in effect at that time. There were some allowances for men to be recognized for charitable acts or gifts. When adopted and designated by Big Elk as his successor, LaFlesche (Iron Eye) seriously studied

2046-443: The battle with the Sioux was over, the survivors found Fontenelle's remains, and Louis Saunsouci carried the body back to camp. It was wrapped in buffalo robes and placed on a travois pulled by Fontenelle's horse (recovered from the Sioux during battle.) Having sent messengers ahead, they traveled back to Bellevue. An eyewitness account of the funeral reports that "a procession...moved slowly along, led by Louis San-so-see [sic], who

2108-464: The changes in land policy in a move toward severalty, believing that the tribe's members would benefit by adopting the ownership of land individually by patent rather than to continue to hold it in common as a tribe. Many in the tribe were of different opinions. In practice, the breakup of communal lands proved to be detrimental to tribal continuity and land use. LaFlesche encouraged his people to become educated in both Omaha and American ways, supporting

2170-425: The chiefs to Washington, D.C., as an interpreter. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also used Saunsouci as an interpreter. For some reason, the officials included Fontenelle's name as one of the seven chiefs on the treaty, which he signed, but the name of chief Two Grizzly Bears was not included, nor did he sign. Fontenelle was the only one of the group of Omaha speakers who was literate in English and could read what

2232-665: The country. She also worked with an ethnologist from the University of Pennsylvania to collect traditions and stories from the tribes. Their half-brother Francis La Flesche , son of Ta-in-nne, became an ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institution . Based in Washington, DC, he returned to the West to study the Omaha and the Osage . Although the siblings came to hold differing opinions on

2294-467: The date when Y-chromosomal Adam lived were much more recent, estimated to be tens of thousands of years. Joseph La Flesche Joseph LaFlesche , also known as E-sta-mah-za or Iron Eye (c. 1822–1888), was the last recognized head chief of the Omaha tribe of Native Americans who was selected according to the traditional tribal rituals. The head chief Big Elk had adopted LaFlesche as an adult into

2356-550: The end. "After the whites, headed by Col. Sarpy, had paid their last respects, the Indians filed around the grave and made a few demonstrations of sorrow." Another account states that after the white mourners had left, the Indians had their own oratory and chanted funeral songs into the night. After Logan died, his widow Gixpeaha went to live on the Omaha reservation, where she lived to old age. Their daughters Marie and Susan married Omaha men and raised families. His eldest daughter Emily

2418-686: The first child born to a monarch inherits the throne, regardless of the child's sex. The fact that human Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) is paternally inherited enables patrilines and agnatic kinships of men to be traced through genetic analysis. Y-chromosomal Adam (Y-MRCA) is the patrilineal most recent common ancestor from whom all Y-DNA in living men is descended. An identification of a very rare and previously unknown Y-chromosome variant in 2012 led researchers to estimate that Y-chromosomal Adam lived 338,000 years ago (237,000 to 581,000 years ago with 95% confidence ), judging from molecular clock and genetic marker studies. Before this discovery, estimates of

2480-610: The former Pilcher's Post, becoming the agent at what became known as Fontenelle's Post . He represented the American Fur Company on the Missouri River in what developed as Bellevue , Sarpy County, Nebraska . In 1832, with the fur trade declining sharply, Fontenelle sold the post to the US government. It used the complex for the headquarters of the regional Indian agency, called the Upper Missouri Indian Agency or Bellevue Agency. This agency administered relations with

2542-535: The grave when his body was lowered. While Decatur was reading the...funeral service of the Episcopal church, he was interrupted by Mrs. Sloan, who stood by his side and in a loud voice told him 'that a man of his character ought to be ashamed of himself to make a mockery of the Christian religion by reading the solemn service of the church." Decatur had read the funeral service due to the absence of clergy. He proceeded until

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2604-458: The issues related to land allotment and assimilation, they each worked to improve the quality of life for Native Americans, particularly the Omaha in Nebraska. Unlike many other tribes, the Omaha had a patrilineal kinship system, with inheritance passed through the male line. In 1843, Big Elk designated LaFlesche as his successor as a hereditary chief of the Weszhinste , one of the ten gentes of

2666-399: The meetings. For some reason, Fontenelle's name appeared first on the treaty, although the document was supposed to include only the names of the seven Omaha chiefs. Two Grizzly Bears' name did not appear. Perhaps because Fontenelle had been introduced as Two Grizzly Bears' interpreter, or because he was the only Omaha speaker who was literate in English, his name was substituted. The treaty

2728-443: The mission schools. Seeing how detrimental alcohol was, he prohibited it on the reservation. He and Henry Fontenelle were appointed as official traders to the Omaha under the US Indian agent. LaFlesche was chief at a time when many of the Omaha resisted the changes that had disrupted their lives. For some time, many of the men lived on their portion of the annuities and hunting, and the women continued to cultivate varieties of corn in

2790-443: The name as a three-syllable word, and came down heavily on the second syllable." The creek was called Logan. The US Indian Agent James M. Gatewood had been under pressure by the government to gain a land cession from the Omaha. In turn, they wanted protection by the US government against the Sioux , who made frequent raids on them, and economic means to ensure their future. In January 1854, 60 Omaha leaders met in council to discuss

2852-534: The negotiations, but authorized little room for changes. Fontenelle and Saunsouci went with the chiefs as interpreters. Joseph LaFlesche had been designated by Big Elk as his successor and in 1853 had become chief of the Wezhinshte gens. Both he and Fontenelle signed the Treaty of 1854, together with five gente chiefs, whereby the tribe sold nearly all its land to the government. Fontenelle may have signed in place of one of

2914-471: The next succeeding ten years; $ 20,000 per annum for the next succeeding fifteen years; and $ 10,000 per annum for the next succeeding twelve years," to 1895. The President of the United States, based on recommendations by the US Indian Office (and the agent in the field, who had the most authority in the matter), was to determine the proportions of the annuity to be received in money and in goods. In 1855

2976-420: The next succeeding ten years; $ 20,000 per annum for the next succeeding fifteen years; and $ 10,000 per annum for the next succeeding twelve years," to 1895. The President of the United States, based on recommendations by the US Indian Office (or the local US Indian agent), would determine annually the proportions of the annuity to be distributed in money and in goods. In practice, those decisions would be made by

3038-501: The other chiefs because he was literate in English. The reservation was established on land in the Blackbird Hills, comprising present-day Thurston County . The terms were changed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be less favorable than those negotiated by Gatewood and the 60 Omaha in Nebraska. Among the changes: Omaha were to receive considerably less money for their land, and the President

3100-403: The people. In 1843 Big Elk had designated La Flesche as his successor, and the younger man began to study tribal ways and customs, becoming prepared to be chief. He joined the tribal council about 1849. LaFlesche married Mary Gale (b. c. 1825-1826 - d. 1909), the mixed-race daughter of Dr. John Gale, a surgeon at Fort Atkinson , and his Iowa wife Ni-co-ma . When Dr. Gale was reassigned after

3162-517: The total exclusion of women as hereditary monarchs and restricted succession to thrones and inheritance of fiefs or land to men in parts of medieval and later Europe. This form of strict agnatic inheritance has been officially revoked in all extant European monarchies except the Principality of Liechtenstein . By the 21st century, most ongoing European monarchies had replaced their traditional agnatic succession with absolute primogeniture , meaning that

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3224-633: The treaty; they were reluctant to delegate so important a matter even to their gente chiefs. Together, the large group of men negotiated a treaty with the US Indian Agent Gatewood. Fontenelle acted as the interpreter. The treaty included provision for payments of tribal debts to the traders Fontenelle, Louis Saunsouci, and Peter Sarpy. The Omaha finally designated seven chiefs: Joseph LaFlesche (Iron Eye), Two Grizzly Bears, Standing Hawk, Little Chief, Village Maker, Noise, and Yellow Smoke to represent them and accompany Gatewood to Washington to conclude

3286-489: The tribal ways and customs to prepare for becoming a chief. Big Elk served as chief until his death in 1853, and LaFlesche succeeded him. An 1889 sketch of La Flesche, first published in the Bancroft, Nebraska Journal , said he was the only person having any white blood who had been a chief of the Omaha. In January 1854, after negotiations in full council with 60 Omaha men, the tribe reached some agreements on land cession with

3348-411: The true role of Fontenelle in the tribe. Boughter writes that Hepner and LaFlesche both referred to Fontenelle as a chief after his death, but other contemporaries among the Omaha did not agree and referred to him only as the interpreter. As chief, LaFlesche led the tribe through a period of major transition and social disruption after their move to the reservation in what is now northeast Nebraska in

3410-437: The whites thought Fontenelle was a chief in his own lifetime and during the decades after his death. As Gilmore noted, the Omaha had a tribal structure that had patrilineal hereditary leadership; because children belonged to their father's gens , there was no place in the tribe for a child fathered by a European or American, unless the person was officially adopted by a male of the tribe. Dr. Charles Charvat reports in his work

3472-419: Was a disagreeable task. After putting him in the coffin his [squaws] who witnessed the scene, uttered the most piteous cries, cutting their ankles until the blood ran in streams. An old Indian woman...standing between the house and the grave, lifted her arms to heaven and shrieked her maledictions upon the heads of the murderers. Col. Sarpy, Stephen Decatur, Mrs. Sloan, and an Otoe half-breed, and others stood over

3534-530: Was adopted as a son by Big Elk, which was the way he fully entered the tribe. Although A. T. Andreas called Fontenelle the "last great chief" of the Omaha in his 1882 history of Nebraska, the assertion of chieftainship is not supported by the evidence of tribal structure and contemporary views provided in 1919 by Melvin R. Gilmore, curator of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and by the 20th-century historian Judith Boughter. It appears that only

3596-400: Was driving a team with a wagon, in which, wrapped in blankets and buffalo robes was [Logan Fontenelle.] On either side the Indian chiefs and braves, mounted on ponies, with the squaws and relatives of the deceased, expressed their grief in mournful outcries. His remains were taken to [his] house...a coffin was made which proved to small without unfolding the blankets...he had been dead so long it

3658-479: Was not married when she died in 1869. Some historians contend that Fontenelle was made a chief of the Omaha in 1853 after the death of Big Elk. This assertion is contradicted by Big Elk having designated Joseph LaFlesche as his successor. In addition, contemporary accounts say that Fontenelle was respected, but only the whites thought he was a chief. They were the only ones to commemorate him with honors after his death. It appears confusion arose because he accompanied

3720-513: Was on the treaty. Boughter suggests that Gatewood may have represented him to the BIA officials as a chief, or the Omaha did to increase his stature. He may also have been recognized as an honorable chief because of "charitable acts" and gifts to the tribe. An 1889 sketch of Joseph LaFlesche in the Bancroft Journal said he was the only chief of the Omaha to have had any European blood; as noted, he

3782-562: Was signed in March 1854 and quickly ratified by the US Senate. The Indian Commissioner Manypenny and his staff forced many changes to the treaty terms, including a major reduction in the amount of money to be paid to the Omaha for their land, and a change from cash annuities to annuities that were a combination of cash and goods. Under the treaty terms, the Omaha tribe received "$ 40,000 per annum for three years from January 1, 1855; $ 30,000 per annum for

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3844-401: Was to have the discretion to distribute the annuities in cash or goods, rather than all in cash as the Omaha wanted. Payments were to be made until 1895. About 800 Omaha removed to the reservation, and their number increased over the following decades to 1100 in 1881. Under the treaty terms, the Omaha tribe received "$ 40,000 per annum for three years from January 1, 1855; $ 30,000 per annum for

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