One of the more interesting aspects of family history research is being able to put your ancestors’ actions and movements into perspective with what was happening in history at the time. For example, both of my paternal great-grandparents owned the land they lived and farmed on primarily because of two Congressional acts: the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Dawes Act.
The Dawes Act
What really caught my attention on my paternal great-grandparents’ homestead documents was that both homesteads were on “ceded Chippewa Indian Lands.” I’m embarrassed to say that it had never occurred to me to question why their farms were so near or possibly on the Fond du Lac Reservation, until I saw that stamped on their documents.
The Dawes Act
What really caught my attention on my paternal great-grandparents’ homestead documents was that both homesteads were on “ceded Chippewa Indian Lands.” I’m embarrassed to say that it had never occurred to me to question why their farms were so near or possibly on the Fond du Lac Reservation, until I saw that stamped on their documents.
“Ceded Chippewa Agricultural Lands
Opened AUG 15 1905”
Opened AUG 15 1905”
After doing some research, I found it was the Dawes Severalty Act, passed in 1887, that opened up Indian lands to white settlers. Sponsored by U.S. Senator H. L. Dawes, the act was “designed to encourage the breakup of the Indian tribes and promote the assimilation of Indians into American Society. It was the major Indian policy until the 1930s. Dawes' goal was to create independent farmers out of Indians — give them land and the tools for citizenship.”1
Senator H. L. Dawes
Each head of an Indian family was given 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land. “The remaining tribal lands were to be declared ‘surplus’ and opened up for whites. Tribal ownership, and tribes themselves, were [supposed] to disappear.”1
“In the eyes of supporters, this law would ‘civilize’ the Indians by weaning them from their nomadic life, by treating them as individuals rather than as members of their tribes, and by readying them for citizenship.”2
For the most part, Minnesota’s Chippewa and Dakota tribes weren’t interested in farming or raising animals, such as cattle or chickens. “Although generally well intentioned, the law undermined Indian culture, in part by restricting their hunting rights on former reservation lands. Much of the best reservation land eventually passed into the hands of whites.”2
My paternal great-grandparents benefited from both the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Dawes Severalty Act. Did yours?
1http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/stories/0601_0200.html
2http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dawes+act+of+1887
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
For information on the Homestead Act of 1862, read my blog published Aug. 31, 2012.
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