Half-Breed Tract

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A Half-Breed Tract was a segment of land designated by the United States Government specifically for people of mixed blood in the 19th century. These tracts were located in several U.S. states, including Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota,[1] and Wisconsin.[2]

Contents

[edit] Overview

Mixed-blood people were usually regarded as descendants of American Indian and white relationships. Also known as "half-breeds," these people were generally descended from American Indians and French trappers and traders. They were not seen as subject to either the laws governing Indians or the rights of their fathers. It is generally held that missionaries advocated that separate areas be given to them.[3]

The relationship between mixed-bloods and their ancestral tribes particularly affected them when the tribes ceded their lands. The rights of mixed-blood descendants were not usually acknowledged. In 1830 the federal government acknowledged this in the Treaty of Prairie du Chien, which effectively set aside a tract of land for mixed-blood people related to the Oto, Ioway, Omaha, Sac and Fox and Santee Sioux tribes. The treaty granted these "Half-Breed Tracts" as sections of land in a form similar to Indian reservations.[4]

[edit] Iowa

A Half-Breed Tract was located in Lee County, Iowa. Apparently an 1824 treaty between the Sacs, Foxes and the United States set aside a reservation for mixed-blood people related to the tribes. The land contained approximately 119,000 acres lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. Under the original treaty the half-breed people had the right to occupy the soil, but could not buy or sell it. However, in 1834 Congress repealed the rule. Immediately afterwards claim jumpers claimed much of the land. The government gave away mixed-blood peoples' claims to the land, effectively ending this Half-Breed Tract by 1841.[5][6][7] Joseph Smith, Mormon Prophet, purchased parts of the Half-Breed Tract, probably in 1837, from a land speculation company. Deeds to most of the land proved not to be good. This left the church with only the land, about 1000 acres, including a town called Commerce in Illinois. The Mormons moved to this Illinois site from Far West, Missouri in response to the Mormon extermination order by Governor Boggs. More information on the Mormon connection to the Half-Breed Tract can be found in Navou, Kingdom on the Mississippi by Rick Flanders.

[edit] Nebraska

One tract of land chosen in Nebraska was along the Missouri River bluffs, considered to be "too steep and tree-covered for farming, fit only for hunting." Antonine Barada, son of an Omaha woman and a French fur trapper, received a patent on 320 acres of land in that area, which today is Richardson County, Nebraska, in 1856.[8] In doing so he became the first settler of Nebraska's newly-designated Half-Breed Tract. A town bearing Barada's name was established in that tract while he ran a fur-trading post there.[9] Apparently the Underground Railroad ran through this tract, northwards to John Brown's Cave, located 35 miles north.[10] Half Breed Creek, named after the tract, still flows through the area. Other notable residents of the tract included French Canadians who had married Native American woman, including Charles Rouleau and Henry Fontenelle.[11]

The tract was located between the Great and Little Nemaha Rivers in Nemaha County. On September 10, 1860, Louis Neal received the first patent to own land there. Owners were never required to live on their property and many eventually sold their lands to whites. One of the original survey lines is now partly identified by the Half-Breed Road which runs in a southeast direction from here. The descendants of some pioneer fur traders still live in the area.[12][13]

Nebraska's Half-Breed Tract vanished as a legal entity by 1861.

[edit] Minnesota and Wisconsin

The Minnesota side of the Lake Pepin Half-Breed Tract (designated as 292 on the map).
The Minnesota side of the Lake Pepin Half-Breed Tract (designated as 292 on the map).

The 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien specified the following boundaries of a Half-Breed Tract centered around Lake Pepin, as follows:

"The Sioux bands in council have earnestly solicited that they might have permission to bestow upon the half-breeds of their nation the tract of land within the following limits, to wit: Beginning at the place called the Barn, below and near the village of the Red Wing chief, and running back fifteen miles; thence, in a parallel line with Lake Pepin and the Mississippi, about 32 miles, to a point opposite the river aforesaid; the United States agree to suffer said half-breeds to occupy said tract of country; they holding by the same title, and in the same manner that other Indian titles are held."

This description includes a large part of what is now Wabasha County, Minnesota and some part of Goodhue County, Minnesota.[14]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Neill, E.D. (1858) The History of Minnesota: From the Earliest French Explorations. J.B. Lippincott Company. p 400.
  2. ^ [http://www.co.goodhue.mn.us/visitors/ghc_history.aspx "The history of Goodhue County. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  3. ^ "Our towns: Barada, Richardson County", University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  4. ^ Neill, E.D. (1858) The History of Minnesota: From the Earliest French Explorations. J.B. Lippincott Company. p 400.
  5. ^ Croton, Iowa. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  6. ^ "The Half-Breed Tract", Lee County History. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  7. ^ "History of the Half-Breed Tract", Retrieved 1/28/08.
  8. ^ "Barada", University of Nebraska. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  9. ^ "Barada", University of Nebraska. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  10. ^ Sandage, S.A. (2006) "Half-Breed Creek", Brown University. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  11. ^ "Nebraska", Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  12. ^ "Half-Breed Tract", Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  13. ^ Foster, L.M. (1965) "The Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation, 1830-1860", Ioway Cultural Institute. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  14. ^ History of Wabasha County, Minnesota: Chapter 3, Reign of the Indians. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.

[edit] External links

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