Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1974 Education and the Mesquakie MacBurnie Allinson Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons, and the Higher Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Allinson, MacBurnie, "Education and the Mesquakie " (1974). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 5974. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/5974 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 74-15,414 ALLINSON, MacBumie, 1923- EDUCA.TION AND THE MESQUAKIE. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1974 ' Education, higher University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. Education and the Mesquakie by MacBurnie Allinson A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department: Professional Studies Major: Education (Higher Education) Approved ; Signature was redacted for privacy. I h rg"i of aj ± Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1974 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 AN HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 10 Foreword 10 Tribal History to 1804 12 The Language Barrier 16 Efforts of the Young United States with the Sac and Fox 18 The 1804 Treaty 20 Tribal History from 1804 to 1832 23 Events Prior to the Black Hawk War 31 The Black Hawk War 34 Land Cessions, Kansas, Eventual Return to Iowa 36 Famous Historical Names Associated with the Tribes 42 The Beginning and Growth of the Tama Settlement 43 A CENTURY OF "EDUCATION" 49 Early Efforts in Schooling at the Settlement 49 White Concern over Mesquakie Education at the Turn of the Century 58 The Background of the Boarding Schools 61 The Toledo Boarding School 64 Getting support for the school 68 Court cases 76 Maintaining the boarding school 81 Eventual close of the boarding school 84 Ill Page Settlement Schools Following the Toledo Boarding School 86 The Sanatorium Day School 86 The Mesquakie Day School 88 The Fox Day School 90 The operation of the day schools 91 The Change from the Day Schools to the Sac and Fox Consolidated School 96 Changes Which Took Place over the Last Seventy Years 104 THE MESQUAKIE AND THE BOARDING SCHOOLS 109 Early Boarding School Problems 110 Athletics in Boarding Schools 115 The Determination of Who is "Indian" 117 Mesquakie and the Boarding Schools 121 THE MESQUAKIE AND THE SCIENTISTS 129 THE MESQUAKIE AND AGRICULTURAL ASSIMILATIVE EFFORTS 150 Efforts at Allotting Indian Land 165 TRADITIONAL EDUCATION OF THE MESQUAKIE 172 Remnants and Memories from the Hunting, Fishing, Trading, Trapping and Gardening Time 173 The Mesquakie and Indian Medicine 178 Mesquakie Society 186 Mesquakie Oral Literature 191 Conclusion of Traditional Education 194 iv Page EFFORTS TO CAPITALIZE ON BEING "INDIAN" 196 The Fox Band 197 Silversmithing or Jewelry-Making 198 Catering to Tourists 199 Tamacraft 202 The Pow Wow 206 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION EFFORTS AMONG THE MESQUAKIE 213 Nineteenth Century Work 213 Twentieth Century Elements 218 Continued work of the Presbyterians 218 The Open Bible Mission 228 Other white church efforts 231 Mesquakie Reaction to White Church Efforts 232 Indian Religious Efforts with the Mesquakie 234 The Drum Society 235 The Native American Church (Peyote) 237 Religious Efforts—A Summation 239 SOCIAL EDUCATION AND THE MESQUAKIE 242 Poverty 242 Alcoholism 245 Uneasiness and Fear 248 POINT OF VIEW 252 A SUMMATION 261 BIBLIOGRAPHY 266 APPENDIX 275 V LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Dates in Mesguakie history to 1815 33 Table 2. Dates in Mesquakie history, 1815 to 1880 47 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Locations of settlement Indian schools 3 Figure 2. Cessions following the Black Hawk War 37 Figure 3. Government agency building and first school (circa 1880) 50 Figure 4. Cornerstone of the Toledo Boarding School 77 Figure 5. Toledo Boarding School building 77 Figure 6. The Mesquakie Day School building 89 Figure 7. The Fox Day School building 89 Figure 8. The Sanatorium Day School building 102 Figure 9. The Sac and Fox Consolidated School from the site of the Pox Day School building 102 Figure 10. Barn of the Toledo Boarding School 170 Figure 11. The old stone house 201 Figure 12. The home of Tamacraft 201 Figure 13. First Presbyterian mission house 216 Figure 14. First Presbyterian Mission Church 229 Figure 15. Mesquakie United Presbyterian Church 229 Figure 16. Mural by Indian students at South Tama High School 262 Figure 17. Portion of the Upper Mississippi River Valley occupied (in part) by the Sac and Fox for two-hundred years 277 1 INTRODUCTION The American Indians have been a fascination to educated individuals from the beginnings of European settlement in the North American Continent. The loose federations of tribes (often called "nations") served, along with the Swiss re­ public and the Greek city states, as sources of ideas for the forming of the United States Constitution. While the num­ bers of American Indians lessened over the centuries and while their influence on the political and military decisions of the national government decreased, interest in Indian cultures and histories has remained high. The Mesquakie, centered on the settlement near Tama, were no exception. Over the last century scholarly interest in this tribe by Whites has been continuous. Work by trained personnel, including clergy, scholars, and philanthropists, has continued until the tribe has been "studied to death." Despite the numbers of people who had studied the tribe, attempts to get a clear picture of what had gone on in Mes­ quakie education were frustrating. There had been a "Fox School" and a "Mesquakie School." A then-mysterious "Toledo Boarding School" emerged. A government school was being run on the settlement. This served most Mesquakie students through the first four grades of their scholastic careers. But questions such as "What happened?" and "How did all this Figure 1. Locations of settlement Indian schools 1. Original Government School Building "School" was held here on a sporadic basis from 1876 to 1919. The Mesquakie Day School opened in this building in the fall of 1908 and continued there until the building was burned in 1919. 2. Toledo Boarding School This served at least some of the Mesquakie as a school from 1898 to 1911. It became a sanatorium in 1912 and is currently used as an apartment building. 3. Sanatorium School Originally a brick commissary building, it was used as a school for patients at the sanatorium from 1920 until 1942. Some Mesquakie attended here when they were patients. Currently it is a residence. 4. Fox Day School Built in 1911 to coincide with the closing of the boarding school, it was used as a day school until 1931 and used again as such in 1936-7. It burned in 1952. 5. Mesquakie Day School Building This replaced the destroyed Original Government School Building in 1920. Added to later, it had a final capacity of forty students. It was used as a day school until 1937, the time when the Sac and Fox Consolidated School opened. Currently it contains apartments for settlement families. 6. Sac and Fox Consolidated School Building Built in 1937-38, it has served as a school and community center since that time. It has been the location of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office since 1942. 7. The Original Presbyterian Mission House Built in 1891, it was the location of the government school from 1892-1895.