Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date:
Name:
Dickson Duncan (Na-Ma-Quo) (Sac and Fox)
Post Office: Cushing, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1887
Place of Birth: Sac & Fox Reservation in Oklahoma
Father:
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother:
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker:
Interview #:
My parents belonged to the Mo-ko-ho-ko band of the Sac and Fox tribe. It was this band that stayed in Kansas after the majority of the Sac and Foxes had come on to Oklahoma.
When the Keokuk band split from the Blackhawk band, they came to Iowa (?) and lived among the Mesquake Indians who are also a branch of the Sac and Foxes. After a number of years the Indians were brought to Oklahoma, and as I stated before, the Mo-ko-ho-ko and the Mesquake bands stayed in Iowa. But the Mo-ko-ho-ko band soon moved to Nebraska. Here they lived until their land was ceded to the Omahas and the Winnebagos. Their next move was to Kansas where they were given allotments. The government believed at that time that their permanent home would be in Kansas. Later their land became taxable, and most of the Indians sold their allotments. When their land was all gone, they had nowhere to go or stay, so they came on to Oklahoma just at the time when the allotments were being made down here. The chiefs got together, and decided to give these late Indians allotments also, so they got in on two land deals. Just after my parents' arrival in Oklahoma, I was born.
We liked Oklahoma; there was plenty of good hunting and fishing, and the land was good. I had a happy boyhood the government officials came and took me to the Sac and Fox Mission, south of Stroud. It was a ruling then to force all Indian children to go to school. The government men would come and take the children away from their parents. This caused a lot of hard feelings between the Indians and the white people and caused a strained condition in the school. I hated school, and it was extremely hard to keep me there. Continually I ran off and hid out at home. When I heard of any white man being in our neighborhood I took out for the woods and didn't come back until after they left. Of course, my luck didn't always hold out. Often they caught me. Sometimes they punished we runaways, and sometimes they didn't. I usually was put in the jail and often received ill treatment. However, I was a hard boy to manage. Finally, I got tired of it, and went back to Iowa to keep from having to attend school. There I stayed with some relatives until finally I came back to Oklahoma. I married, but in several years I was divorced. I spent two or three years running around here and there, and finally settled down in the reservation. (Sac and Fox)
One day we got a message that the Creeks were coming, and wanted permission to camp on the Sac and Fox land. It seemed that they were being pursued by a group of insurgents and had been warring for some time. Down in the south there was a sort of civil war going on among the Indians, and the Creeks were tired of it. They were in an extremely poor condition. Many were barefooted, and all of them were half-starved. It was a well-known fact that the Sac and Fox Indians always defended the underdog, so the Creeks felt fairly safe in the reservation. The agent - I don't recall his name - killed some of the government beeves and fed the Creeks. After they had rested and refreshed themselves, they continued their journey west towards Davenport and along Dry Creek. From there they took a route to the northwest. They were not molest[ed] at all from the time they camped here, and to my knowledge, they got along all right from them on. Their travels took them on up into Kansas, they stayed there until the trouble had cleared up. For some number of years I was a member of the Medicine Lodge. I did not like the things that occurred, so I gradually dropped out, finally paying a sum of money for my release. I do not care to discuss any phase of the Medicine Lodge work.
THE END
(Supervisor's note: Mr. Duncan seems to be slightly in error about general movement of Sac and Foxes. See Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnology)
Submitted to OKGenWeb by
Donald L. Sullivan <donald.l.sullivan@lmco.com>
07-2000.