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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2008)
News from lncji^n Country Page 9 Spilygy Tymoo May 8, 2 0 0 8 Papers shed light on Cherokee relocation, genealogy . C H A T T A N O O G A , T enn. (AP)—-Jamie Russell reverently runs his finger dow n page after ph o to co p ied page, looking at names, seeking special ones. H e can’t stop smiling. Like everyone who looks at the words fro m th e lo n g -fo rg o tten and nearly 200-year-old p ap ers — d o c u m e n ts th a t sh o w h o w C herokee Indians lived while stockaded in Chattanooga just b efo re th e infam ous Trail o f Tears— he understands the value these pages hold for finding fam ily and local history. “ S om e o f th e s e n am es— families— are still prom inent in the Cherokee society today,” says Russell, w ho is Cherokee. “This is a very valuable thing to have here.” Recorded by A lbert S. Lenoir, a federal Indian comm issioner during the Cherokee and Creek rem o v al fro m 1836 to 1838, the papers list nam es such as S o n g sh ell, R aincrow , C alvin W olf, Ave j V an n and Chugualookee. They show that, over time in the encam pm ent at N ew E chota, a Cherokee capi tal just north o f Calhoun, Ga., Songshell and others had chang ing num bers o f people in their family unit— usually decreasing num bers. A nd they show that the rations— corn, beef, bacon and salt— also were varied but m ost often were sparse. T h e p a p e rs , te c h n ic a lly know n as Army ration papers, w ere d o n ated to th e C h atta nooga-H am ilton County Public L ib rary in th e 1940s by th e Z eboim C artter Patten family, descendants o f the soldier w ho • recorded the ration distributions at N ew Echota. Lenoir, the re corder, was the grandfather o f Zeboim Cartter Patten’s wife. Only in recent m onths, after a visit from C herokee expert D r. D u an e K ing, did anyone realize w hat the ration books represent for Chattanooga, the beginning point o f the Trail o f Tears. A bout 4,000 Cherokees died o n the forced m arch o f about 15,000 Cherokees from their homes in Georgia to res ervations fin Oklahoma. K ing said the papers gives historians another way to look at the removal. “The m ost im portant thing is they p u t names with the num bers, in that we can now know a b o u t h o w m any C h ero k ees were forced to remove, and we (can) know when they were re m oved and how they Were re moved,” King said. The papers also proxfide infor mation on the first regional home areas o f Cherokees east o f the Mississippi, something not really available before, he said. “T he value o f these d o cu ments will continue to increase over time, simply because o f their age. And as our understanding o f them begins to increase, their im portance will be even more ap preciated,” King said. The books were cataloged and stored am ong boxes o f o th er Patten papers, said Mary Helms, head o f the Ebrary’s local history and genealogy department. “Dr. King said these papers are priceless,” she said. “H e handled them with gloves and helped us understand their importance.” N ow the photocopied pages are available for perusal in the local history section o f the li brary,- Helms said. The originals are in safekeeping. Soon archivists hope to be able to index the pages, she said. American Indian villages and farm s were rich and plentiful along the rivers and streams o f the Tennessee Valley w hen the S p an ish e x p lo re r H e rn a n d o D eSoto came here in 1540. B ut by the time the Amerfi can Revolution ended in 1783j many Cherokees had assimilated into norm al E uro p ean settle^ fife, interm arrying and carrying on ordinary pioneer Eves. However, President Andrew Jackson, an Indian fighter in the early 1800s, w anted them gone. U nder the Indian Removal Act o f 1830, he ordered the removal o f Cherokees from the eastern half o f the country. Panel addresses violence against Native women A N C H O R A G E , A laska (AP)— A three-day co n fer ence was held in Anchorage to look at the issue o f vio lence against Alaska Native women. T h e p a n el, w h ich c o n cluded Wednesday, included so m e o f th e s ta te ’s m o s t prom inent Alaskans and top law e n fo rc e m e n t officials. The m em bers o f the Alaska R ural Justice and Law E n forcem ent C om m ission in cluded U.S. A ttorney N elson Cohen, state A ttorney G en eral TaEs Colberg, and Pub- Ec Safety Comm issioner Walt Monegan. T h e c o n fe re n c e , called “Building M om entum ,’’ wa® put on by the Alaska Native Justice Center w ith funding from the U.S. Justice D epart m en t, O ffice o n V iolence Against Women. A separate panel o f four w om en w ho had been raped or physically abused spoke out about their experiences. A m ong them was U.S. H ouse candidate D iane Benson. She told the crowd that she was repeatedly sexuaUy abused in foster care. Benson has talked pubEcly about her experiences for a dozen years. She told the crowd gathered at a dow ntow n hotel that w hen sh e w e n t to th e p o lic e , a K e tc h ik a n o ffic e r n o t o n ly didn’t pursue charges b u t said he Wanted to get in on it. She said she was. raped three times by age 20. She didn’t even try to report those, she said. T he panel asked tough ques tions about inadequacies in the system that is supposed to re spond to the violence. Members o f th e p an el o n ru ral justice admitted they didn’t always have good answers. B en so n , a D e m o c ra t, has talked pubEcly about her expe riences for a dozen years at vic tim c o n fe re n c e s around)? th e country, though the rapes might be news to people in Alaska. I t ’s n o t th e kind o f th in g she’d bring up as a campaign strategy, she said. She talks about the w o rst times o f her fife to offer hope to other women, she said. “I f I can be a person w ho can get out there and do w hat I do, after this violent, neglectful and abusive kind o f history and still demand my dignity, find my self-respect, after all o f it, so can som ebody else,” Benson said. Lisa Frank, a board mem ber o f th e A lask a N a tiv e W omen’s CoaEtion who Eves in Arctic ViUage, said she was raped 12 years ago Outside and was able to com e home to heal. B ut think o f all those assaulted by someone in their village, w ho may have to see the perso n w ho h u rt them every day, she said. “W e’re com ing to g eth er a n d w e ’re ta lk in g ,” said D enise Morris, president o f th e A laska N ativ e Ju stic e Center. Audience members stood one after the other to ask the panel questions. W hy has g o v e rn m e n t funding for substance abuse treatm ent dropped when ev eryone know s th a t’s a big n eed ? W hy are v ictim s tre a te d p o o rly by certain prosecutors and law enforce m ent officers? Shouldn’t of ficers be required to use the specially trained Sexual A s sault Response Teams when ever possible? As to the last question, the answer for troopers is defi nitely yes, M onegan said. The teams help gather evidence, identify suspects and begin the heaEng process for vic tims, he said. 10-50% off Select Items (in-stock only) y, U y, a - New Items Arriving Soon! Sale Ends April 23rd Monday — Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 346 S.W. Culver Hwy, Madras, OR 97741 541-350-4241 CHIPS Repair & Auto Sales Free towing w/engine or trans rep lacemen t fro m Warm Springs & Madras area , - Approved Auto Repair 475-6618 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Madras, OR 97741 Free Battery Check & Installation with purchase
