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Forum: I read this in another forum and seemed to have heard Wis&Ill mentioned several times in this forum so I ask if I could share it here. Linda didn’t you have relatives that migerated to Wis?
Kickapoo
The name Kickapoo is derived from Kiwigapawa which means….
“he moves about, standing now here, now there.”
The tribe has also been known as the “Mexican Kickapoo” and “Texas Kickapoo”. They have a close ethnic tie to the Sac and Fox tribe.
A catholic missionary found the tribe living in southern Wisconsin around 1667. After the French and Indian War ( and the resulting breakup of the Illinois tribe), the Kickapoo moved into what is now southern Illinois. Treaty relations began with the U.S. with the Treaty of Greeneville in 1795. A treaty in 1819 ceded all Kickapoo lands in Illinois (nearly half that state) and assigned them a reservation in Missouri–at which point part of the tribe moved to Texas. In 1835, a new treaty replaced the Missouri land with a 12-square mile reservation in what is now northeastern Kansas. Part of this was later reduced and opened to white settlement, another part went to allotments for tribe members. In 1883, a rich 100,000 acre reservation at the center of Indian Territory was given them; in 1891, it was ceded and allotments were provided to tribal members–although two-thirds of the tribe refused to acknowledge the agreement. In 1895, their reservation was organized as part of Oklahoma Territory and surplus lands were opened to white settlement by a run.
The Kickapoo have always been independent and clannish, especially in retaining their tribal religious beliefs and ceremonies. They lived in their traditional bark-covered houses, which were arranged in villages, up to the last years the reservation existed. They were mainly farming people, but went to hunt buffalo in the West–and so became one of the first tribes from the Illinois country to learn about horses.
Famous tribal members~Chief Kanakuk, (died 1852) known as the Kickapoo prophet who established a tribal religion in Illinois, teaching virtuous living. Chief Wah-Pho-ko-wah, a woman who ruled with good judgment, her word was law.
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Life is a Rainbow made up of Many Different Colors…..
Kickapoo’s come up in the last week, but it didn’t go anywhere. I heard from a newfound distant cousin that their side of the family has carried the story that my gr-gr-grandmother Elizabeth (Keasey) Pontius Hudson was of native descent, possibly Kickapoo. She was born in Hocking, Ohio, though, in the 1830’s, so I can’t see that connection.
What seems likely is that my Wisconsin family was familiar with the name Kickapoo, so that was behind the conjecture.
Ironic because last week I realized my other gr-gr-grandmother, Ellen Ulm (Smith) was born in 1823 on the Indiana side of the Wabash (near that Blackfoot Church), a friend sent me some info that in the 1730’s I believe, the Kickapoo were noted to be on the Wabash.
For a minute there, I thought there might be a something going on there, but realized, no it’s the wrong side of the family.
[This message has been edited by Linda (edited 12-18-2002).]
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