smacmill
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Post by smacmill on Sept 22, 2016 14:46:50 GMT -5
I'm so proud to see this awakening of the tribes. LaDonna, you are a great leader and spokesperson.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Feb 2, 2016 18:43:45 GMT -5
Perhaps someone reading here can help me with a relationship mystery. In the Indian Census Rolls, my Yankton great grandmother, Anna Dezera Howard, is listed along with a man named Andrew Makeke, every year from 1894 through 1902, when Andrew married and established his own household. One document infers that Makeke means war. Is that correct? My great grandmother and Andrew Makeke were five years apart in age. I am wondering if they were cousins. My great grandmother was married to a white man during those years, so it was not a romantic tie. In 1886, prior to being with my great grandmother, Andrew Makeke (age 31) is listed on the rolls with two listed as brothers, Makana (age 23), and Makanahomni (age 27). In 1893, one year prior to being with my great grandmother, Andrew Makeke is listed with a daughter named Anpetuskawin. It appears that in 1903 Andrew married a woman named Sarah, and they had children Wallace, Helena, Christiana, and Custer. Knowing Andrew's family heritage could open up a further link to my great grandmother's heritage. It's funny, when I Google Makeke all I get is Hawaiian links. Any Makeke descendants out there?
Also of note that during that time it appears also in the household was Charles Jones, the fellow who left and came back with the Peyote Church, and his wife and family. Why they were in the household is also a mystery.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Oct 31, 2015 13:48:30 GMT -5
As you can see, I cropped my logo for this site from the above portrait of Smutty Bear. So I am so excited and grateful to see all this info on him and the Yanktons. I think that because the Yanktons lived a more passive style life, rather than a more colorful, warrior-centric life, they do often get passed over in the realms of Sioux history. My mother grew up in Lake Andes, which is in Charles Mix County. This was in the 1920's & 1930's. By all accounts it was an impoverished area during that era. My great great grandparents are buried at the Ft. Randall cemetery, my great great grandfather being an interpreter there. A few of the last names that LaDonna lists here I know are sprinkled within my family's tree. So thanks so much for sharing all this research. You've made my day.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Oct 27, 2015 13:57:44 GMT -5
I was just going over my member profile and noticed that I am categorized as a new member. I've been regularly perusing and posting to this site for over two years now. Is there any other member category other than "new" and "expert". Of course this is trivial, but I was just wondering.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Oct 6, 2015 18:53:06 GMT -5
I found in the Library of Congress, Congressional Record a description of the 1892 campaign. In it I found that my great grandmother's sister, Julia Dezera, also worked along with Felix Brunot as an interpreter. "Under these instructions Commissioner Cole left the reservation Thursday, 23rd, with Felix Brunot as interpreter and witness, to give the Yankton Soldiers an opportunity to sign the agreement. A council of Yankton Soldiers was called in their quarters, in the presence of Lt. Samuel Seay, their commander, with Felix Brunot and Julia Dezera, interpreters, assisted by Charles Martin and others." Julia's brother, Robert Dezera, did sign the agreement.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
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Post by smacmill on Oct 6, 2015 17:53:22 GMT -5
My grandfather, Robert Edward Howard, a Yankton/Standing Rock member, also fought at the Battle of Argonne, losing an eye and receiving a Purple Heart. I wonder if they met. (see post, more Standing Rock Soldiers WWI).
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
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Post by smacmill on Sept 3, 2015 16:41:35 GMT -5
Of note also : my grandfather, Robert E. Howard, who lived in Lake Andes, and whose family was registered with Standing Rock, served in WWI, earning a Purple Heart.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
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Post by smacmill on Jun 18, 2015 15:10:40 GMT -5
I carry a sad heart because my last link to Charles Mix County, South Dakota, and our Yankton heritage has died. My aunt was the last of the family who grew up in impoverished Lake Andes during the 1920's and 1930's. Since neither I nor my siblings and cousins married a person of Sioux heritage, we are the last official tribal members. What I have done and will continue to do is research and document our heritage to pass down to our children. My heart aches that there is no relative now that I can ask for details of the old days. This is life, I know.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Jun 18, 2015 14:54:17 GMT -5
Oh wow, that is so fascinating. I'm so unobservant that I never noted those hair differences. Thanks for that insight.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on May 13, 2015 21:32:44 GMT -5
Well, no one ever gave input on the Cobell land buy back program. Is it a no-no to speak of such things? The program is in full throttle now and I must make up my mind. Either way, I thank my great grandmother who endured the terrible cultural transitions of the late 19th century.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Mar 11, 2015 17:56:26 GMT -5
P.S. to Lilah. I figured out who you are and have purchased your book about Sarah Campbell and am reading it right now!
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Feb 7, 2015 20:45:16 GMT -5
After many years of researching, I am certain that David Edward Desire', who worked as an interpreter at Ft. Randall (1870 U.S. Census), is the son of Jacques David Desire' (aka Black Dave) the well known steam boat pilot on the Missouri River. You are not the first to think that they were the same person, I did too at first. David Edward Desire' was born about 1829 according to U.S. Census, and died in 1875 according to the Ft. Randall cemetery records. His father, Jacques/Black Dave, was born in 1795 in San Domingo and was of full African descent. His birth was during the successful Slave Revolt on the island of Hispanola, so he was a free black person. He was notable because most black men working on the river were deck hands, but he managed to become a respected pilot. Jacques/Black Dave owned property in St. Louis, and died there in 1848 according to St. Louis probate records. So the son, David Edward Desire', was half African and half Sioux. David Edward married a Sioux woman, Asota/Smoky, and my great grandmother Anna was one of their children. I have discovered many, many documents and articles which have enabled me to untangle the stories of these two interesting men.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Nov 7, 2014 14:48:32 GMT -5
Just thought of a couple more items: 1. My aunt had a childhood remembrance of their aunt Julia Dezera coming to visit them in Lake Andes, and that she was an unusually big woman. Don't know if that means heavy, or tall/big. What clicked in my mind was having read that Chief Old Smoke was a very large man, so perhaps that could be a clue that Asota/Smoky (mother to Anna and Julia)might have been from his line.
2. There were others who lived in my great grandmother's household besides Andrew Makeke. Charles and Adelia Jones lived there for several years too. I only just this year read the book "Peyote and the Yankton Sioux", and learned that Charles Jones was the one who brought those beliefs from Nebraska. So it was in my great grandmother's household that he lived when he and Adelia broke up, then he went on is sojourn to Nebraska for two years. I have found no evidence of further contact with my family once he returned from Nebraska. Small world.
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Nov 6, 2014 14:03:53 GMT -5
David Edward Dezera (aka Edward, Desery, Desara)often linked to General Harney. Robert Dezera Julia Dezera Well, frankly, since I don't live in South Dakota, the tribe brushes off my inquiries. I can't imagine what it must have been like to split loyalties between cultures. I suspect it is the old saying, "Follow the money".
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smacmill
Junior Member
This site is such a valuable, serious, and polite resource. Thank you experts!
Posts: 50
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Post by smacmill on Nov 6, 2014 13:49:08 GMT -5
Thanks Ladonna so much for the Makeke info. He is listed for several years in the Indian Census Rolls in the same household as my great grandmother Anna Dezera. We have not been able to figure out their relationship. Don't think it was "romantic", so perhaps they were related somehow. When he eventually married he left the household. As far as Asota (Smoky), the claims in several obituaries of one of her granddaughters that she was related to Red Cloud are unsubstantiated. We have found nothing concrete. I suspect she may have been related in a much wider sense. I was also thinking along the Chief Old Smoke line. Again, thanks for sharing the wealth of info you have obtained.
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