Warm Springs/Chihenne apache at San Carlos?

[LarryCoats]

Am new here but hoping someone can give me some specific facts(or opinions)about the Warm Springs/Chihenne who were(are?)at San Carlos; I know that the Apache scouts, Geronimo's band, and other Chiricauhua were sent to Florida and then to Ft. Sill. But what is unclear to me is what happened to the 169(est.?)women, children, and elderly Chihenne who were still at the San Carlos reservation after Victorio's band was almost annihilated at Tres Castillos in 1880?(these were the one's that Victorio was unable to take with him when he bolted from Ojo Caliente in 1878). Whatever happened to those Chihenne at San Carlos? I've read many secondary works but none of them shed any light on the matter? Can anyone help?

[kayitah]

Hi Larry, welcome!

Well, most of the Chihenne at the reservation were among the bands of Chato, Loco, and Zele, and were sent to Florida prior to Geronimo's surrender. Very few remained among Bonito and George's bands of Chiricahuas who had - to at least some extent - intermarried and affiliated with the Western Apache, especially the White Mountain and San Carlos bands. I know that there are still some Chiricahuas at San Carlos today, but the ones who were from Victorio's band followed Loco, Nana, Geronimo and other leaders after Victorio's death.

[LarryCoats]

Thanks for the quick reply! The reason for my inquiry has to do with my G grandmother; she and a younger brother were Apache orphans at San Carlos c. 1879-80. The Rev. John J. Wingar, who was the head farmer and teacher at San Carlos, took charge of them and arranged for their removal to a family in Texas, probably in 1880-1. In any event, the oral tradition in my family has it that one(or both?)parents died as the result of being transported in a "wagon train"...the only such instance of such a train that would have transported Apaches was the one that left Ojo Caliente in Nov 1878(during a great blizzard), and it consisted of about 169 Chihenne of Victorio's(?)band, but there may have been others of Loco's band as well. I believe that her name was "Ih-tedda Cona/Conah", but this was later anglicized to Mandy "Adder" Cone as the family in TX did its best to bury her Apache origins. Her brother's name is so mangled in the one TX record I have of him that I can't make it out, but it looks like "Tecte"Cona.....doubt seriously that that is the correct version. In any event, from what you say, it would appear that there WERE, in fact, some Chihenne left behind at San Carlos. My problem is determining whether my G grandmother and g uncle were Chihenne(or San Carlos, Arivaipa, Pinal, or something else). I know for a fact that she does not appear in any TX record before her marriage certificate dated 1890. And "Tecte" who married a Simona Pencida in TX in 1900 completely disappears after that...not a trace anywhere. Anyway, am glad to find out that my oral tradtion seems to have fairly decent foundations.....I found several Conahs/Coonahs,etc. at San Carlos c. 1888 and 1900 but was not certain of their band.

[kayitah]

Thank you for the additional information. What I've found so far is a manuscript dictated by Wingar, from the University of Arizona Libraries' Special Collections. It's available for download, but it's mostly about their family's journey from Kansas to Arizona. At the end there is a chapter which deals with the Apaches at San Carlos, but no hint at your great-grandmother and her younger brother. Here's the link:

azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/waz/id/955/rec/4

Ih-tedda was the name of one of Geronimo's wives, which leaves me a bit confused now, since it's highly improbable that the name was later given to a child among the Chiricahuas... Could it be that the name is also mangled in the Texas record you have, very difficult to read?

Among the Apache, children who had lost their parents were normally orphaned by relatives, but exceptions occured...

Do you have any photographs of her?

Maybe some of the Chiricahuas in here can help you with more substantial information, but I'll keep searching.

[LarryCoats]

Thanks again; as to my G grandmother's name, we believe that the "Mandy" or "Amanda" part was donated by the TX family that took her in. From what I can tell, she called herself "Adder"(or variations of that)for her entire adult life. I have read also that "Ih-tedda", among the Apache,is more of a term than a name and that it means "young girl". The one picture that we have of her shows her well after her marriage; you can note an "Indian cast" to her features, but, according to my Mother, she wore tons of some sort of base makeup that made her appear much "paler"? than she actually was.

[juan]

patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2017/10/mexicans-end-long-chase-of-victorio.html?

Found this article pretty good one