Our maternal lines

[smacmill]

I'm going to say something politically incorrect. I am researching my great grandmother and 2nd great grandmother's Yankton stories. Most of everything I come across is about the males in the tribes. Most of the women prior to the Indian Census Rolls are lost to history it seems. It makes me sad, but I will not give up researching. Anyone have any tips on discovering maternal lines?

[ladonna]

You would need her real name, i do genealogy all the time and i can find the womens name is i am given enough information

[smacmill]

Thank you. I actually have their names:
Ashosha (or Smoky), great great grandmother
Anna (Dezera/Howard), great grandmother
My heart wishes I could go back farther, but it is not likely to be.

[ladonna]

Ok so far i found
Asota-Smoky b.1828 d. 1868 which is the correct spelling for Smoky,
Spouse: David Edward Dezera b. 1829 d. 1875
Children
Son: George Dezera b. 1867
Son: Antoine Dezera b. 1851
Daughter: Julia Dezera b. 1854 d. 1942
Daughter: Marie Louise Dezera b. 1856 d. 1907
Daughter: Anna Dezera b. 1857 d. 1936
Son: Robert Dezera b. 1860 d. 1934
Son: Levi Dezera b. 1865

its said that Asote was Red Cloud Sister but cant find that information

[ladonna]

i see Anna Howard with Andrew Makeke and his listed with his
Brothers
Andrew Makeke b. 1854
Makina b. 1862
World Turner b. 1858

[ladonna]

Lets see
Mahpiya Luta-Red Cloud b.1740
Children
Son: Ishna Watica-Lone Man b. 1790 d. 1825

Ishna Watica-Lone Man b. 1790 d.1825 (Brule Chief)
Spouse: Walks as she Thinks b. 1780 d. 1825 (sister to Chief Old Smoke Oglala)
Children
Son: Bring Spotted b. 1812
Son: brother b. 1820
Son: Mahpiya Luta- Chief Red Cloud b. 1822
Son: Roaring Cloud b. 1822
Son: Yellow Lodge b. 1825
Son: Spider b. 1840


so if she is the sister of Red Cloud she is not listed
she could come from another wife because Walks as she Thinks dead in 1825 (sister to Chief Old Smoke Oglala)

Asotawin: Smoky woman b. 1828

[smacmill]

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.

[smacmill]

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.

[lilah]

David Edward Dezera was same man as Dave Desiré, a man, possibly Creole, from Louisiana who worked as a pilot on the Missouri River. His nickname was "Black Dave." "Black Dave's Island" is named for him. He eventually settled there - it was in the Missouri River between Forts Pierre and Randall but was flooded by the dams. His son Antoine worked the ferry at Ft Randall with St. Claire Campbell, the relative (possibly son) of Sarah Campbell about whom I wrote a book. His son Levi moved to Standing Rock (Levi Black Bull) so perhaps Ladonna could put you in touch with descendants there. Somewhere I have photos I took about 8 years ago of the honorary grave markers for Ashotia and Antoine. They were erected after the bodies were moved to a different location just before the dam was built that flooded the cemetery. There is also an historic marker at the current Ft Randall that does not identify him by name but is probably a story about Dezera.

[smacmill]

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.

[smacmill]

P.S. to Lilah. I figured out who you are and have purchased your book about Sarah Campbell and am reading it right now!

[lilah]

Thanks, smacmill, for your message on FB. I live in dread of making mistakes in the details and wish our paths had crossed before I published the book. However, I am really happy to have this additional information. If you agree, I could put an errata slip in with the book when I sell more in future and give the correct information and cite you as source. If that works for you, let's correspond via email. Thanks, Lilah