(A.)
Letter from the Secretary of State to Henry R. Schoolcraft, &c.
SECRETARY’S OFFICE, }
_Albany, June 25th_, 1845.}
HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, Esq.
SIR—I have deemed it proper to appoint you to take the enumeration of
the Indians residing on the following reservations, to wit: The Oneida,
Onondaga, Tuscarora, and the Reservations of the Senecas, one or more
in each of the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus and Erie, and also of
the Tonewanda Indians in the county of Genesee.
Your duties are summarily defined in the fifteenth section of the act
of the Legislature, which authorizes me to make this appointment, and
to which I invite your attention.
On calling at this office you will be furnished with the proper blanks
to enable you to perform the duties of the important trust committed to
your hands, which will indicate with sufficient precision the method
of ascertaining the numbers, ages, sex, condition and classification
of the remnants of this interesting race. You will find, on running
through and examining the blanks for these returns, full scope for all
the information that can be of any practical use.
I desire you will be very particular and minute in your inquiries in
respect to every matter which relates to agricultural and statistical
information, as well as of all other information called for by the
returns, which will be furnished to you.
It is believed, from the information which has been received at this
office, that there may be found, at the different reservations, Indians
who were not originally of the tribe or stock to which they now
profess, perhaps, to belong. You will, as far as may be in your power,
and without exciting the jealousy and distrust of the Indians, endeavor
to ascertain the number of their people, now living at the different
reservations, who are not of the original stock or tribe with whom they
are now sojourning.
It is important that you do not consolidate or bring into one return
any more than the inhabitants of one reservation, and a sufficient
number of blank returns will be furnished to enable you to accomplish
this object without any difficulty, and you can use some one of the
columns which will otherwise be found useless, to denote or mark the
number who derive their subsistence from the chase.
It is expected that you will complete the enumeration, and file the
several returns in the Secretary’s office by the first day of September
next, that I may be able to prepare abstracts and copies to be
submitted to the Legislature at the next session.
You will no doubt experience some difficulties in the performance of
the duties devolved upon you, owing to the jealousy of the Indians and
the novelty of these proceedings; this, it is believed, being the first
effort of the kind ever attempted by the State. You will assure our
red brethren, that, in taking this enumeration of them, and making the
inquiries into their present condition and situation, the Legislature,
the Governor of the State, or any of the officers, have no other
objects in view but their welfare and happiness.
The Indians within our State are under its guardian care and
protection, and it is a high duty that is now to be performed of
sending a competent and well qualified citizen to visit them, and
inquire particularly into their situation. We have no connection with
the government of the United States, or any land company, which prompts
to these inquiries into their present social condition.
You will be at liberty to extend your inquiries to the early history
and antiquarian remains of the Indians in the central and western parts
of the State, but it is desired that these may be as brief as the
nature of these inquiries will allow.
With these views of the subject I commit this important trust to your
hands, confidently expecting and anticipating a very satisfactory
result.
I have the honor to be, with great respect,
Your ob’t ser’t,
N. S. BENTON,
_Secretary of State_.
P. S. Please to advise me of your acceptance, and also state when you
will probably call here to receive the blanks and commence your duties.
[_a._] Fifteenth Section of an Act relative to the Census or
Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the State, passed May 7, 1845.
§ 15. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to appoint
suitable persons to take the enumeration of the Indians residing on
the several reservations in this state, who shall in respect to such
reservations perform all the duties required of marshals by this
act; and shall also return the number of acres of land cultivated by
such Indians, and such other statistics as it may be in their power
to collect, and as the secretary of state in his instructions shall
prescribe; for which service they shall be paid out of the treasury
upon the warrant of the comptroller such suitable compensation, not
exceeding two dollars per day, as the secretary shall certify to be
just. All expenses incurred by the secretary of state in executing this
act shall be paid by the treasurer upon the warrant of the comptroller.
[_b._] Attorneys or Agents of Indians appointed by the State.
===========================================================================
TRIBE. | ATTORNEY OR AGENT. | RESIDENCE.| COUNTY.
——————————+——————————————-+—————-+——————
Oneida Indians, | Spencer H. Stafford, Att’y, | Vernon, | Oneida
Seneca Indians, | Cephas R. Leland, do | Hanover, | Chautauque
Onondaga Indians, | Wm. W. Teall, Agent, | Syracuse, | Onondaga
===========================================================================
[_c._] Reservations
CATTARAUGUS COUNTY:
Reservation on the Allegany river,
Oil Spring reservation.
ERIE COUNTY:
Buffalo creek reservation,
Part of Cattaraugus reservation.
ALLEGANY COUNTY:
Part of Oil Spring reservation in this county.
GENESEE COUNTY:
The Tonawanda reservation is principally in this county.
ONONDAGA COUNTY:
Onondaga reservation.
NIAGARA COUNTY:
Tuscarora Indian reservation.
ONEIDA COUNTY:
Oneida reservation.
(B.)
Extracts from a Rough Diary of Notes by the way.
Such parts only of these notes and memorandums are retained,
as have been referred to, as original materials, of which
there is some particular fact or statement, which has not been
exhausted. Sometimes the note itself was chiefly of a mnemonic
character, and designed to recall further particulars entrusted
to the memory.