Indigenous Peoples of Wisconsin

Research is needed on the Indians of Wisconsin.

Tribes and Bands of Wisconsin
Brotherton, Chippewa, Dakota, Fox, Housatonic, Huron, Illinois. Iowa, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Mahican, Mascouten, Menominee, Miami, Missouri, Munsee, New York Indians, Nozuet, Omaha, Oreilles, Oneida, Oto, Ottawa, Ponca, Potawatomi, Sauk (Sac and Fox), Sioux, Sokaogon, Stockbridge, Stockbridge-Munsee, Tionontati, Winnebago, Wyandot

Bands: Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, St Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans

Council of the Three Fires: Potawatomi or Bodewadmi, Odawa and Ojibwe tribes.


 * Menominee Clans (or Phratry): Clans organized the community. Each clan was responsible for one aspect of the Society (Keepers of the law, Hunting and gathering, architecture, construction and art, individual security and freedom and justice)


 * Bear Clan, Big Thunder Clan, Wolf Clan, Crane Clan, Moose Clan.


 * 1963 The Wisconsin Winnebago Nation was federally recognized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. In 1994 the Bureau of Indian Affairs accepted the Tribe's name legally changed to the Ho-Chunk Nation - the People of the Big Voice - which they had always called themselves.

References


 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology Bulletin #30, 1907. (Family History Library film 1320577 Item 1.)


 * Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin #145.

Reservations
From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the American Indian was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative, usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government.

Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies.

The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether.

As identified in the National Atlas of the United States of America, the following reservation names in bold are current federally-recognized reservations:


 * Bad River Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Chippewa; located in Ashland and Iron Counties, in the extreme northern part of the state.
 * Forest County Potawatomi Community: see Potawatomi Reservation
 * Ho-Chunk Reservation (formerly Winnebago)
 * Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation: (1854) Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great lakes Agency; Tribe: Chippewa; located in northern Wisconsin, in Sawyer County.
 * Lac du Flambeau Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa; Located in northern Wisconsin in Iron, Oneida, and Vilas Counties.
 * Menominee Reservation: State, under the jurisdiction of the Menominee Field Office, Tribe Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa; located in northeastern Wisconsin in Menominee County.
 * Mole Lake Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Sokagoan Chippewa Community; located in northeastern Wisconsin, in Forest County.
 * Oneida Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Oneida; Located in eastern Wisconsin, near Green Bay, in Brown and Outagamie Counties.
 * Potawatomi Reservation: State, under the jurisdiction of Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Potawatomi; Located in northeastern Wisconsin in Forest County.
 * Red Cliff Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Red Cliff Band of Chippewa; located on the northernmost tip of Wisconsin, in Bayfield County.
 * Saint Croix Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: St. Croix Band of Chippewa; located in northern Wisconsin in Burnett and Polk Counties.
 * Sokaogon Chippewa Reservation: See Mole Lake Reservation.
 * Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency; Tribe: Stockbridge and Munsee; located in northeastern Wisconsin in Shawano County.
 * Winnebago Reservation: Federal, under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Agency, Tribe: Winnebago

Reference


 * Isaacs, Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Apendices. Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations. Appendix E, Indian Reservation, Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991. (Family History Library book 973 E5o v. 11.)

Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Agencies of the Federal Government were established in Wisconsin, as in other areas of the United States, to provide oversight and communication with the tribes within a particular locality. Some of these agencies over-lapped state or territorial lines, some existed for only a short time, and some were actually sub-agencies of larger jurisdictions. The Wisconsin Historical Society has identified the major agencies in Wisconsin, with the names of the agents who served there.


 * Bad River
 * Bayfield -- 1836-1878
 * Fort Winnebago Subagency -- 1828-1837
 * Grand Rapids Agency
 * Great Lakes Agency, Ashland, WI. 54806- 1948 to present
 * Green Bay Agency -- 1815-1886
 * Keshena Agency -- 1874-1906
 * La Pointe Agency -- 1836-1906
 * Lac Du Flambeau Agency
 * Laona Agency
 * Menominee Agency/ Field Office, Minneapolis Area Office, 15 South 5th St. 10 Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402
 * New Lisbon (Special) Agency -- 1870
 * Prairie du Chien Agency -- 1807-1839
 * Red Cliff Agency
 * Rock River Subagency
 * Tomah Agency
 * Winnebago Agency -- 1864-1870

References


 * Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc. 1974.
 * Wisconsin Historical Society. Dictionary of Wisconsin History. (Family History Library book 970.1 H551o.)|

Indian Schools
Several religious denominations established educational efforts among the Native American population. The earliest were the Jesuits, from 1661 to 1728. Various Protestant groups began to establish Indian schools in Wisconsin as early as the 1830s. During the Assimilation Era of Indian policy in the United States, 1887-1934, efforts were made to "mainstream" Native Americans. For Indian children, this often meant being removed from their homes and reservations, to be sent to Government Boarding Schools or Day Schools, such as those listed below.

The Office of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) established a network of schools throughout the United States, beginning with Carlisle Indian School, established in 1879. Some of these schools were day schools, usually focusing on Indian children of a single tribe or reservation. Some were boarding schools which served Indian children from a number of tribes and reservations.

In addition, other groups such as various church denominations established schools specifically focusing on American Indian children. (read more...)


 * Hayward Indian School
 * Keshena School or Menominee Boarding School
 * Lac du Flambeau Boarding School
 * Oneida Indian School
 * Red Cliff School
 * Stockbridge Day School
 * Tomah Indian School
 * Winnebago Indian School
 * Wittenberg Indian School

Reference


 * Wisconsin Historical Society. Dictionary of Wisconsin History.

Family History Library

 * Northern Superintendency 1851-1876 35 films M1160 Family History Library 1st film 1490921
 * Wisconsin Superintendency 1836-1848 M951 Family History Library book 973 J53m no. 951
 * School Records for Hayward and Wittenberg______

See Also:
Wisconsin-History for a calendar of events

Wisconsin-Military for a list of forts