Tag: halo

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Personal History, Willamette Valley3 Comments

Related To Old Man Fisherman, a Family of Yoncalla Indians

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Fisherman family of Calapooia Indians are related to the Halo/Fearn family in ways that are as yet unclear to people not from their community. The Heirship record (20294-12) for the family reported on for the Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, by March 9, 1915, raises interesting issues of relatedness of the tribes on and off reservations in this era. The information presented is directly from the BIA RG 75 heirship files, and they suggest deep interrelations between the Warm Springs and Grand Ronde reservations, as well as communities of Indians who chose to remain off reservation. … Continue reading Related To Old Man Fisherman, a Family of Yoncalla Indians

assimilation, General History, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Umpqua Valley, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

They Were of Good Character and Industrious, Kalapuya and Umpqua Off-Reservation Allotments

David G. Lewis, PhD

Indian Off-Reservation Allotments Members of the Halo Family of Yoncalla Indians, were allotted with off-reservation Indian Allotments in 1892. Most of their allotments were in an areas covered by GLO maps 20S, 4W; 23S, 4W; and the vast majority in 22S 4W, a mountainous and hilly region of central-western Oregon, on the edge of the Calapooia Range. This area is the dividing range between the Willamette and Umpqua watersheds, within the original tribal territory of the Yoncalla Indians. The Fearns, as detailed below are the sons and grandchildren of Chief  Halo. This cluster of four families in the area between … Continue reading They Were of Good Character and Industrious, Kalapuya and Umpqua Off-Reservation Allotments

Archival Development, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Umpqua ValleyLeave a comment

Beel Fern Letter of 1882: From The SWORP Collection

David G. Lewis, PhD

This is a letter from Beel Fern, son of Chief Halo, who was of the Yoncalla Kalapuyans, a tribe of the Umpqua Valley. He may have as well been of the upper Umpqua tribe due to intermarriage between tribes that was common in Oregon. It was common on the reservation to simplify tribal ancestry to the river valley where they originated from.  (Interestingly, if he stated his name as “Beel”, would the scribe compose B.L.,  or did he write the letter and write the abbreviation of his name as B.L.?) Beel and his family lived for decades on the Applegate … Continue reading Beel Fern Letter of 1882: From The SWORP Collection

General History, Oregon indians, Umpqua Valley, Uncategorized5 Comments

Reconnoiter to Row River 2017

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Row (Rou) River feeds into the Willamette River just about where Cottage Grove is today. In mid-March I took a short trip up the Row River to figure out just about where the Chief Halotish village might be. I drove and stopped when I saw an interesting landmark. I took many pictures of landscapes and hillsides that would have been a common site to the Yoncalla Kalapuyans before their villages were abandoned in the mid-19th century. It occurred to me that since the landscape’s hills and many upland prairies appeared to be undeveloped and not heavily forested that they … Continue reading Reconnoiter to Row River 2017

General History, Oregon indians, Umpqua Valley, Uncategorized6 Comments

Chief Halotish Village on the Row River

David G. Lewis, PhD

On the sleepy banks of the Row River, near the Calapooia Mountains in western Oregon,  by the town of Cottage Grove, was once a vibrant Kalapuyan village. Townsfolk on the early 20th century wrote in the newspaper that there were two communities of about 100 Native people in the area, the village on the Row River occupied by the family of Chief Halotish and the village at Pleasant Hill occupied by other “Pleasant Hill” Kalapuyans. They would travel back and forth and visit one another, attending summer camp meetings on the site of the heritage fairgrounds in Cottage Grove, while, … Continue reading Chief Halotish Village on the Row River