Tag: mercier

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Personal HistoryLeave a comment

What Happened to Caroline Mercier

David G. Lewis, PhD

I have thought over the years about the tribal people from Grand Ronde who have disappeared from the tribe. In essays, I have written about some of the reasons for people leaving the tribe. The reservation at the turn of the 20th century was developing into a set of Native farms as people took advantage of their new Indian allotments, granted in 1891. The allotments came on the heels of some 40 years of poverty, neglect, and loss for the people at the reservation. The change began in the 1870s with the informal allotments, and some families were able to … Continue reading What Happened to Caroline Mercier

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians3 Comments

Contrasting Colonization in Grand Ronde and Belgium: Reverend Croquet and Cardinal Mercier

David G. Lewis, PhD

The story of the tribes of the United States is one of colonization and disenfranchisement. For hundreds of years, the tribes were subject to pressures from newcomers to their lands. Explorers, missionaries, traders, settlers, all manner of other people seeking to claim land, and take resources from the tribes. This story is well written in hundreds of volumes. The story of the missionaries to the tribes is part of that story of colonization. Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Calvinists, Jesuits, and Black Robes, to name a few, all came to the tribes and worked in many ways to save them from themselves, … Continue reading Contrasting Colonization in Grand Ronde and Belgium: Reverend Croquet and Cardinal Mercier