Agnes Sloan

Agnes was a Puyallup tribe woman

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians have lived along the shores of the Puget Sound in Washington State for thousands of years.

The historical lands of western Washington Native American tribes. (Library of Congress)
Original map at Geological Survey, U.S, and United States Indian Claims Commission. Indian Land Areas Judicially Established. Reston, Va.: The Survey, 1978. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/80695449/>.
Breda, Isabella. “Duwamish Recognition Fight Underscores Plight of Treaty Tribes.” HeraldNet.com, 31 May 2022, www.heraldnet.com/news/duwamish-recognition-fight-underscores-plight-of-treaty-tribes/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2024.

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians have lived on the Puget Sound in Washington State for thousands of years. Their name, puyaləpabš, translates to "people at the bend at the bottom of the river". This refers to the many villages that spread out from the mouth of the Puyallup River, near the present-day site of the Tacoma Dome. The tribe's name also became associated with its welcoming and generous behavior.

French, Arthur, photographer, “Puyallup Indians,” Native American Photographs, accessed April 10, 2024, https://americanantiquarian.org/nativeamericanphotographs/items/show/419.''

The Puyallup people have lived off the waters of the Puyallup River, fed by Mount Rainier, fishing, hunting, and traveling by these waters. They used the Western red cedar to make many things like homes, utensils, and canoes.

Original title: "Chudups John and others in a canoe on Lake Union, Seattle, ca. 1885" Physical Description: Silver gelatin print Negative Number: SHS 2228 Collection: Seattle Historical Society Collection Repository: Museum of History and Industry, Seattle Acquisition: Gift of the estate of Sophie Frye Bass; acc. no. 2228 (public domain in the United States, Images from the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest collection may be downloaded for noncommercial educational and research purposes.)
The Puyallup people are signatories of the Medicine Creek Treaty (1854). In the 1960s and 1970s, they became leaders in the fight to restore Native fishing rights in local rivers and the Salish Sea. In 1984, the Boldt Decision upheld Native American rights to fish in their original territories, which they had been promised in treaties they signed in the late 1800s. The Puyallup has gained fame for what has been called the largest Native American land claim settlement in history.

Biography:
Born c. 1892, Agnes was the daughter of a Pullayap father Sow-Lug "George" Sloan, and a Duwamish mother named Quah-Ue-Let 'Jennie' Sampson. According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha, Agnes was admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 24, 1909, at the age of 17, and diagnosed with epileptic idiocy (Epileptic idiocy and epileptic imbecility are terms used to describe epileptic children who have always been at an idiot or imbecile level, or who have achieved some intellectual progress that is later lost. Epileptic idiocy is a condition where epilepsy can negatively affect a person's faculties, sometimes gradually.)

Based on calculation from census rolls, if Agnes was in the 1892 Jun 30 roll as 1/2-year-old, then she was likely born c. January 1892 under the jurisdiction of the Puyallup Indian Reservation, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

In the letter dated February 17, 1934, from Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, he confirms that Agnes died in the Canton Asylum (died of exhaustion following tuberculosis of the bones) on February 14, 1910, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery, tier 5 plot 13.

Her profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

Research Notes:
-No Indian census report identifies her as being mentally afflicted at any time.
-There is some question regarding the names and number of siblings of Agnes, four to eight!
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Sources:

1892 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7DH4-M26Z : Sat Mar 09 07:40:13 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1892, pg. 319/459/, line 302 (age 5mo.), “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, archive.org/details/indiancensusroll138unit/page/n137/mode/1up?view=theater. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.

1893 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll407unit/page/n412/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 413/458. line 418 (age 1.5), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1894 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGRS-6Y47 : Sun Mar 10 00:51:52 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, from 1890 to 1899, pg. 66/517, line 390 (age 2), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1895 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll408unit/page/n92/mode/1.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 93/514, line 374 (age 3), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1896 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll408unit/page/n159/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 160/514, line 368 (age 4), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1897 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7FVN-7VMM : Sun Mar 10 12:07:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1897, pg. 259/517, line 363 (age 5), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1898 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll408unit/page/n348/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 349/514, line 365 (age 6), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1900 Jun 23- "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSRN-VZ4 : Wed Mar 06 14:28:33 UTC 2024), Entry for George Salone and Jennie Salone, 1900, pg. 166/930, line 32 (b=1891), census of the Reservation Precinct, Pierce County, Washington

1901 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7DNC-7C3Z : Sun Mar 10 23:09:11 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1901, pg. 75/708, line 370, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1902 Jul - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7DYR-TK6Z : Sat Mar 09 10:48:56 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1902, pg. 159/708, line 360, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1903 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll409unit/page/n175/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 176/705, line 351, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1904 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7DRZ-ZJPZ : Sat Mar 09 20:56:27 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1904, pg. 304/708, line 339, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1905 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGPX-4L2F : Sun Mar 10 10:10:47 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1905, pg. 323/708, line 344, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1906 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll409unit/page/n435/mode/... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 436/705/ line 335, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1907 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7DVF-CQ2M : Sun Mar 10 22:47:30 UTC 2024), Entry for Agnes Sloan, 1907, pg. 496/708, line 330 (age 15), census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1908 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll409unit/page/n578/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 579/705/ line 322, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1909 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll409unit/page/n668/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 669/705/ line 322, census of the Puyallup Indians, Puyallup Consolidated Indian Agency, Washington

1910 Feb 14 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14491687/agnes-sloan: accessed April 10, 2024), memorial page for Agnes Sloan (unknown–14 Feb 1910), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14491687, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1910 Feb 14 - Hilton, M. (Ed.). (2023, July 10). Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians Historical Marker. Historical Marker. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486 Photo by Ruth VanSteenwyk, July 10, 2023, courtesy of HMdb.org

Baby Ruth Enas-Pah 10-14-09 · Agnes Sloan 2-14-10 · E-We-Jar 10-4-10

1910 Oct 12 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=676, line 111, Table 7 Form of mental disease of those admitted since opening of Asylum