Amos Deere

Amos was an Absentee-Shawnee from the tribe of Indians of Oklahoma (Kispicotha) man

Shawnee Indians (from shawŭn, ‘south’; shawŭnogi, ‘southerners.’ ). Formerly a leading tribe of South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Because of the indefinite character of their name, their wandering habits, their connection with other tribes, and because of their interior position away from the traveled routes of the early days, the Shawnee were long a stumbling block in the way of investigators.

Senex’s map of 1710 locates a part of the “Chaouenons” on the headwaters of a stream in South Carolina, but seems to place the main body on the Tennessee.

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe is known to have lived in the Eastern United States, and it has been documented that they traveled from Canada to Florida, from the Mississippi River to the East Coast before being removed to the area that they now occupy. Originally, the Shawnee Indians lived in the northeastern parts of the United States in areas now known as the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and neighboring states. Treaties in the late 1700s and throughout the 1800s established the Shawnee as having a large population and land holdings in the state of Ohio. They are considered a “Woodland Tribe” that speaks the Algonquian dialect as do other tribes such as the Ojibwe, Sac & Fox, and Kickapoo. Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of the Shawnee People: the Absentee-Shawnee, the (Loyal) Shawnee, and the Eastern Shawnee.

In the late 1700s, a few Shawnee groups migrated westward into Missouri and Arkansas to avoid colonial encroachment. By 1832, the United States Government removed the remaining Shawnees in the Ohio River Valley and other surrounding areas into Kansas. The Absentee Shawnee Tribe gained their “absentee” distinction because their groups were not present at the signing of the 1854 treaty for a Kansas Reservation. Instead of settling on surplus lands in Kansas, these Absentee Shawnees had opted to migrate into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) or Mexico Territory (Texas).

In the late 1800s, after living a decade in areas between the Deep Fork River and the North Canadian River, a federal Indian Agent instigated a military escort that removed these Absentee Shawnee groups to a new area near Hog Creek and Little River. Here, in what was called the Big Jim Settlement, modern-day Absentee Shawnee families remain today and are collectively known as the Big Jim Band. This settlement would later become known as the Little Axe area located in Cleveland County (east of Norman, Oklahoma.)

Another band of Absentee Shawnee settled in Pottawatomie County (near Shawnee, Oklahoma); and is known as the White Turkey Band. The two bands were finally organized as one tribe under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. The Tribe shares this former reservation area with the Citizen Band of Potawatomi. In 1964, approximately 33 acres of federal land was transferred to the tribe in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
“Absentee Shawnee Tribe.” Absentee Shawnee Tribe, www.astribe.com/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2024.

Big Jim (unknown–1900)
Big Jim (Wapameepto), a Shawnee chief, grandson of Tecumseh, and son of one of the chiefs who signed the Indian treaty of February 23, 1836, was born in the Sabine reservation in Texas in 1834. His native name was Wapameepto ("Gives Light as He Walks"), and his popular name, Big Jim, was a mistake for his English name, Dick Jim. In 1872 he became chief of his band, often called Big Jim's band of Absentee Shawnees. He resented the encroachments of settlers, never became Christianized, and made efforts to move his people away from White men. In 1900, while in Mexico to investigate possibilities of moving his people there, he died of smallpox.
Seymour V. Connor, “Big Jim,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed February 11, 2024, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/big-jim.''

Biography:
Born c. 1876 to unknown parents, Amos was probably admitted to the Canton Asylum from the Southern Plains Regional Office/Shawnee Agency, Shawnee, Oklahoma.

According to Carla Joinson in the book Vanished in Hiawatha, Amos was admitted to the Canton Asylum on February 8, 1908, and diagnosed as a manic depressive, revised to amentia in 1910 (amentia is an old-fashioned term for people with significant mental deficits. It was originally used to describe people whose mental deficits appear early in life. Amentia has multiple definitions:

• Psychiatry: A severe lack of intellectual development
• Legal: A total lack of intelligence, reason, or mental capacity
• Psychology: A mental impairment or state of being mentally handicapped)

Amos died in the asylum on the night of July 14, 1911, of peritonitis (Peritonitis is a redness and swelling (inflammation) of the lining of your belly or abdomen. This lining is called the peritoneum. It is often caused by an infection from a hole in the bowel or a burst appendix, immediate medical care is required.) at age 37 after a night in agony without medical assistance, only attendant Martin van Winkle refused to medicate as directed!

According to the letter dated February 23, 1934, from Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Amos was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery in tier 1 plot 94

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

Research Notes:
-the date of birth for Amos is based on the statement in Vanished in Hiawatha that he died on July 11, 1914, at age 38 = 1876

Further or Recommended Reading:
1. “Shawnee Tribe.” Access Genealogy, 14 Jan. 2015, accessgenealogy.com/alabama/shawnee-tribe.htm.
2. “The Shawnee Indian Tribe.” Legends of America, www.legendsofamerica.com/shawnee-indians/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2024.
3. Wikipedia contributors. "Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 7 Feb. 2024. Web. 11 Feb. 2024.

__________
Sources:

1887 Feb 8 - "United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1800-c. 1955", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KRW-PBX9 : Wed Jan 24 04:44:37 UTC 2024), Entry for Amos Deere or Deire, 3 Apr 1940, pg. 338/975, (Record shows that Amosa Deere an Absentee Shawnee purchased 40 acres of land according to the Act of Feb 8, 1887, of which 2/3 was sold on or after April 3, 1940, to one H.C. Rooker, by who is not listed), page 90 of the tract book Township 11W Range 2E.

1910 Jun 28 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:688C-DLXC : Thu Oct 05 22:54:40 UTC 2023), Entry for Amos Deere, 1910, pg. 504/522, line 7, Asylum for Insane Indians population 1910, Canton, S.D.

1910 Aug 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=675, line 100 Table 7 Forms of mental disease of those admitted since opening the asylum (a reassessment of the diagnoses at initial admission) from the annual report for the fiscal year 1910, Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton, South Dakota

1911 Jun 28 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z5-J9H8 : Fri Oct 06 00:11:34 UTC 2023), Entry for Amos Deere, 1911, pg. 506/522, line 11, Asylum for Insane Indians population 1911, Canton, S.D.

1914 Jul 3 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493948/amos-deer: accessed February 11, 2024), memorial page for Amos Deer (–), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493948, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1914 Jul 3 - 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

John Hall 5-27-14 · Amos Deerr 7-13-14 · Ne-Bow-O-Sah 12-18-14