Asal-Tchee

Asal-Tchee was a Navajo woman
(Curator Note: The spelling and configuration of the name Asal-Tchee is itself in doubt, I use the hyphenated name as indicated on the plaque on the burial stone at the cemetery. She is also identified as he in other sources, used as a female here based on Canton Asylum documents)

General note about the seal: In English, the official name for the area was "Navajo Indian Reservation", as outlined in Article II of the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo. On April 15, 1969, the tribe changed its official name to the "Navajo Nation", which is displayed on its seal.[7] In 1994, the Tribal Council rejected a proposal to change the official designation from "Navajo" to "Diné", a traditional name for the people. Some people said that Diné represented the people in their time of suffering before the Long Walk, and that Navajo is the appropriate designation for the future.[8] In the Navajo language, Diné means "the People", a term many indigenous nations identify within their respective languages. Among the Navajo populace, both terms are employed. In 2017, the Navajo Nation Council rejected legislation to change the name to "Diné Nation," citing potential "confusion and frustration among Navajo citizens and non-Navajos."[9][10] (Curator Note: The bottom line question is whether there is or was an area or tribe known as the Southern Navajo. The research indicates that The Southern Navajo Agency is another name for the Fort Defiance Agency. The Fort Defiance Agency is located in the southern region of the Navajo Nation, which includes the states of Arizona and New Mexico, thus the confusion)
Source: Wikipedia contributors. "Navajo Nation." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 31 Oct. 2023. Web. 5 Nov. 2023.

Biography:
Whether Asal-Tchee was Navajo has yet to be confirmed with documents. The Navajo tribe shared tribal lands with the Hopi, Apache, Moqui, and White Mountain Apache tribes. The ONLY documentation found to date that she was Navajo comes from the Canton Asylum annual reports and the letter on February 23, 1934, written by Dr. L.L. Culp regarding a "plot of the cemetery at Canton Asylum".

Research Notes:
-According to notes in both Asylum archival documents and the letter from Dr. Culp, Asal-Tchee was identified as Southern Navajo from the Ft. Defiance Agency in Arizona.
-Patient Inmates in the asylum were based on the 1910 superintendent's annual report, which only summarized the data from 1902 to 1910. Census reports from the asylum were not available before 1910.
-According to Carla Joinson from "Vanished in Hiawatha", Tchee Asal was admitted on July 18, 1906, diagnosed with "toxic insanity", and died in the asylum on February 11, 1909, at age 29.
-from the above data, which can be used for research, she was therefore born c. 1880, probably in the jurisdiction of the Ft. Defiance Agency.
-Given the date of admission and death of Asal-Tchee, she would not have been specifically identified in 1910 and later except by summary. The only information specific was Table 12 from the August 1910 report which identified "giving town and state from which patients were admitted (all of which by the way are in records in Navajo County)"

• Fort Defiance 3
• Holbrook 1
• Keam's Canyon 1
• Sacaton 3
• San Carlos 3
• Tuba (City) 1

(Curator Note: an in-depth search of records in these 6 locations using various name configurations for Asal-Tchee and presumed dates of birth and death turned up NOTHING!
-Asal-Tchee was admitted to Canton with a diagnosis of "toxic insanity". According to BehaveNet, toxic insanity is defined as an"insanity category that includes cretinism and insanity related to pellegra (a systemic disease caused by a severe deficiency of niacin (vitamin B3) or alcohol use; cretinism is defined as the "term refers to the combined mental and physical results of congenital thyroid hormone deficiency, it is commonly used as a derogatory term for someone regarded as stupid."
-Some observations on naming...
Carla Joinson in Vanished in Hiawatha shows this on page 316...
Milsie Antone
Tchee Asal
Joanna Augusta
...taken from this if the author is being consistent, Tchee would be a given name and Asal would be a surname (these options were used in the above-referenced search)
Note also that on the plaque on the burial stone at the cemetery the spelling is Asal-Tchee. Many Indian names are long, multi-syllabic, and hyphenated, thus indicating the possibility of a partial name
Also, note that the name Chee is a very common Navajo surname, in various spellings, and there is a patient inmate by the name of Chee (only), but identified as a Southern Navajo, shown in asylum documents; Asal T. Chee was used as a variation to no avail.

Her profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.
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Sources:
1. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14491672/asal-tchee: accessed 05 November 2023), memorial page for Asal Tchee (unknown–11 Feb 1909), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14491672, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).
2. Hilton, M. (Ed.). (2018). The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/ (From the photo of the bronze plaque on the stone marker Bronze plaque on burial stone
Names of Indians Buried in Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery

Asal-Tchee 2-11-09 

(See the site Here: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486, click to enlarge)