Blue Sky

Blue Sky was a Chippewa (aka Ojibwe) woman, Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa

The Lake Superior Chippewa are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior. Indians of present-day Wisconsin are the descendants of a northern Algonquian people who originally lived in an extensive area mainly north of Lake Superior and Huron. The Bad River Reservation in northwestern Wisconsin is the largest Chippewa reservation in the state and is located on the south shore of Lake Superior, aka "Gitche Gumee" in the Ojibwe language.

The Bad River Band began migrating west from the St. Lawrence River around 1500 AD and settled near mixed forests around Lake Michigan, Huron, and Superior. The Treaty of La Pointe in 1854 established the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and created a 120,000-acre reservation on the south shores of Lake Superior. The Bad River Band became part of the La Pointe Agency in 1858 until 1927. The Bad River Band is a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.

Today in Bad River, the primary clans are the Crane, Loon, Eagle, Bear, Marten, Lynx, Bullhead, Sucker and Turtle. A person's clan membership originally denoted what function in society the family and individual would fulfill, and membership was passed down through the father.

In the early 1900s, Stearns Lumber Company was a large company that held a monopoly in Bad River, controlling all major businesses and conspiring with the Indian Agent to extort tribal members and illegally gain land for logging.

Biography
Born 1864 (by calculation from documents below) in either Minnesota or Odanah, Wisconsin (Odanah is the Ojibwe word for town, near Ashland on the banks of Lake Superior). The federal census says Minnesota, however, by the statement by L.L. Culp she was a member of the Bad River tribe of Chippewa which was located in Odanah, Wisconsin. She was however admitted to the Canton Asylum by the La Pointe Indian Agency which had jurisdiction of the Lake Superior Chippewa in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Both her parents, although unnamed, are reported by census records to have been born in Minnesota.

Blue Sky is indicated in census records as having been married and widowed but no name is given for a spouse. Nor do we know of any children of the marriage.

Blue Sky was admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 9, 1903 diagnosed with Manic-depressive insanity (Manic-depressive insanity is characterized by the recurrence of mental symptoms) aka Circular Insanity (per Hummer 1910 table 7 summary) is a psychiatric disorder that involves cycles of depression, mania, and a period of "normal" between these two states. It is now considered a type of bipolar disorder...revised in 1910 (per Joinson) to dementia, arteriosclerotic (Arteriosclerosis is a type of vascular disease where the blood vessels carrying oxygen away from the heart (arteries) become damaged from factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain genetic influences) or senile

Patients were committed to insane asylums with relative ease during the 1800s and into the 1900s. Though many undoubtedly needed help, others were simply a nuisance to their relatives for one reason or another. Though whites were improperly committed sometimes, Native Americans were particularly helpless when it came to defending themselves against a charge of insanity; most were wards of the government at this time and had few rights. Reservation superintendents had great power, and their opinions about a particular Indian’s mental state carried great weight.

Superintendent O. S. Gifford wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Francis Luepp, in 1908, with a dilemma. A woman named Blue Sky had been admitted to the asylum from the La Pointe Agency at some earlier time but seemed to be ready for discharge. The snag was how to get her home. Since she didn’t speak or understand English, Gifford was reluctant to just release her on a difficult journey. He asked Luepp for funds to provide an escort to her home in Minnesota.

Though the correspondence seems to end there, escorts were provided to other discharged patients and Blue Sky probably received one. The real problem is how she could be committed if she couldn’t understand English. Gifford and his assistant, Dr. Turner, would have found it difficult to diagnose any real complaint or provide treatment unless she had a physical, rather than a mental problem. Yet, Blue Sky apparently recovered from whatever had sent her to the institution and displayed some sort of behavior that indicated that she had. Perhaps she had suffered an emotional blow that led to depression or excessive grief. Perhaps she had problems with family members and simply needed a break from them. Speculation is all that is possible at this point, but the language barrier is a particularly ominous aspect of the case.[1]

• [1]Joinson, Carla. “Suspect Diagnosis.” Indians, Insanity, and American History Blog, 19 Aug. 2012, http://cantonasylumforinsaneindians.com/history_blog/tag/o-s-gifford/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2023.

Minimal notes indicated that she was released to family in 1908 but returned to the asylum on an unknown date, and died there, single, on June 18, 1914.

Blue Sky was buried about June 20, 1914[2] in the Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery tier 5 plot 21 according to the L.L. Culp letter dated February 17, 1934.

• [2]Stawicki, Elizabeth. “A Haunting Legacy Canton Insane Asylum for American Indians.” Lincoln County, RootsWeb, 9 Dec. 1997, sites.rootsweb.com/~sdlincol/hiawatha.htm

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

Research Notes
-Blue Skye is NOT included in the 1916 annual report of school attendance
-Census reports for the year 1914 have not been found, nor have census reports for the Gifford years 1903 to 1909
-Bad River Chippewa according to LL Culp, also calls her Mrs. Charlos, age 68 in his 1934 letter = 1846 birth (Curator Note: I find NO reference to Mrs. Carlos in a record search and cannot confirm from where that name originated,)
-68 in 1914 at death per Joinson and Culp = birth in 1846
-Blue Sky is shown as being from both Minnesota and Wisconsin in the available recording
-I find no mention of any family in a records search on the name Sky or Carlos in Wisconsin or Minnesota.

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Sources

1910 May 13 - "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPFS-XVM : Wed Oct 04 12:34:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Skye Blue, 1910, pg. 82/1082, line 28 (Inmate, age 65, father and mother from Minnesota, married for 1 year), United States Indian Insane Asylum, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1910 - 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 65 Blue Sky - Circular Insanity, Table 7: Form of mental disease of those admitted since opening of Asylum

1911 Jun 28 - Harry R. Hummer; Hummer, Harry R., “1911 Census Roll,” Honoring the Dead: A Digital Archive of the Insane Indian Asylum, accessed December 19, 2023, https://honoringthedead.omeka.net/items/show/4, pg. 1 of 2, line 3, Blue Sky female, married (widow)

1997 Dec 9 - 22. Stawicki, Elizabeth. “A Haunting Legacy Canton Insane Asylum for American Indians.” Lincoln County, RootsWeb, 9 Dec. 1997, line 22 Blue Sky, sites.rootsweb.com/~sdlincol/hiawatha.htm.

2023 Jul 10 - 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

Kay-Zhe-Ah-Bow 6-22-12 · Blue Sky 6-20-14 · Louise McIntosh 4-12-15

1914 Jun 20 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14491720/blue-sky: accessed 24 December 2023), memorial page for Blue Sky (unknown–20 Jun 1914), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14491720, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400). (Curator Note: LL Culp ltr. 2/17/1934 and Carla Joinson book say the death date is 18 Jun 1914)