Drag Toes

Drag Toes was a Western Navajo woman

Tuba City/Western Agency

The original Navajo (Blue Canyon) Boarding School at Algart, Arizona, ca. 1901-1903. Courtesy of the Museum of Northern Arizona (MS-74-2-81).

In 1903, the government moved its Western Navajo Agency headquarters to Tuba City, an oasis fed by a tributary of the Little Colorado River. The city’s name belied its size; at the time, it consisted only of a trading post and a handful of buildings left by earlier Mormon settlers.
In 1904, the government began constructing a new boarding school to replace the Blue Canyon school: The new Tuba City Boarding School was comprised of three imposing buildings, arranged symmetrically in an architectural style typical of federal buildings of the time.

Biography:
Drag Toes was born c. 1857 based on the statement that she was 73 in the 1930 census. Her parents are unknown. She was the mother of Zonna Yazzi, also a patient inmate at the Canton Asylum, and identified as a Southern Navajo, which might be indicative of her father. See: Zonna Yazza

From the book Vanished in Hiawatha by Carla Joinson, Drag Toes was admitted to the Canton Asylum on January 21, 1920, and diagnosed with infantile spastic diplegia (Infantile spastic diplegia, also known as spastic diplegia or infantile diplegia, is a type of paralysis that affects muscle groups on both sides of the body. It's a type of cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects muscle coordination and body movements.).

According to the letter dated February 17, 1934, Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Drag Toes died at the Canton Asylum on February 24, 1932, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery tier 3 plot 51.

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

Research Notes:
-Drag Toes does not show up in Indian census reports because the Western Navajo did not have their first census until 1929
-Carla Joinson in Vanished in Hiawatha says she is the mother of Zonna Yazza admitted to the Canton Asylum on April 29, 1919 (before her mother), suffering from epilepsy and indicates she was a Southern Navajo.
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Sources:

1920 Jan 30 - "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J7-F59 : Sun Mar 10 08:42:22 UTC 2024), Entry for Drag-Toes, 1920, pg. 653/1130 (page 3 of 3), line 10, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton Township, Lincoln, South Dakota

1920 Jun 30 - 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=899, line 9, female census of the Canton Asylum

1921 Jun 30 - “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, pg. 507/519, line 11, female census of the Canton Asylum

1922 Jun 30 - 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=1042, line 11, female census of the Canton Asylum

1923 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=32, line 11, female census of the Canton Asylum

1924 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll015unit/page/n513/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 514/519, line 13, female census of the Canton Asylum

1925 - "South Dakota State Census, 1925", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMWT-NFP : Sat Mar 09 14:03:33 UTC 2024), Entry for Drag Toes, 1925, pg. 3330/3385, card #626 (age 63), South Dakota State census

1925 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=117, line 12, female census of the Canton Asylum

1926 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=168, line 13, female census of the Canton Asylum

1927 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=186, line 13, female census of the Canton Asylum

1928 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=211, line 12, female census of the Canton Asylum

1929 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=329, line 12, female census of the Canton Asylum

1930 - "United States Census, 1930", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQVC-B9Q : Fri Mar 08 04:54:29 UTC 2024), Entry for Toes Drag, 1930, pg. 611/1062, line 53, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1930 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=351, line 13, female census of the Canton Asylum

1931 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, pg. 370/1140: 1910-27, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports 1910 – 1935, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155855298?objectPage=371, line 12, female census of the Canton Asylum

1932 Feb 24 - "South Dakota, Grave Registration Records, 1940-1941", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CYZL-TMW2 : Sun Mar 10 09:30:31 UTC 2024), Entry for Toes Drag., no image
Name Toes Drag
Sex Female
Age 72 years
Birth Year (Estimated) 1860
Death Date 24 February 1932
Event Type Burial
Event Place Presho, Lyman, South Dakota, United States
Cemetery Indian Asylum

1932 Feb 24 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493778/drag-toes: accessed April 18, 2024), memorial page for Drag Toes (unknown–24 Feb 1932), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493778, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1932 Feb 24 - 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

Cynia Houle 1-19-32 · Drag Toes 2-24-32 · Charlie Brown