Herbert 'Crane' Iron

Herbert was an Northern Arapahoe man from the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming

The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone (Shoshoni) and the Northern Arapaho. The Southern Arapaho reside in Oklahoma.

The Wind River Reservation photo courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Arapaho were forced from their homeland in the East by white settlers and moved to the Great Plains. After the Colorado Wars, they were forced to live on reservations. In the spring of 1878, about 950 Northern Arapaho people arrived with an army escort on the Eastern Shoshone Reservation in the Wind River Valley in central Wyoming Territory. The two tribes had been in open warfare as recently as four years before.

The government confiscated land from the Arapaho for gold mining and forced the two traditional enemies onto one reservation. In a later settlement and land transaction, the Arapaho were given legal claim to the reservation, which was renamed the Wind River Indian Reservation.

In 1937, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Shoshones' favor and the tribe received over $6 million in compensation. The Supreme Court decision also made clear that the Northern Arapahos were considered equal partners with the Eastern Shoshone to the Wind River Reservation.

c. 1912 Tie hacks floated ties for the Chicago and North Western Railroad down Wind River at high water each spring. Photo courtesy of the Riverton Museum.

Biography:
Born c. 1877 to parents Elmer Iron and Snake Woman "Mary" Iron, Herbert was one of three siblings likely born in Fremont County, Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation.

According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha, Herbert was admitted to the Canton Asylum on August 6, 1908, at age 30 by the Shoshone Agency in Ft. Washakie, Wyoming, and diagnosed with hemiplegia, epileptic dementia, revised to epileptic psychosis, deteriorating (hemiplegia is a symptom that involves one-sided paralysis, epilepsy is abnormal electrical brain activity, also known as a seizure, (a study found that epilepsy was associated with a significant risk of developing dementia, which was magnified substantially by cardiovascular risk), revised in 1910 to epileptic psychoses which are a disruption of the mind that can occur during or after seizures.)

Herbert died in the Canton Asylum on May 18, 1919, at age 41. According to the letter dated February 17, 1934, by Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Herbert was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery in tier 1 plot 82

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

Research Notes:
-Herbert Iron is NOT in the June 30, 1920, Canton Asylum male census
-A reorganization of the tree was required due to father Elmer being married twice. According to the 1910 census, Herbert had two siblings, Cromwell and Winnie by mother Snake Woman 'Mary' Iron.

__________
Sources:

1900 Jun 6 - "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSTF-7Q6 : Wed Oct 04 03:56:54 UTC 2023), Entry for Iron and Mary Iron, 1900, pg. 913/1021, line 27, census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshoni Indian Reservation, Fremont County, Wyoming

1903 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7BKT-7JPZ : Wed Oct 04 07:01:56 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert or Crane Iron, 1903, pg. 212/750, line 134 (Crane Iron), census of the Northern Arapaho Indians, Shoshoni Agency, Wyoming

1910 May 13-14 - "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPXP-W68 : Fri Oct 06 09:53:07 UTC 2023), Entry for Emily Waite and Mrs, Mrs Womack, 1910, pg. 80/1082, line 72, United States Indian Insane Asylum, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota (replaced)

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=676, Table 7 Form of mental disease of those admitted since the opening of the Asylum, line 106

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=677, Table 8 Form of mental disease of those in the Asylum June 30, 1910, line 49

1911 Jun 28 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z5-J9HG : Fri Oct 06 00:11:35 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, 1911, pg, 506/522, line xx, census of Asylum for Insane Indians, Canton, S.D.

1914 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP3L-MGXR : Fri Oct 06 15:47:51 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 233/723, line 464 (Cromwell and wife Maggie T aka Crow), census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

1915 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7X9K-2MT2 : Fri Oct 06 23:14:28 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 338/723, line 467, census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

1917 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7ZMD-52PZ : Fri Oct 06 19:02:14 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 545/723, line 448, census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

1917 Oct 1 - 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=774, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians School

1918 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7X9C-R22M : Fri Oct 06 08:02:27 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 647/723, line 459, census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

1918 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=886, line 20, male census of the Canton Asylum

1918 Sep 12 - "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6Z6-671 : 24 December 2021), Herbert Iron, 1917-1918, pg. 1116/1143, age 41 Insane by Harry R. Hummer

1919 May 20 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14494258/herbert-iron: accessed ), memorial page for Herbert “Crane” Iron (1877–20 May 1919), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14494258, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400). (Curator Note: this is the date of burial)

1919 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7BJD-3JN2 : Thu Oct 05 16:02:04 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 33/798, line 455, census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

1920 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7BNZ-GC6Z : Fri Oct 06 03:14:13 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Iron, pg. 140/798, line 455 (died 5-16-19), census of the Arapaho Indians, Shoshone Agency, Wyo.

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

Harry Miller 4-25-19 · Herbert Iron 5-20-19 · Fred Collins 6-4-19

Curator Note: Links to Ancestry.com shared files have been deleted due to inaccessibility as they are behind the paywall, all files on Ancestry.com are available above