James Crow

James Two Crows was a Hidatsa (aka Gros Ventre) man of the MHA Nation, Fort Berthold, North Dakota

Belonging to the land: Home of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (aka the Three Affiliated Tribes)

The reservoir that formed behind the Army Corps of Engineers’ Garrison Dam was named after Sacajawea, the legendary Shoshone Indian woman who guided Lewis and Clark through the mountains of Montana. 178-mile-long Lake Sakakawea, the third largest reservoir in the country, flooded a quarter of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, forcing the relocation of 325 families from the towns of Sanish, Elbowoods, Lucky Mound, Shell Creek, Nishu, Charging Eagle, Beaver Creek, Red Butte, Independence, and Van Hook.
Source: Heit, Judi. “Ghost Lakes: Lake Sakakawea & Garrison Dam ~ Elbowoods, ND.” Ghost Lakes, 6 Feb. 2012, ghostlakes.blogspot.com/2012/02/elbowoods-nd-flooded-plain.html. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Ft. Berthold Agent L. B. Sperry and Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara delegation to Washington D.C.
Source: “Collection | North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum.” Statemuseum.nd.gov, statemuseum.nd.gov/photobook/collection?CollectionNmbr=00384. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Further Reading:
1. Gary E. Moulton. “Hidatsa Territory.” Discover Lewis & Clark, 10 Apr. 2021, lewis-clark.org/native-nations/siouan-peoples/hidatsa-territory/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
2. https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/02/land-grab-cheats-no...
3. Wikipedia contributors. "Hidatsa." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Apr. 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024.
4. Kopp, Mike. “The Mild-Mannered Explorers Search for Elbowoods.” Beautiful Badlands ND, 16 May 2017, www.beautifulbadlandsnd.com/mild-mannered-explorers-search-elbowoods/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Biography:
Who went to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, James or John Two Crows:
Discussion: Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha has this person listed as James or John Two Crows (Gros Ventre). Dr. L.L. Culp in his February 17, 1934 letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs has this person listed as TwoCrows James (or John) age 27 death on November 26, 1917. Beginning with the 1904 census, James and John are shown as brothers one year apart. One brother was committed to the Canton Asylum, the other not. One brother died on November 26, 1917, and James disappeared from the census in 1918. In the 1918 census, John T. Crow is shown with a new wife, Ermel Newman. John Crow (Two Crows) is shown in the United States, Native American Birth and Death Records, 1885-1940 as dying on June 10, 1936. A John Two Crow is indicated in a FaG memorial with a death date of June 10, 1936.
Conclusion: James Two Crow was the brother committed to the Canton Asylum and died there on November 26, 1917. John Two Crow was the brother who died in Fargo on June 10, 1936. To add to the confusion, both brothers died of epilepsy.

James Two Crows was born c. 1899, the older brother of John who was born c. 1890. They were the children of an unknown father and a Gros Ventre mother named Wa-shu-wi-ash born c. 1861.

According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha, James Two Crows was admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 6, 1909, and diagnosed with Imbecility, epileptic, deteriorating psychosis (Epileptic psychoses reflect a fundamental disruption in the fidelity of mind and occur during seizure freedom or during or after seizures. The psychotic symptoms in epilepsy share some qualities with schizophrenic psychosis, such as positive symptoms of paranoid delusions and hallucinations.).

In the letter dated February 17, 1934, to the commissioner of Indian Affairs, Dr. L.L. Culp notes that James (or John), died at the Canton Asylum on November 26, 1917, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery tier 1 plot 87.

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

Research Notes:
-There is a question as to which brother John or James was at Canton. Census reports show that there were two people, John and James who were brothers a year apart in age, and both appear to have been epileptic, but only one severe enough to warrant confinement at Canton.
-Mother "White Woman" disappears from the 1908 census, John and James are each listed separately but the census is mute on whether they are living BHS
-John and James in early census reports are given the surname "Crow". Later censuses refer to John as Crow (Two Crows). Beginning in 1916 he was named John T. Crow
-James T. Crow disappears from the Jun 30, 1918 census which is consistent with a death date of Nov. 26, 1917. He is in the Jun 30, 1917 census as age
-James first shows up in the 1899 census at age 10, John is not there however?
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Sources:

1899 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll132unit/page/n504/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 505/688, line 838, census of the Arickeree, Grosventres, and Mandan Indians, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1900 Jun 30 - "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSTD-3G7 : Thu Apr 11 19:43:34 UTC 2024), Entry for John Two Crows, 1900, pg. 647/714, line 28, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, McLean County, North Dakota

1903 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n31/mode/1.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 32/597, line 406, census of the Grosventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1904 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n68/mode/1.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 69/597, line 413, census of the Grosventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1905 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n126/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 127/597, line 418, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1906 Jul 1 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n191/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 192/597, line 412, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1907 Jul 1 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n211/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 212/597, line 411, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1908 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n286/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 287/597, line 399, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1909 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n333/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 334/597, line 396, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1910 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n371/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 372/597, line 407, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1911 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n419/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 420/597, line 416, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1912 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n467/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 468/597, line 434, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1913 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n514/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 515/597, line 432, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1914 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n551/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 552/597, line 418, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1915 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll133unit/page/n574/mode/.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 575/597, line 423, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1916 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll134unit/page/n16/mode/1.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 17/935, line 435, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1917 Jun 30 - “Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 [Microform].” Internet Archive, Washington : National Archives and Records Service, 1965, https://archive.org/details/indiancensusroll134unit/page/n61/mode/1.... Accessed 29 Feb. 2024, pg. 62/935, line 446, census of the Gros Ventres, Fort Berthold Agency, North Dakota

1917 Nov 26 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493972/james-two_crows: accessed April 20, 2024), memorial page for James Two Crows (unknown–26 Nov 1917), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493972, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1917 Nov 26 - 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

Steve Simons 10-8-17 · James Two Crows 11-26-17 · F. C. Eagle 9-5-18