James 'Little Jimmy Hathorn' Hawthorne

James was a Navajo child from the Fort Defiance Agency of Southern Navajo

Source: “U.S. Senate Collection: Fort Defiance, New Mexico (Now Arizona).” Www.senate.gov, www.senate.gov/art-artifacts/fine-art/paintings/33_00011_000.htm. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Source: “Administrative Boundaries.” Diné Nihi Kéyah Project - Navajo Nation Land HIstory, Law and Custom, dinelanduse.org/boundaries/.

Window Rock at Sunrise is a photograph by Erica Hanks

Fort Defiance, located in Apache County, Arizona, was built in 1851 to control the Navajo Nation after several failed treaties. The Navajo call the fort "Tsèhootsooì" or "Meadow Between the Rocks or Canyon"

Fort Defiance was built on valuable grazing land that the federal government then prohibited the Navajo from using. As a result, the appropriately named fort experienced intense fighting, culminating in two attacks: in 1856 and 1860. The next year, at the onset of the Civil War, the army abandoned Fort Defiance. Continued Navajo raids in the area led Brigadier General James H. Carleton to send Kit Carson to impose order. The fort was reestablished as Fort Canby in 1863 as a base for Carson's operations against the Navajo. General Carleton's "solution" was brutal: thousands of starving Navajo were forced on a Long Walk of 450 miles (720 km) and interned near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and much of their livestock was destroyed. Following completion of this campaign in 1864 the fort was again abandoned and was burned by remaining Navajo, with only its walls remaining. The Navajo Treaty of 1868 allowed those interned to return to a portion of their land, and Fort Defiance was reestablished as an Indian agency that year. In 1870, the first government school for the Navajo was established there.
Wikipedia contributors. "Fort Defiance, Arizona." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Apr. 2024. Web. 8 May. 2024.
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From the Indians, Insanity, and American History Blog, Asylums And Insanity Treatments 1800 – 1935
"Though women, and especially young girls, may have had fewer rights and protections under traditional white sensibilities, boys were also vulnerable to involuntary commitment. Navajo James Hathorn became a patient at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians in 1904, when he was either six or eight years old. (See last post concerning another young patient.) Hathorn’s mother had suffered some problems during delivery, which affected James’s motor skills and language development. His problems were so severe that no one on his reservation could, or would, take care of him. He received ongoing medical care from Dr. Turner, mainly anti-spasmodic and physical therapy, which seemed to be helpful. At the time, there were 23 males at Canton Asylum, so presumably this little boy lived among them.

Though O. S. Gifford was not a trained psychiatrist as Dr. Harry Hummer was, he surely didn’t believe the boy was insane. Though he was probably taken to, and accepted by, the asylum with the best of intentions, Hathorn’s life had to be miserable. Authorities and family at the reservation, Gifford, and Dr. Turner probably understood Hathorn’s medical needs to be extreme, but putting a disabled child into an asylum with patients who were sometimes violent could not have been the best solution. Hathorn died at the age of 19 or 21, with little to indicate that he had improved to any great degree."
Source: Joinson, Carla. “Boys Not Exempt.” Cantonasylumforinsaneindians.com, 13 May 1912, cantonasylumforinsaneindians.com/history_blog/tag/o-s-gifford/. Accessed 8 May 2024.

Biography:
James Hawthorne was born in Arizona c. 5/1896 to a white father named Freemen Hawthorne and his Navajo Indian wife Marie. He had two younger siblings Frank and Thomas. He resided somewhere under the jurisdiction of the Fort Defiance Agency, Arizona.

According to Carla Joinson in her book Vanished in Hiawatha, James was admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 14, 1904, which may be a misprint as asylum records later indicate it was March 4, 1904, at age 7 or 8, which posed a problem for then superintendent Oscar Gifford due to his young age and the older male population. James was diagnosed at the time with Diplegia spastica infantalis (Diplegia spastica infantalis, also known as spastic diplegia or infantile diplegia, is a type of cerebral palsy that causes paralysis in similar body parts on both sides of the body.), later in 1910, revised to congenital imbecility (Congenital imbecility is a mental defect that occurs when brain development is arrested before birth or in early childhood. It's a middle-grade of oligophrenia, also known as congenital dementia. People with congenital imbecility are unable to manage themselves or their affairs, or in the case of children, be taught to do so. They usually need help with speaking, walking, dressing, and eating.)

According to a letter dated February 17, 1934, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Dr. L.L. Culp advised that James arrived from Fort Defiance, died at the Canton Asylum on November 26, 1919, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery tier 1 plot 79.

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

Research Notes:
-Date of death per Asylum records is November 26, 1919, both FaG and the Historical Marker erroneously indicate November 29, which is the date of burial in the Hiawatha Cemetery
-1/2 Navajo, father was white, mother was Navajo

Further Reading:
1. Alexander, Kathy. “Fort Defiance, Arizona – Watching the Navajo – Legends of America.” Www.legendsofamerica.com, Feb. 2022, www.legendsofamerica.com/az-fortdefiance/.
2. History, Old Guard. “Defending Fort Defiance – April 30, 1860.” Old Guard History, 30 Apr. 2016, oldguardhistory.com/2016/04/30/defending-fort-defiance-april-30-1860/. Accessed 8 May 2024.
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Sources:

1900 Jun 19 - "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSR8-R85 : Tue Mar 05 21:50:35 UTC 2024), Entry for Freeman H Hathorn and Maria Hathorn, 1900, pg. 25/207, line 27 (Jas. A. Hathorn b=5/1896), census of the Moqui Indian Reservation, south-central portion, scattered Navajo population, Arizona Territory

1900 Jun 23 - "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9VC-XH8 : Tue Mar 05 21:50:37 UTC 2024), Entry for Freeman Hawthorne and Marie Hawthorne, 1900, pg. 68/109, line 8 (b=5/1896), census of Holbrook Justice Precinct, Navajo County, Arizona

1910 May 13 - "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPXP-WD8 : Sat Mar 09 05:34:10 UTC 2024), Entry for Gilbert Schrager and Sigar Monson, 1910, pg. 81/1082, line 10 (Inmate age 13), census of the United States Indian Insane Asylum, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1910 Jul 2 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:688C-DLX6 : Sat Mar 09 15:56:24 UTC 2024), Entry for James Hathorn, 1910, pg. 504/522, line 11 (age 12), census of the Canton Asylum by Harry Hummer

1910 Aug 4 - 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=674, line 24, Table 7 Form of mental disease of those admitted since opening of Asylum

1910 Aug 4 - 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 Asylum, June 30, 1910, revised

1911 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z5-J9HK : Sun Mar 10 14:50:50 UTC 2024), Entry for James Hathorn, 1911, pg. 506/522, line xx (age 13), census of the Canton Asylum by Harry Hummer

1917 - 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, line 15, Asylume for Insane Indians School Quarterly School Report

1917-1918 Sep 12 - "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6Z6-67Y : 24 December 2021), James Hathorn, 1917-1918, pg. 1114/1143, draft registration card marked "Insane", signed by HR Hummer

1919 Nov 29 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14494271/james-hathorn: accessed May 8, 2024), memorial page for James Hathorn (unknown–29 Nov 1919), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14494271, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1919 Nov 29 - 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

Willie George 11-23-19 · James Hathorn 11-29-19 · Ira Girsteau 3-27-20