'Hi Nomblalo' Two Teeth

Two Teeth was Lakota (Lower Brule aka Sičháŋǧu) from the Crow Creek Reservation
(Lakota names for Two Teeth found are his Indian names; Hi Nomblalo can be found in the Indian censuses and Ki Nump is the Oglala translation for Two Teeth.)

Biography
Two Teeth was born C. 1851 and died July 16, 1930 at he age of 79 in the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. (2)

Two Teeth was buried inthe asylum cemetery row 2 plot 64 (1)

German settlers recorded Yankton land extended east into Minnesota to the Jeffers Petroglyphs(5)

Sources
(1) Culp, L. L. “Plot of the Cemetery.” Received by Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Canton Asylum, 17 Feb. 1934, Canton, South Dakota.
(2) Joinson, Carla. Vanished in Hiawatha: The Story of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. University of Nebraska Press, 2016
(3) Whitt, Sarah H. “False Promises: Race, Power, and the Chimera of Indian Assimilation, 1879-1934.” University of California, Berkeley, 2020, pg. 116-117.
(4) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493930/--two_teeth: accessed 03 October 2023), memorial page for - Two Teeth (unknown–18 Jul 1930), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493930, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).
(5) Wikipedia contributors. "Yankton Sioux Tribe." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Sep. 2023. Web. 4 Oct. 2023.
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Research Notes:
-Admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 2, 1921 diagnosed with dementia, senile
-Married to Mrs. Two Teeth (Note, its unclear to whom the date of death and age refers, Two-Teeth or Mrs.)...records relating to Mrs. Two Teeth reveal that two years after she was confined to the institution, her husband was committed for similarly vague reasons relating, ostensibly, to senility in old age.
-"In reference to whether Two Teeth should be released back home along with his wife at the request of her
brother, in 1921 Hummer wrote the Commissioner, “I have the honor to report that Mr. Two Teeth is in approximately the same condition as his wife, suffering from senile dementia and is considerably more disturbed and more difficult to manage, so that I feel compelled to advise against returning him to his home and recommend that he be continued under treatment in this institution.”71 Two Teeth was thus retained at the institution and would endure the loss of his wife the following year. Records relating to Mr. and Mrs. Two Teeth are relatively sparse; beyond Thick Hair’s request for his sister’s release and Hummer’s announcement to the Indian Office that Mrs. Two Teeth had died, there are few existing documents that might provide insight into what their life was like at the institution or the nature of their relationship together.

Despite the relative scarcity of personal information about the Two Teeth family, however, letters exchanged between the Indian Office, Hummer, and H.E. Wright, the clerk in charge at the Crow Creek Agency, offer additional insight into the many ways in which confinement at Canton could exacerbate simultaneous social and legal vulnerabilities, and demonstrate how U.S. officials rationalized the simultaneous confinement of relatives to this facility. 72

On July 27, 1925, three years after the death of Two Teeth’s wife, Wright wrote the Commissioner to inquire about Two Teeth’s assets, and whether they might be used to cover costs relating to his confinement at Canton. Wright explained:

Receipt is acknowledged of Office letter…requesting information as to whether or not Two Teeth, an inmate of the Canton Insane Asylum, is so financially situated so as to be able to pay for his maintenance at Canton at the rate of $400.00 per annum.
In reply, I have to inform your Office that Two Teeth has to his credit in this office as Individual Indian money the sum of $622.48 which is available for the purpose mentioned above. He also has 160 acres of farm land, appraised at $3000.00, which can be sold and used for this purpose.73

As indicated from this letter, once the balance of Two Teeth’s Individual Indian Money (IIM) account had been depleted, Wright surmised that the Indian Office might be inclined to dispose of his land in order to pay for his confinement at the facility. It is unclear whether Two Teeth’s allotment was sold out from under him at this time; a subsequent letter from Crow Creek Agent W.E. Dunn reflects that he was of the opinion that the land should be retained until the price per acre increased, at which point he recommended it be sold to pay Hummer. As Dunn explained in a letter dated September 29, 1925, “this old gentleman has funds in the amount of $633.12 on deposit to his credit at this agency that would be available for [the purpose of his maintenance at Canton], as careful inquiry among the members of this tribe has failed to disclose any near relatives or dependents who are in need of assistance.”74
Dunn continued:

In view of the above, it is my belief that the money on deposit to his credit at this agency should be made use of for his benefit during his lifetime. This old gentleman also has an allotment of 160 acres on this reservation that could when his present funds become exhausted, and land prices advance, be sold and the proceeds of the sale used for his care. I would not, however, under present land values recommend its sale at this time.75

By December, Assistant Commissioner E.B. Meritt had authorized the expenditure of $100.00 per annum from Two Teeth’s IIM account for the time being, although it is likely that this rate was reassessed at a later date. But on July 18, 1930, Hummer wrote the Commissioner to inform him of Two Teeth’s death, employing the same obscure medical language that characterized all such reports to the Indian Office: “He was seventy-nine years of age and suffering from senectus, including advanced arterio-sclerosis and chronic interstitial nephritis and gradually faded away during the intense hot dry spell which we are experiencing.”76 Wright instructed Hummer to inter the elder at Canton; Two Teeth, like his wife, would never return home.77
72 Other relatives were confined at Canton together, as well. According to various archival records, I have identified the following relationships: sisters Susan and Jane B. (Southern Ute); after Charles C.’s death in 1909, his son Peter and daughter Mary were confined to Canton (Menominee); Zonna Y. and her mother Drag Toes (West Navajo); Juanita E. and her daughter Frances (Pueblo); Brothers Joe and Frank M. (Cherokee); Siblings James and Annie S. (Chippewa); Seymore and Mary, parents to son Edward, and his legal wife Mary (Menominee).
73 H.E. Wright to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, July 27, 1925, RG 75, CCF 1907-1939, box 8, folder 51361, Canton Asylum, NARA-DC.
74 W.E. Dunn to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, September 29, 1925, RG 75, CCF 1907-1939, box 8, folder 51361, Canton Asylum, NARA-DC.
75 Ibid.
76 Harry Hummer to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, July 18, 1930, RG 75, CCF 1907-1939, box 20, folder 00,
Canton Asylum, NARA-DC. 77 According to Canton researcher Todd Leahy, Mrs. Two Teeth was interred at Canton on January 10, 1923; her husband was interred at the institution on July 18, 1930. For more information, see: “Appendix III: Names of Indians Buried in the Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery” in Todd Leahy, They Called It Madness: The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians,1899-1934 (Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2009)
Source: Whitt, Sarah H. “False Promises: Race, Power, and the Chimera of Indian Assimilation, 1879-1934.” University of California, Berkeley, 2020.
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-For more information, see: “Appendix III: Names of Indians Buried in the Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery” in Todd Leahy, They Called It Madness: The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians,1899-1934 (Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2009).
-His profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

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(Curator Note: Excluded from the survey below of pertinent documents are several which appear to have been misattached. There appears to be a person named Two Teeth of the Chippewa band who was a member of the Rocky Boy Indians who were Chippewa in Montana, this file shows Two Teeth at 21 years old in 1919.)

1895 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:76V8-YLZM : Wed Oct 04 18:34:22 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 300/492, census of the Brule Sioux tribe of the Rosebud Reservation

1898, Aug 24 "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGTQ-CT4B : Tue Sep 12 20:21:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 244/565, Rosebud Agency, Brule-Sioux Tribe census

(Curator Note: this file shows Two Teeth at age 36 (c. 1879) with a wife named Flying, daughter Bertha, son Cecil

1900 Jun 7 - "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MST6-2GZ : Sun Sep 17 02:58:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth and Flying, 1900, pg. 529/649, census of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Meyer County, South Dakota

1902 June 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:71X8-JRW2 : Thu Oct 05 13:47:00 UTC 2023), Entry for Cecil Two Teeth, pg. 369/665, census of the Brule Sioux, Rosebud Agency, South Dakota

1902, Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:71DR-6HMM : Tue Oct 03 22:58:34 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg 265/665, Rosebud Agency census

1904 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQM-19GC : Wed Oct 04 05:21:04 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 475/665, Rosebud Agency, Brule Sioux tribe

1907, Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7ZMX-QHPZ : Tue Sep 12 23:49:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 220/506, Rosebud Indian census June 30 1907

1909 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7VKX-DKW2 : Tue Oct 03 07:43:34 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 331/506, census of the Rosebud Sioiux Indians of the Rosebud Sioux Agency

1912 July 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:765N-HT6Z : Wed Oct 04 01:13:20 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 242/488, Rosebud Sioux, Little White River census

1919. Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPSK-RPDV : Tue Sep 12 20:38:55 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 131/665, Rosebud Reservation census, Ponca District

(Curator Note: this file shows Two Teeth with the same family as previous entry three years later at age 39

1919 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7KXR-DRZM : Tue Sep 12 23:40:07 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 414/733 June 30, 1919 Rosebud Agency, Cut Meat District census

1919, July 1 - (Curator Note: there is a July 1,1919 entry for Two Teeth but this document identities him as a member of the Rocky Boy Indians who were Chippewa in Montana, this file shows Two Teeth at 21 years old, may not be a correct attachment for the Sioux Two Teeth!))

1920 March 22 - "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6JW-FC1 : Sat Jul 22 07:46:22 UTC 2023), Entry for Cecil Two Teeth and Mary McCloskey, 1920, pg. 1125/1130

1920, Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7KX7-P8PZ : Tue Oct 03 14:55:11 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 651/733, Rosebud Agency census

(Curator Note: this file dated June 30, 1919 Rosebud Reservation shows a Two Teeth with a wife named Lucy. It shows also a Cecil as a head of household which could be the son from above.)

1922 Jun 30, - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W9TY-ZZ6Z : Wed Oct 04 08:02:43 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 507/894, Rosebud Agency

1924 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:688Q-XG2C : Tue Sep 12 23:47:59 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, 1924. pg 515/522, Jun 30,1924 Canton Asylum census by Dr. Hummer

1925, Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:76TS-1K6Z : Tue Sep 12 23:35:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 678/721, Rosebud Agency census of Rosebud Sioux

1929 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:661N-WG2G : Tue Sep 12 19:57:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, 1929, pg. 739/861, Lower Yanktonai Sioux of the Crow Creek Reservation

(Curator Note: shows Two Teeth as insane, head of household and widower as Mrs Two Teeth had died. Question? Why is he shown on this census as he was resident in the Canton Asylum on the date of census?)

1930, June - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7VKX-DKW2 : Tue Oct 03 07:43:34 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, pg. 331/506 June 30, 1909 Rosebud Indian Agency census

(Curator Note: this file is undated and apparantly shows Two Teeth as unmarried at 47 years old)

1931 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP8V-6XXS : Tue Sep 12 21:09:49 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, 1931, pg. 289/652 April 1, 1931 Lower Brule Sioux of Crow Creek census

1931 Apr 1 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP8K-SV71 : Tue Sep 12 18:17:04 UTC 2023), Entry for Two Teeth, 1931, pg. 294/652, census of the Lower Brule Sioux, Crow Creek

(Curator Note: page 294 seems to be a duplicate of a previous page with some different information, both show Two Teeth residing in Canton, Lincoln County)