Tzi 'Herbert' Conley

Herbert was a Western Navajo man

The Original Navajo Homeland
The traditional homelands of the Navajo (Diné) are marked by four sacred mountains that stretch across modern-day Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

According to tribal stories, the Navajo (Diné) emerged from the lower worlds to this region, which they call Dinétah, or “among the People.” Dinétah is the place where Earth people and Holy People interacted; their relationships form the foundation of cultural practices that underlie Navajo (Diné) life today.

After many invasions by Spain, Mexico, and eventually the United States, the Navajo (Diné) mounted campaigns of resistance in order to remain in their ancestral homelands.

The Navajo Long Walk
Between 1863 and 1866, more than 10,000 Navajo (Diné) were forcibly removed to the Bosque Redondo Reservation at Fort Sumner, in current-day New Mexico. During the Long Walk, the U.S. military marched Navajo (Diné) men, women, and children between 250 to 450 miles, depending on the route they took.

The Western Navajo Agency was established in 1901 when the old Navajo Agency was split.

Biography:

Born c. 1907 is indicated in several Indian census reports but no parents are listed. He does not appear to show up in any census earlier than 1929, and then as single, full-blooded, and head of household. No parents are identified.

Admitted by the Western Navajo Agency from Tuba City, Coconino County, Arizona, situated within the badlands of the Painted Desert, Herbert Conley first shows up in the Canton Asylum in the 1931 male census. He is included in the 1932 census but is not included in the June 30, 1933 census indicating that he died previous to that date, indeed, on March 17, 1933. There is no diagnosis indicated in either census.

The Painted Desert of Arizona by Dave Alexander @ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-painteddesert/

According to the February 23, 1934 letter from Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Herbert Conley is buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery, tier 2 plot 66.

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

Research Notes:
-On July 1, 1920, Robert E. Burris, then superintendent of the Western Navajo Agency stated in a note attached to the Hopi census "No census roll or other list of names of Navajo and Paiute Indians on the Western Navajo Reservation has ever been made, and it is impracticable, if not impossible, to make a census of those Indians at this time without the help of the military forces of the United States."

-Roll 640 in Microcopy 595, page 142 has a letter dated June 30, 1923, reiterating that point signed by then superintendent Harvey K. Meyer
-The Original Western Navajo Boarding School was Rustic and Remote
September 21, 2023 9:32 AM
By Cecily Hilleary
Walter Runke (1879-1964) served as superintendent of the Western Navajo Indian Agency from 1901-1920, and between 1901 and 1902, taught at the Western Navajo Boarding School, sometimes known as the Western Navajo Training School or the Blue Canyon School. The School was established at an abandoned trading post at Algert in Arizona's Blue Canyon, today a ghost town. It had an initial enrollment of 14 Navajo children.
When the U.S. government didn't come forward with funds to improve the site, Runke, employees and Navajo stonemasons went to work themselves, hauling stone and constructing new buildings.
“Oil-can cases were used for window frames and goods boxes were utilized for lumber to make doors, etc.,” Runcke wrote in his 1901 report to the Commissioner for Indian Affairs in Washington.
These photos speak to the rustic conditions of the early school, which closed after a new agency school was constructed in Tuba City, 40 kilometers away.

-On July 1, 1925, Superintendent Harvey K. Meyer wrote "A census of the Navajo Indians under this jurisdiction has not been procured and cannot be submitted." Source Roll 640 pg. 161/543
-It was not until Jun 30, 1929, that the first census of the Navajo Tribe of the Navajo Reservation under the jurisdiction of the Western Navajo Agency was completed and submitted, which begins in Roll 640 page 222 @ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89W8-Q3Y1?view=ind.... Herbert shows up in the 1929 census line 1038
__________
Sources:

1929 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQZ-VZY4 : Thu Oct 05 04:15:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Conley, 1929, pg. 299/543, line 1038, census of the Navajo Tribe, Navajo Reservation, Western Navajo Jurisdiction

1930 Apr 1 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGYV-JXXD : Thu Oct 05 13:02:03 UTC 2023), Entry for Herbert Conley, 1930, pg. 100/271, line 1054, census of Navajo Reservation, Western Navajo Jurisdiction

1931 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, 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=370, line 11, circular 2276 Annual Report 1931 Asylum for Insane Indians, male census

1932 Jun 30 - Canton Insane Asylum: 1923-33; Cantonment School, 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=390, line 11, Annual Report 1932 Asylum for Insane Indians, male census

1932 Mar 17 - Legacy NFS Source: Herbert Conley - Government record: birth-name: Herbert Conley
Describe The Record (Notes)
Government record: birth name: Herbert Conley
Government record: male
Government record: death: 17 March 1932; Canton, Lincoln, South Dakota, United States

1933 Mar 17 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493934/herbert-conley: accessed 04 February 2024), memorial page for Herbert Conley (unknown–17 Mar 1933), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493934, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1933 Mar 17 - 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

Pugay Beel 9-14-31 · Herbert Conley 3-17-33 · Jack Root 10-30-33