Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery

Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery

See the related project: Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians
LOCATION: Hiawatha Golf Course/E Hwy 18, Canton,South Dakota
SIGNIFICANCE: Ethnic Heritage: Native American, Health/Medicine
DESIGNATION: The National Park Service added the cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places in February 1998. The cemetery was used between 1903 and 1934 for the patients at the Asylum. The facility itself no longer remains, in the late 1940’s the asylum itself was razed (see below in Research Notes.). Between 1934 and late 1940’s the facility had been used as a Penitentiary!
OPEN TO PUBLIC: No

Names of Indians buried in Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery

The cemetery adjacent to the asylum consists of 121 unmarked graves of Hiawatha patients from 53 different tribes (Duty, 2015). It has been found that many of these patients died because they were denied the care they needed, and that although there is a list of names of the dead (unrelated to grave location), no cause of death or reason for incarceration at the asylum was listed. Additional research has turned up some of this information and it is noted on the individual profiles.

Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery – Canton, SD
in Out of Place Graves

The cemetery has 121 known burials taken from FindAGrave search:

1. Kay Ge Gah Aush Eak unknown – 12 Mar 1913
2. Mary Bah unknown – 25 Aug 1930
3. George Beautiste unknown – 30 May 1909
4. John Big unknown – 25 Aug 1920
5. Joseph Big Mane unknown – 20 May 1916
6. Pugay Beel unknown – 14 Sep 1931
7. James Blackbull unknown – 9 Feb 1926
8. James Blackeye 1902 – 6 May 1922
9. Andrew Bray Blair unknown – 6 Aug 1921
10. Kaz Zhe Ah Bow unknown – 22 Jun 1912
11. Robert Brings Plenty unknown – 5 May 1903
12. Amos Brown unknown – 1 May 1921
13. Charlie Brown Birth and death dates unknown.
14. Mary G Buck unknown – 14 Dec 1918
15. Jane Burch unknown – 1 Feb 1916
16. Baby Caldwell unknown – 31 Jan 1921
17. Juanita Castildo unknown – 22 Jun 1908
18. Charles Chafflin unknown – 2 Mar 1914
19. Thomas Chasing Bear unknown – 2 Feb 1915
20. Chee unknown – 4 May 1911
21. Nancy Chewie unknown – 17 Feb 1918
22. James Chief Crow unknown – 24 Oct 1908
23. Ruth Chief On Top unknown – 15 May 1918
24. John Coal Of Fire unknown – 20 Jun 1919
25. Fred Collins unknown – 4 Jun 1919
26. Cecile Comes At Night 1893 – 12 Aug 1919
27. Herbert Conley unknown – 17 Mar 1932 Plot info: Block 2
28. Red Crow unknown – 8 Apr 1922
29. Guy Crow Neck unknown – 6 Sep 1927
30. Poxe Ah Dab Ab unknown – 26 Dec 1920
31. Andrew Dancer unknown – 21 Nov 1918
32. Big Day unknown – 3 Jul 1905
33. Josephine De Couteau unknown – 9 Apr 1923
34. Amos Deer unknown – 13 Jul 1914
35. Dasue Birth and death dates unknown.
36. Frederick Charging Eagle unknown – 5 Sep 1918
37. Mary Fairchild Birth and death dates unknown.
38. Tom Floodwood Birth and death dates unknown.
39. Chico Francisco unknown – 21 Apr 1927
40. Willie George unknown – 23 Nov 1919
41. Baptiste Gingras unknown – 19 Dec 1909
42. Ira Girstean unknown – 27 Mar 1920
43. Peter Greenwood 22 Sep 1905 – unknown
44. Emma Arnice Self Gregory 29 Dec 1867 – 12 Mar 1912
45. John Hall unknown - 27 May 1914.
46. Jessie Hallock unknown – 12 Jun 1923
47. James Hathorn unknown – 29 Nov 1919
48. Silas Hawk unknown – 12 May 1910
49. Jacob Hayes unknown – 4 Oct 1907
50. Edward Hedges 1870 – 21 May 1920
51. Cynia Houle unknown – 19 Jan 1932
52. Ollie House unknown – 19 Jul 1904
53. Sits In It unknown – 26 Jan 1921
54. Herbert Iron unknown – 20 May 1919
55. E-We-Jar unknown – 4 Oct 1910
56. Benito Juan unknown – 24 Mar 1926
57. Chur Ah Tah E Kah unknown – 2 Jan 1905
58. Hon-Sah-Sah-Kah unknown – 23 Oct 1905
59. Kaygwaydahsegaik unknown – 14 Oct 1910
60. Kayso unknown – 27 Mar 1923
61. Alfred H Kennedy unknown – 19 Feb 1921
62. No Walk Kiger unknown – 2 Jul 1929
63. Minnie LaCount (Barr) unknown – 5 Jul 1906
64. James Crow Lightening unknown – 8 Mar 1921
65. Anselmo Lucas unknown – 19 Dec 1926
66. Maud Magpie unknown – 24 Apr 1920
67. Magwon unknown – 23 Mar 1912
68. Joseph D Marshall unknown – 21 Nov 1919
69. John Martin unknown – 4 Apr 1922
70. Louise McIntosh unknown – 12 Apr 1915
71. Abraham Meacherm unknown – 10 Nov 1922
72. Harry Miller unknown – 25 Apr 1919
73. Aloysious Moore 1895 – 12 May 1923
74. Apolorio Moranda unknown – 14 Jan 1919
75. Yells At Night unknown – 21 Nov 1908
76. Ne Bow O Sah unknown – 18 Dec 1914
77. Dan Ach Onginiwa unknown – 29 Mar 1916
78. Long Time Owl Woman unknown – 25 Aug 1908
79. Enas-Pah unknown – 30 Sep 1909
80. Baby Ruth Enas-Pah unknown - 14 Oct 1909
81. Josephine Pajihatakana Birth and death dates unknown.
82. Marie Pancho unknown – 17 Oct 1923
83. Mary Peirre unknown – 16 May 1917
84. Selena Pilon unknown – 14 Oct 1922
85. Red Cloud unknown – 7 Dec 1910
86. Lucy Reed unknown – 19 Apr 1907
87. Sylvia Ridley unknown – 12 Jun 1905
88. Jack Root unknown – 30 Oct 1933
89. Sallie Seabott unknown – 12 Jul 1922
90. Alice Short unknown – 17 Apr 1909
91. Steve Simons unknown – 8 Oct 1917
92. Ede Siroboz unknown – 11 Aug 1928
93. Blue Sky unknown – 20 Jun 1914
94. Agnes Sloan unknown – 14 Feb 1910
95. Matt Smith unknown – 30 Nov 1928
96. Maggie Snow unknown – 9 Jul 1916
97. Edith Standing Bear unknown – 13 May 1905
98. Frank Starr unknown – 28 Apr 1913
99. Fred Takesup unknown – 6 Feb 1905
100. Joseph “Joe Big Bear” Taylor unknown – 18 Sep 1913
101. Asal Tchee unknown – 11 Feb 1909
102. Drag Toes unknown – 24 Feb 1932
103. James Two Crows unknown – 26 Nov 1917
104. Mrs Two Teeth unknown – 10 Jan 1923
105. - Two Teeth unknown – 18 Jul 1930
106. Antone Unknown unknown – 4 Apr 1912
107. Walkkas Unknown unknown – 21 Jan 1917
108. Lupe Maria Unknown unknown – 27 Oct 1916
109. Nadesooda Unknown unknown – 8 Feb 1908
110. Omudis Unknown unknown – 5 Jun 1920
111. Taistoto Unknown unknown – 17 May 1908
112. Toby Unknown unknown – 6 Mar 1906
113. Trucha Unknown unknown – 17 Nov 1905
114. Lizzie Vipont unknown – 17 Apr 1917
115. Lowe War unknown – 24 Dec 1909
116. Seymour Wauketch unknown – 1 Jun 1926
117. Josephine Wells unknown – 29 Jun 1921
118. Howling Wolf unknown – 30 Mar 1911
119. Roy Wolf unknown – 31 Mar 1928
120. Arch Wolfe 1874 – 2 Jul 1912
121. John Woodruff 15 May 1909 – 15 May 1909

See also WikiTree: The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Canton_Asylum

More information:

From the announcement for the Tenth Annual Memorial Prayer Ceremony in Canton in 1998 < link >:

"In 1898, Congress passed a bill creating the first and only Institution for insane Indians in the United States. The doors of the asylum, located just over the Nebraska border in Canton, South Dakota, were first opened for the reception of patients in January 1903. Department of Interior investigators revealed that during the time the asylum housed patients, many died because they were denied medical care. According to Harold Iron Shield, founder of the Native American Reburial Restoration Committee, patients were "traditional spiritual people or teenagers who misbehaved or people the Indian Agent didn't like." A 1933 investigation conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that "a large number" of patients showed no signs of mental illness.

Land was set aside for a cemetery, but the Indian Office decided that stone markers for graves would be an unwarranted expense. Today, the cemetery (121 names) is located in the middle of a golf course in Canton. No one knows the cause of death of the incarcerated or why they were even at the asylum. The National Park Service has recently added the cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places."

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“Wild Indians: Native Perspectives on the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians.” By Pemina Yellow Bird. < PDF >

Native peoples are the intergenerational survivors of a Nholocaust, the continuing and ongoing effects of which we struggle with every day. Not a single one of us, from the oldest elder to the newest newborn, escaped unscathed. …

I use the phrase “supposedly insane” to describe the Native inmates for two rea- sons. First, and most importantly, Native peoples generally do not have a notion of “insane” or “mentally ill” in our cultures. Indeed, I have been unable to locate a Native Nation whose indigenous language has a word for that condition. The closest we can come is a word that is more closely aligned with “crazy,” and that means that the person is either a very funny person, some- one who makes you laugh all the time, or is someone who cannot be reasoned with because he or she is too angry and cannot think. Second, since the Native inmates came from tribes all across the country, at a time when few Native people were fluent in English, I cannot see how a diagnosis of any kind could be made, as I doubt very much that the staff could speak Navajo, Menominee, Ojibway or Lakota, which are only a few of the thirty to fifty Nations represented at the Asylum at any given time.

”The Hiawatha Insane Asylum for Indians” (pictured), which opened for business in 1903, was the first and only federally funded psychiatric institution for American Indians in the U.S. After it was closed in 1933, it was torn down and a golf course was built in its place. A cemetery of 121 men, women and children who died at the asylum is located near the fifth hole. (Photo from the South Dakota State Historical Society, South Dakota Digital Archives, 2009-07-02-012).

Source: Canton in Lincoln County, South Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains) Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians. < link >

References and Further Reading

1. SAMSHA. “Wild Indians: Native Perspectives on the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians.” By Pemina Yellow Bird. < PDF >
2. .”‘A living burial’: inside the hiawatha asylum for insane indians.” Walker, D. E. (September 13, 2018) < Indian Country News >
3. National Park Service. “Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. < link >
4. “The asylum’s cemetery is now surrounded by a golf course — does this further delegitimize the lives of the patients kept there?” (April 4, 2017) < Vassar.edu >
5. RoadsideAmerica.com. “Canton, South Dakota: Asylum for Indians Marker and Grave - Visitor Tips and News.” (June 16, 2015). < link > “We went at sunset after most golfers had gone. We wished we had something to leave to pay respects. We noticed a lot of sea shells and one candle and a few hand made crosses. There was a sort of hidden gravestone to the north east side of the cemetery, keep your eyes down and you'll see it.”
6. Wikipedia contributors. "Canton Indian Insane Asylum." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Mar. 2023. Web. 22 Jul. 2023. @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_Indian_Insane_Asylum cites:
   1. Canton Indian Historical Society" Archived October 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, National Park Service. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
   2. Still Spring Films. "Hiawatha Asylum". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
   3. Bhatara, Vinod; Gupta, Sanjay; Brokenleg, Martin (1999-05-01). "The Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians: The First Federal Mental Hospital for an Ethnic Group". American Journal of Psychiatry. 156 (5): 767. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
   4. Nerburn, Kent (2013). The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo : a Child, an Elder, and the Light from an Ancient Sky. Novato, California: New World Library. ISBN 1608680150.
7. ”Hiawatha Insane Asylum” http://sites.rootsweb.com/~sdlincol/hiawatha.htm
8. "If you knew the conditions..." Health Care to Native Americans < 1994 Exhibit >
9. ”A Brief History Of The Hiawatha Asylum” Hiawatha Foundation. < link > “For the most part, the asylum and what went on there are now a forgotten part of history. A part that is acknowledged by the City of Canton on limited terms and has never been acknowledged by the history books. Information available regarding the asylum continues to be sketchy at best. One can find a few well written articles on the Internet but by and large, Hiawatha and its sins have never really been revealed to the public at large on any respectable scale. Short of one romance novel, an MPR interview spot, a pointed report regarding mental illness and Native Americans and some honorable mentions in various dissertations, the history of the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians has remained one of this country's best kept secrets.”
10. ” Putney, D. T. (1984). The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, 1902-1934. sdhspress.com. https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-14-1/the-can... ”
11. ” Kennecke, A. (2021). History of Hiawatha: The threat behind the Indian boarding schools. Keloland News. Nexstar Media Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2023, from https://www.keloland.com/news/investigates/history-of-hiawatha-the-.... (Video @ https://www.keloland.com/news/investigates/history-of-hiawatha-the-...)
12. ” Young, S., & Leader, A. (2013, May 5). S.D. revisits past at Native American Insane Asylum. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/05/sd-native-ame...
13. ” Manoukian, M. (2021, June 2). The tragic true story of the hiawatha insane asylum. Grunge. https://www.grunge.com/246656/the-tragic-true-story-of-the-hiawatha...
14. ” Mihesuah, D. (2021). Becoming Insane: The Death of Arch Wolfe at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. Disability Studies Quarterly, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v41i2
15. ” Gevik, B. (2019, November 20). Canton’s Hiawatha Indian Asylum. SDPB. http://www.sdpb.org/blogs/arts-and-culture/keepers-of-the-canton-in... (A timeline of the asylum)
16. ” Joinson, C. (2016). Vanished in Hiawatha: The story of the canton asylum for insane Indians. Bison Books.
17. ” Zoledziowski, A. (2021, December 17). 126 Native Americans are buried in unmarked graves at this golf course. Vice News. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7nezb/south-dakota-native-american... (Audio clip)
18. ” Whitt, S. (2021). Indigeneity, Disability and Settler Colonialism at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, 1902-1934. Disability Studies Quarterly, 41(4). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v41i4
19. ” Brice, A. (2020, November 19). Fiat vox ep. 66: how the u.s. government created an ‘insane asylum’ to imprison native americans. Berkeley News. Retrieved July 23, 2024, from https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/11/19/using-disability-to-imprison-n.... (Audio Clip)
20. ” Davis, S. (2017, November 13). The Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. WikiTree.com. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Canton_Asylum
21. " Honoring the Dead: A Digital Archive of the Insane Indian Asylum https://honoringthedead.omeka.net/items/show/26
22. " Houck Jr. Ph.D., J. A. (2018). When Ancestors Weep: Healing the Soul from Intergenerational Trauma. United Kingdom: Abbott Press. https://www.google.com/books/edition/When_Ancestors_Weep/PYh5DwAAQB...
23. " HMdb.org THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE “Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History” https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486

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