Texas Indian Tribes
The name Akokisa, spelled in various ways, was
given by the Spaniards to those Atakapa living in southeastern Texas,
between Trinity Bay and Trinity River and Sabine River. (See Atakapa under
Louisiana.)
Alabama Indians came to Texas
early in the nineteenth century, and the largest single body of Alabama still
lives there on a State reservation in Polk County. (See
Alabama.)
The name of a tribe or band belonging to the Hasinai Confederacy.
The Jicarilla and other Apache
tribes raided across the boundaries of this State on the northwest and west in
early times, but the only one of them which may be said to have had its
head-quarters inside for any considerable period was the Lipan.
The Aranama were associated
sometimes with the Karankawa in the Franciscan missions but were said to be distinct from
them. Although a small tribe during all of their known history, they held
together until comparatively recent times, and Morse (1822) gives them a
population of 125. They were remembered by the Tonkawa, when Dr. A. S.
Gatschet visited the latter, and he obtained two words of their language,
but they are said to have been extinct as a tribe by 1843. While their
affiliations are not certainly known, they were undoubtedly with one of
the three stocks, Karankawan, Tonkawan, or Coahuiltecan, probably the last
mentioned, and will be enumerated provisionally with them. (See
Coahuiltecan Tribes.)
See Akokisa above and under
Louisiana.
Perhaps from a Caddo word signifying "brushwood," and
having reference to the Big Thicket near the lower Trinity River about
which they lived.
Also called:
Quasmigdo, given as their own name by Ker (1816).
Spring Creeks, the name given by Foote (1841).
Connections. From the mission records it appears that the Bidai were of
the Atakapan linguistic stock.
Location. On the middle course of Trinity River about Bidai Creek and to
the westward and southwestward.
History. The Bidai were living in the region above given when first known
to the Europeans and claimed to be aborigines of that territory. The
Franciscan mission of San Ildefonso was founded for them and the Akokisa,
Deadose, and Patiri. In the latter part of the eighteenth century they are
said to have been chief intermediaries between the Spaniards and Apache in
the sale of firearms. The attempt to missionize them was soon abandoned.
In 1776–77 an epidemic carried away nearly half their number, but they
maintained separate existence down to the middle of the nineteenth
century, when they were in a village 12 miles from Montgomery. They have
now entirely disappeared.
Population. Mooney (1928) estimates for them a population of 500 in 1690.
In 1805 there were reported to be about 100.
Connection in which they have become noted. The name is perpetuated in
that of a small creek flowing into Trinity River from the west and in a
village known as Bedias or Bedais in Grimes County, Tex.
Some
Biloxi entered Texas before 1828. In 1846 a band was
camped on Little River, a tributary of the Brazos.
Afterward they occupied a village on Biloxi Bayou in the
present Angelina County, but later either returned to
Louisiana or passed north to the present Oklahoma. (See
Mississippi.)
Under
this head are included the Adai and the Natchitoches
Confederacy (see
Louisiana); and the Eyeish, the Hasinai Confederacy, and
the Kadohadacho Confederacy in Texas.
A band of Cherokee under a chief
named Bowl settled in Texas early in the nineteenth century, but they were
driven out by the Texans in 1839 and their chief killed. (See
Tennessee.)
Morse (1822) reported 1,200
Choctaw on the Sabine and Neches Rivers, and some bands continued to live for a
while in eastern Texas. One band in particular, the Yowani Choctaw, was admitted among the Caddo
there. All the Choctaw finally re-moved to Oklahoma. (See
Mississippi.)
See
Coahuiltecan Tribes Location
See
Comanche Tribe Location
See Muskogee, under
Alabama.
An Atakapa tribe or subtribe in south central Texas. (See
Louisiana.)
or Haish. Meaning unknown.
Also called
Aays
Aix
Aliche
Yayecha,
etc.
Connections. The Eyeish belonged to the Caddoan linguistic stock, their
closest relatives probably being the Adai, and next to them the peoples of
the Kadohadacho and Hasinai Confederacies, with which, in fact, Lesser and Weltfish (1932) classify them.
Location. On Ayish Creek, northeastern Texas, between the Sabine and
Neches Rivers.
History. In 1542 the Eyeish were visited by the Spaniards under Moscoso,
De Soto's successor. They are next noted in 1686–87 by the companions of
La Salle. In 1716 the mission of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores was
established among them by the Franciscans, abandoned in 1719,
reestablished in 1721, and finally given up in 1773, the success of the
mission having been very small. Their proximity to the road between the
French post at Natchitoches and the Spanish post at Nacogdoches seems to
have contributed to their general demoralization. Sibley (1832) reported
only 20 individuals in the tribe in 1805 but in 1828 there were said to be
160 families. Soon afterward they joined the other Caddo tribes and
followed their for-tunes, and they must have declined very rapidly for
only a bare memory of them is preserved.
Population. In 1779, 20 families were reported; in 1785, a total
population of 300; in 1805, 20 individuals; in 1828, 160 families. (See
Caddo Confederacy, under
Louisiana.)
Connection in which they have
become noted. Ayish Bayou, a tributary of
the Angelina River on which they formerly lived, perpetuates the name of
the Eyeish.
A tribe or band which attained some prominence from the importance attached
to it in the narratives of the De Soto expedition. (See Hasinai Confederacy.)
An important band of the
Hasinai Confederacy.
Hasinai Confederacy
See
Hasinai Confederacy Location
See
Pueblos under New Mexico
The Jicarilla ranged into this
State (Texas) at times. (See
Colorado.)
Kadohadacho Confederacy
See
Kadohadacho Confederacy
Karankawan Indian Tribe
See
Karankawan Indians
or (more phonetically) Kitsei. Their own name and said to mean
"going in wet sand," but the Pawnee translate their rendering of it as
"water turtle."
Also called:
Gfts'ajl, Kansa name.
Ki-0i'-tcac, Omaha name.
Kietsash, Wichita name.
Ki'-tchesh, Caddo name.
Quichais, Spanish variant.
Quidehais, from French sources (La Harpe, 1831).
Connections. The Kichai were a tribe of the Caddoan stock whose language
lay midway between Wichita and Pawnee.
Location. On the upper waters of Trinity River, and between that stream
and Red River. (See also
Oklahoma.)
History. It is probable that in the prehistoric period the Kichai lived
north of Red River but they had gotten south of it by 1701 when the French
penetrated that country and they continued in the same general region
until 1855. They were then assigned to a small reservation on Brazos
River, along with several other small tribes. In 1858, however, alarmed at threats of extermination on
the part of the neighboring Whites, they fled to the present Oklahoma,
where they joined the Wichita. They have remained with them ever since.
Population. Mooney (1928) estimates a total Kichai population of 500 in
1690. In 1772 the main Kichai village contained 30 houses and there were
estimated in it 80 warriors, most of whom were young. In 1778 the number
of Kichai fighting men was estimated at 100. The census of 1910 returned a
total population of only 10, and that of 1930 included them with the
Wichita, the figure for the two tribes, nearly all Wichita however, being
300.
Connection in which they have become noted. Their name Kichai is
perpetuated in the Keeche Hills, Okla.; Keechi Creek, Tex.; a branch of
the Trinity, Keechi; a post hamlet of Leon County, Tex.; and perhaps Kechi,
a post township of Sedgwick County, Kans.
This tribe hunted in and raided
across northern Texas. (See
Kansas.)
Koasati
Early in the nineteenth century
bands of Koasati had worked over from Louisiana into Texas, settling first on
the Sabine and later on the Neches and the Trinity. In 1850 the bulk of the
entire tribe was in Texas but later, partly it is said on account of a
pestilence, they suffered heavy losses and most of the survivors returned to
Louisiana, where the largest single body of Koasati is living. Among the Alabama
in Polk County, Tex., there were in 1912 about 10 of this tribe. (See
Alabama and
Louisiana.)
Adapted from Ipa-n'de, apparently a personal name; n'de meaning
"people." See Lipan Location
A few Muskogee came to Texas in
the nineteenth century, most belonging to the Pakana division. Two or three
individuals lived until recently near Livingston, Tex. (See
Alabama.)
Nacachau, Nacanish, Nacogdoche, Nadaco, Namidish, Nechaui,
Neches, and one section of the Nasoni. Small tribes or bands belonging to
the Hasinai Confederacy.
Nasoni (Upper). Small tribes or bands connected with the
Kadohadacho Confederacy.
A
Muskogee division. (See Muskogee above and also under
Alabama.)
Bands
belonging to the Pascagoula, entered Texas from
Louisiana early in the nineteenth century, and one band
lived on Biloxi Bayou, a branch of the Neches, for a
considerable period, together with some Biloxi Indians.
All had disappeared in 1912 except two Indians, only
half Pascagoula, living with the Alabama in Polk County.
(See
Mississippi).
A tribe associated with the Akokisa, Bidai, and Deadose in the
mission of San Ildefonso west of Trinity River. Since related tribes are
said to have been put in the same mission in that period (1748-49), it is
believed that the Patiri spoke an Atakapan language. Their former home is
thought to have been along Caney Creek.
There
were two late settlements of Pueblo Indians, Isleta del
Sur and Senecfi del Sur, near El Paso, Tex., composed principally of Indians
brought back by Governor Otermin in 1681 after an unsuccessful attempt to
subdue the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande. Senecii del Sur was, however,
actually in Chihuahua, Mexico. The people of these pueblos are now almost
completely Mexicanized. (See
New Mexico.)
Between
1823 and 1833 the Quapaw lived with the Caddo Indians in
northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas, and one
band of them known as Imaha were reckoned as a constituent element of the Caddo Confederacy.
(See Arkansas.)
See
Pueblos above.
A band of
Shawnee entered eastern Texas for a brief period during
the middle of the nineteenth century. They were
afterward moved to Oklahoma. (See
Tennessee.)
More often known as Jumano or Humano,
significance unknown. (See
Shuman)
Soacatino, or Xacatin
A tribe met by the companions of De Soto in northwestern Louisiana or
northeastern Texas. It was undoubtedly Caddo but has not been identified
satisfactorily with any known Caddo tribe.
Tawakoni
The Tawakoni were a subdivision
of the Wichita, or at least a tribe closely affiliated with them. (See
Oklahoma.)
The name
derived from the most important and only surviving tribe
of the family. Gatschet (1891 a) says that Tonkawa is a
Waco word, Tonkaweya, meaning "they all stay together." The
synonyms are not to be confounded with those of the Tawakoni. See
Tonkawan
Tribes Location
The Waco were a subtribe or tribe of the Wichita group which lived
near the present Waco for a limited period before removal to Oklahoma.
The Wichita lived for a time
along both sides of Red River in northern Texas. (See
Oklahoma.)
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
|
Order Family Tree Maker 2012