Descendants of Kakaygeesick and Namaypoke were enrolled Red Lake tribal members

according to the 1929 Red Lake Indian Census

Last week and the week before, I described how the 2011 summary judgement in Kakaygeesick v. Salazar included evidence that Red Lake General Council denied the descendants of Namaypoke and Kakaygeesick tribal membership in 1936.¹

Yet, in the 1929 Red Lake Indian Census, Kakaygeesick’s daughter Mary — listed as Mrs. John Angus — appears with her sons, Albert and George.

1929 Red Lake Indian Census

Notice “enrollment approved” with a sequence of numbers and letters in the column to the left of their names. At first, I thought that because Mary Kakaygeesick had married John Angus — a Red Lake tribal member — she and her adult sons had been enrolled through marriage.

But they aren’t the only descendants whose names appear with the same notation.

Anna Namaypoke Jones, and her daughter Sally, are also listed with the same note next to their names.

1929 Red Lake Indian Census

I am not entirely surprised to find these descendants had been tribal members since Kakaygeesick had been a widower of a Red Lake woman and his daughter and niece had married Red Lake men.

I found this photograph searching the Minnesota Historical Society digital collection with this attribution: “Tipi summer home of John Jones, Red Lake Agency, 1925.”

Tipi summer home of John Jones, Red Lake Agency, 1925

Is this the same John Jones who was the husband of Namaypoke’s daughter Anna? I don’t know anyone alive who can verify it.

For all I know, the younger woman on the right might be Sally Jones, who would have been 17 years old in 1925. The other two women could be Anna Jones and her sister O-gah-bay-ah-sheck (Catherine, or Katie). I noticed John Jones himself is not in the image, though the automobile may have been his. It seems entirely plausible Anna and John Jones summered at Red Lake Agency in 1925.²

What I did find surprising in the 1929 Indian Census was the listing for Kakaygeesick’s son, John, and grandson Robert.³

1929 Red Lake Indian Census

Gahgaykeshig is a spelling variation of Kakaygeesick. (Other variations in historical archives include Ka-ge-gi-jig, Ka-kay-geezhig, Kage gejig, Ka-Kee-Ka-Kee-Sick, and Cocageesick.)

These entries mean sometime before 1929, Kakaygeesick’s son and grandson, his daughter Mary and her two sons, as well as his brother’s daughter and granddaughter had been enrolled as Red Lake tribal members.

In searching the 1929 Red Lake Indian Census, I found one more page with the same numbers listed for enrollment approval for Frank Crow and his 7-year-old daughter. This one had a date. 1-19-25.

1929 Red Lake Indian Census

One hundred years ago. January 19, 1925.

Were these Warroad Indians with the same approval numbers all enrolled on this same date?

I do not have access to the Red Lake tribal archives to verify when they were added to or removed from the tribal membership rolls.

But the 1929 Indian Census clearly shows the descendants of Kakaygeesick and Namaypoke had been tribal members.

And that raises new questions about what happened at Red Lake Indian Reservatin between 1925 and the resolution to deny enrollment by Red Lake Grand Council in 1936.

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2. Particularly so, if she and family members had their tribal membership approved in January of that year.

3. The year of birth listed for Robert is 1924, but he was born in 1922. The birthdate for John appears to be the birthdate of his wife, Verna (McPherson) Kakaygeesick.