Yes, it is hard to fathom this happened so recently as I grew up thinking this period of history with allotments ended with the horse and buggy not with television broadcasts of The Ed Sullivan Show and I Love Lucy!
I'm fairly certain Nelson and the Marvin company didn't think of themselves as swindlers who were engaged in deception. That is what is striking about this land transfer occurring in mid-century modern America. These practices using the the pen to extract land from Indian Nations had been polished for nearly a century.
So the colonial infrastructure is working well into our present time! That goes along with the quote that I hear from many friends, including progressives: “ I am not a raciest.” But the colonial “machinery” is still in place and is in good working order….it’s hard to recognize and acknowledge privilege when we routinely benefit from it.
Thanks for the work of laying this all out. Just imagine how many other examples are hidden out in our world because no one has made the effort to pursue the damning details!
Because someone doesn't hold white supremacist views and act upon them, doesn't mean the social structures and economic systems didn't benefit all whites regardless of their behavior or beliefs. But it is hard to recognize the benefits when so much of the history has been either erased or forgotten.
I feel sad reading this. I know it's a story repeated over and over throughout this country and in every other country where indigenous people lived. I know the same is true on the acres that Vic and I bought in 1972 (from farmers who were not indigenous). The land is valued at much more than it was when we bought it and it's hard to find any sign of the indigenous people who once lived here other than in the names of the lakes or other place names. Thanks for your careful research. I keep hoping for a happier ending, but it seems unlikely.
You and Vic were exceptional stewards of your land and you have taken the extraordinary step of putting it into the Finger Lakes Land Trust. You are in touch with how sacred it is there. Growing milkweed and serving as a Monarch Way Station is another way you make a positive difference besides your advocacy work for the protection of water in Seneca Lake. You can't undo history but knowing the past helps us plan for the future.
"Today, according to the Roseau County Assessor’s records, the value of this land parcel is assessed at $303,500 and the value of the property including buildings and improvements is assessed at $4.9 million." Wow. Painful!
The restricted status on allotment land meant Namaypoke and his heirs were never granted the rights to use private property as a capital asset. So much intergenerational wealth is passed down through land as property for the children of homesteaders that it appears almost invisible.
What does this mean “never granted rights to use private property as a capital asset?” Decided by the U.S. government?
Like they decided “On March 7, 1955, the United States government granted ownership to…” All this history we are not taught in schools about land theft and unearned wealth.
An allotment had restrictions on the land. If you held an allotment, you could not sell the land as a personal asset for 25 years and not before you filed a form to do so at which time they could declare you noncompetent. You couldn't borrow against it as a capital asset with a bank or financial institution. Owning land gave you rights that having an allotment did not have in terms of economic power. If I own a piece of land I can use it as collateral if I want to buy another piece of land. Land as private property is a capital asset.
Who is "they can determine you noncompetent?" The USgov why not the tribe? This is basic, I know from early on in our education here but in the end it was fundamental; how allotments had restrictions.
"They" were Indian agents, white men who were federal employees of the US Dept of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, who were authorized to act on behalf of Indians who were not considered by the agent to be competent to act in their own behalf. The agents made such determinations. The links are embedded in the piece to refer you back to previous posts where I explained each of these points. I can't add links in the comments. Allotments were land entrusted by the federal government to individual Indians and the deeds were restricted from being sold for 25 years. An Indian had to live on the land and made improvements to it before one could apply for a clear title to the land. Hope that is clearer.
“They were authorized” by themselves it seems…what a racket. I want it to make sense. Which it does not contrary to what we were expected to recite “with liberty and justice for all.”
They were authorized, according to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, by God. You're right to question this power they took for themselves. We still see those with political power acting under the banner of Christianity today. The inherent contradictions you see remain invisible to many.
Wow that puts it within our lifetimes.
Yes, it is hard to fathom this happened so recently as I grew up thinking this period of history with allotments ended with the horse and buggy not with television broadcasts of The Ed Sullivan Show and I Love Lucy!
Namaypoke and his family were just minor obstacles to the swindlers . . . a story oft-repeated throughout the land and across the world.
I'm fairly certain Nelson and the Marvin company didn't think of themselves as swindlers who were engaged in deception. That is what is striking about this land transfer occurring in mid-century modern America. These practices using the the pen to extract land from Indian Nations had been polished for nearly a century.
So the colonial infrastructure is working well into our present time! That goes along with the quote that I hear from many friends, including progressives: “ I am not a raciest.” But the colonial “machinery” is still in place and is in good working order….it’s hard to recognize and acknowledge privilege when we routinely benefit from it.
Thanks for the work of laying this all out. Just imagine how many other examples are hidden out in our world because no one has made the effort to pursue the damning details!
Because someone doesn't hold white supremacist views and act upon them, doesn't mean the social structures and economic systems didn't benefit all whites regardless of their behavior or beliefs. But it is hard to recognize the benefits when so much of the history has been either erased or forgotten.
I feel sad reading this. I know it's a story repeated over and over throughout this country and in every other country where indigenous people lived. I know the same is true on the acres that Vic and I bought in 1972 (from farmers who were not indigenous). The land is valued at much more than it was when we bought it and it's hard to find any sign of the indigenous people who once lived here other than in the names of the lakes or other place names. Thanks for your careful research. I keep hoping for a happier ending, but it seems unlikely.
You and Vic were exceptional stewards of your land and you have taken the extraordinary step of putting it into the Finger Lakes Land Trust. You are in touch with how sacred it is there. Growing milkweed and serving as a Monarch Way Station is another way you make a positive difference besides your advocacy work for the protection of water in Seneca Lake. You can't undo history but knowing the past helps us plan for the future.
"Today, according to the Roseau County Assessor’s records, the value of this land parcel is assessed at $303,500 and the value of the property including buildings and improvements is assessed at $4.9 million." Wow. Painful!
The restricted status on allotment land meant Namaypoke and his heirs were never granted the rights to use private property as a capital asset. So much intergenerational wealth is passed down through land as property for the children of homesteaders that it appears almost invisible.
What does this mean “never granted rights to use private property as a capital asset?” Decided by the U.S. government?
Like they decided “On March 7, 1955, the United States government granted ownership to…” All this history we are not taught in schools about land theft and unearned wealth.
An allotment had restrictions on the land. If you held an allotment, you could not sell the land as a personal asset for 25 years and not before you filed a form to do so at which time they could declare you noncompetent. You couldn't borrow against it as a capital asset with a bank or financial institution. Owning land gave you rights that having an allotment did not have in terms of economic power. If I own a piece of land I can use it as collateral if I want to buy another piece of land. Land as private property is a capital asset.
Who is "they can determine you noncompetent?" The USgov why not the tribe? This is basic, I know from early on in our education here but in the end it was fundamental; how allotments had restrictions.
"They" were Indian agents, white men who were federal employees of the US Dept of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, who were authorized to act on behalf of Indians who were not considered by the agent to be competent to act in their own behalf. The agents made such determinations. The links are embedded in the piece to refer you back to previous posts where I explained each of these points. I can't add links in the comments. Allotments were land entrusted by the federal government to individual Indians and the deeds were restricted from being sold for 25 years. An Indian had to live on the land and made improvements to it before one could apply for a clear title to the land. Hope that is clearer.
“They were authorized” by themselves it seems…what a racket. I want it to make sense. Which it does not contrary to what we were expected to recite “with liberty and justice for all.”
They were authorized, according to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, by God. You're right to question this power they took for themselves. We still see those with political power acting under the banner of Christianity today. The inherent contradictions you see remain invisible to many.