Settling Namaypoke's estate in 1955
after the last two parcels remaining from the original 1905 allotment sold
Allotment status ended for Namaypoke’s land in 1955 when it was removed from the Red Lake Reservation Land Index with the sale of the last two parcels.
On March 7, 1955, the United States government granted ownership to Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company for the larger parcel of 34.59 acres and to Maynard Nelson for the smaller 7.27 acre parcel. Both parcels were in the original 1905 allotment to Namaypoke.
But neither of the deeds included a purchase price. I wondered if the heirs of Namaypoke had been paid. And if so, how much.
Last week I reported finding a letter from Warroad Attorney Bert Hanson to Max Jones written in 1954 before the sale had been completed in which he wrote that Maynard Nelson had outbid him. The letter revealed Nelson paid $727 for the 7.27 parcel.
But how much had Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company paid for the 34.59 acres?
Renae Hamilton, Chief Deputy Recorder at the Roseau County Courthouse, answered my phone call and searched to see if she could find any further documentation of the price Marvin paid. She found nothing except the original deed: no dollar amount.
Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company appears on the deed as the “purchaser” of this parcel. So I emailed Amy Mayfield at the Marvin Visitors Center and Museum in Warroad with my query. She spent time working with the archivist searching for any further evidence — but they could not find anything regarding the purchase price.
In the file of personal correspondence Namaypoke’s great-grandson Roy Jones sent me, I found another letter addressed to his father, Max Jones, two months after the sale of the land.
On May 6, 1955, the Office of Indian Affairs in Bemidji, Minnesota, notified Max Jones that the estate of Namaypock had been settled with the sale of the two remaining parcels from the allotment.
“Your share $260.79 is now deposited to your account at this office.” Two-hundred-sixty dollars in 1955 is the equivalent of about $3,000 today. The letter instructed Jones to sign Form 139-B and return it. “Upon receipt a check for the full amount will be forwarded to you.”
This answered my question as to whether the heirs were paid anything from the sale. Evidently, yes. And an actual dollar amount.
Max Jones held a one-ninth fractional share in the estate of Namaypoke. His deceased mother, Anna Namaypoke Jones, had inherited one-third of the land from her father, and Max was one of her three children. He inherited a third of her third.
Knowing his fractional share meant I could deduce the total price paid for both parcels by multiplying $260.79 by nine, which equals $2,347.11.
260.79 X 9 = 2,347.11
Then I deducted the $727 paid by Nelson for the smaller parcel from the total price paid for both.
2,347.11 - 727 = 1,620.11
When I subtract $727 from the total price of $2,347.11, I am left with $1,620.11. That’s my pretty good guess for the price paid by Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company. The current equivalent of $19,000.
For thirty years, this undeveloped tract of land sat directly across State Highway 11 from the lumberyard and window factory. In 1985, Marvin built their corporate headquarters there. Recent renovations to the building were featured in Twin Cities Business Magazine in October 2024.
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.
What happened after Mayard Nelson bought the smaller parcel in 1955 is another story. One for next week.
Wow that puts it within our lifetimes.
Namaypoke and his family were just minor obstacles to the swindlers . . . a story oft-repeated throughout the land and across the world.