Title: John C. Adams Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1792-1932

Creator:

• Adams, John C., 1842-1895

Call Number: Wis Mss HP; File 1825 January 8 Oversize

Quantity: 1.8 c.f. (9 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

See the catalog entry for information of possible additional materials and shelf locations.

Abstract:

Papers, 1792-1932, of John C. Adams, an educated Stockbridge mixed-blood Indian of Antigo, Wisconsin, unofficial attorney and agent for his tribe in Wisconsin. The bulk of the papers relate to the later history of the tribe in Wisconsin and the controversy between the so-called “citizen” and “Indian” party factions of the tribe, and particularly to the twenty-year struggle of Adams beginning in the 1870s to secure national legislation restoring to the citizen party the right to live on the reservation and share in tribal funds. There is correspondence for these years with members of Congress, the Indian Commissioner, the Secretary of the Interior, attorneys in Washington, local Indian agents, members of the tribe, the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society, and the Indian Rights Association. Many documents concern the Stockbridge tribe but not Adams directly.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000hp

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Excepting the Brothertown Indians, probably no North American tribe adopted white civilization to a higher degree than the Stockbridge. A representative of that tribe in Wisconsin was John C. Adams (1842-1895), who obtained a college education at Lawrence University, and became an attorney and unofficial agent for his tribe.

The John C. Adams Papers are unique for the quantity of material contained in them which is in the handwriting of Indians, and because they pertain directly to Indian affairs from the Indian standpoint. Another unique characteristic is the fact that they pertain to a group of Christianized Indians, and a tribe of so much historic interest. They are a valuable collection for the later history of this tribe in Wisconsin, taking up the story soon after Cutting Marsh leaves off, and contain many letters and documents interesting not only for Stockbridge history, but for Wisconsin history as a whole.

The small quantity of material for the years up to 1870 contains bills of survey, deeds, receipts, notes, a certification of adoption into the tribe, bills for services to the tribe by tribal sachem John W. Quinney, a diagram of the tribal lands in Calumet County, Wisconsin, accounts of Quinney with Green Bay merchant Daniel Whitney, a “catalog” dated 1849 indicating how “consideration money” was to be distributed when the tribe was divided, some legal and business papers pertaining to transactions of the tribe's sachem (chief or president) and councillors (legislative council), a few pension claims for service in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War, memorials to various government officials and bodies, copies of treaties and other public documents (which are no doubt in print), a composition of Levi Konkapot (descendant of an early chief) while at Oberlin, and a few letters of the Reverend Cutting Marsh, Levi Konkapot, members of the tribe still in New York state, Jeremiah Slingerland, a native government teacher, and John W. Quinney.

But the bulk of the Adams material belongs to the years 1870-1895. In 1871 a law passed Congress, apparently through the efforts of certain influential Wisconsin members, by which the pine timber lands of the reservation in Shawano County were sold to a lumbering corporation. In common with other Indian tribes, this tribe had suffered from internal dissensions, and it appears that in the practical operation of the law, members of the citizen party were excluded from a share in tribal funds and ordered off the reservation, and as a result relations between the members of the two parties became more bitter than ever. Adams belonged to the citizen party, and made contracts with most of those excluded from benefits to represent them as agent in efforts to secure redress in Washington. These papers for the years 1870-1895 are the story of Adams' efforts, carried on for over twenty years until, in 1893 as one of the very last acts of his administration, President Harrison signed the bill for the relief of certain members of the tribe. The bill declared that all who were members of the tribe at the time of the treaty of 1856, and their descendants, who had not by that treaty or since separated from the tribe were members of the Stockbridge and Munsee tribe and entitled to their pro-rata share in tribal funds and occupancy of tribal lands (the reservation). A new enrollment was made and the names of most of the members of the citizen party appeared on the roll, along with those of other members of the tribe.

Adams had attended practically every session of Congress for twenty years, and had carried on correspondence with various members of Congress. Much of this correspondence is here, together with correspondence with the Indian department, the Secretary of the Interior, attorneys in Washington, local Indian agents, members of the tribe, the Wisconsin Home Missionary Society, and the Indian Rights Association. Most of the material pertains to claims, but there are letters in regard to various grievances, tribal elections, and affairs in general, including charges that certain merchants in Shawano were defrauding the Indians on the reservation. There are a number of letters from Sarah Slingerland, the widow of the native teacher, some petitions to Congress, copies of reports of Indian inspectors, powers of attorney, various lists of names, and a dramatization without date of a scene between the president of the United States and certain chiefs.

Among the bound volumes is an abstract of Stockbridge, Wisconsin, containing a report of the commissioners elected by the tribe to carry out the law of 1843, a volume of proceedings of the Stockbridge national council, 1849-1858, sketches, diaries of Adams (1865-1889, with gaps), some of his memoranda books, a promissory note stub book, two diaries of J.W. Quinney, a volume of national laws of the Stockbridge and their appropriation bills (1852), and a volume of declaration of rights and frame of government (1837). There are two oversize documents, one a declaration of rights and frame of government (a contemporary copy), and an original treaty of 1825, signed at New Stockbridge, New York, by which certain lands on the Fox River in Wisconsin were ceded to the Brothertown Indians by the Stockbridge, St. Regis, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Munsee tribes.

The final box of material was given by various persons and is a valuable miscellany, 1825-1911. In the box are scattered receipts, deeds, business papers of members of the tribe, notes, a copy of the declaration of rights and frame of government, laws of the tribe, a letter of P.J. Vieau in regard to the murder of Phebe Quinney, sister of chief John W. Quinney, an article on the lives of Jacob Davids and John Metoxen, a few letters of Levi Konkapot and the Reverend Jesse Miner, a letter of Jeremiah Evarts outlining plans for the mission at Statesburg, the deed by the tribe to lands for the mission, a letter in 1911 in regard to the old communion set belonging to the tribe, report to President Van Buren of the commissioners on the Brothertown township of land, a sketch of the history of the tribe, a report of the commissioners elected by the tribe to carry into effect the act of Congress of 1843 for the relief of the Stockbridge in Wisconsin including a census of the tribe, a copy of the constitution and laws of the tribe, a map and survey of the reservation [1843], and a copy of a petition to Congress by the tribe, 1882. There is also a letter of Thomas L. McKenny.

Acquisition Information

Most materials were presented by the Langlade County Historical Society via Earle S. Holman, 1932. Items in Box 7 were presented by various persons at various times.

Wis Mss HP	Correspondence
Box   1	1792-1879
Box   2	1880-1889
Box   3	1890-1893
Box   4	1894
Box   4A	1895-1899, 1932
Box   5	undated
Box   5	Lists, undated
Box   5	Addresses and accounts, undated
Box   5	Calling cards
Box   5	National laws of the Stockbridge and Munsee Tribe of Indians
Box   5	Promissory note stub book, 1874-1899
Box   5	Abstract of a report of the commissioners elected to carry out the law of 1843: copy
Box   6	Diaries of John C. Adams, 1865, 1869, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1885-1887, 1887-1889 Physical Description: 10 volumes
Box   6	Diaries of John W. Quinney, 1846, 1856, 1852-1885 Physical Description: 2 volumes
Box   6	Memoranda books, 1874-1895 Physical Description: 16 volumes
Box   7	Proceedings of the Stockbridge National Council, 1849-1858
Box   8	Miscellaneous Stockbridge material from various sources, 1825-1911 Note: The report of the commissioners elected by the tribe to carry into effect the act of Congress of 1843 for the relief of the Stockbridge in Wisconsin which was in this box is missing as of November 2008. An abstract of the report (including the census) is in Box 5.
File 1825 January 8 Oversize	Treaty, New Stockbridge: manuscript signed, 1825 January 8 Physical Description: On vellum  Note: Signed by Oneida, Stockbridge, and St. Regis chiefs.
File 1825 January 8 Oversize	Declaration of rights and frame of government, Stockbridge: manuscript copy signed, 1837 February 7 Physical Description: On vellum