Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea
and Piankeshaw Tribes

The Kaskaskias, according to the treaty made August 13, 1803, at Vincennes, by William Henry Harrison, are "the remains, and rightfully represent all the tribes of the Illinois Indians"--one of the most powerful and numerous Western tribes at the time it was visited by Marquette on his famous voyage of exploration of the Mississippi in 1673, and subsequently one of the most docile and easily civilized tribes that the early Jesuit missionaries visited--so friendly that Marquette speaks of them as his "beloved Illinois."

 

From many unfortunate circumstances--invasions of more savage tribes, etc.--the nation became reduced, in the eighteenth century, to a very small number, the remains of which were consolidated under the name of the Kaskaskia tribe, which, at the treaty of Vincennes, being "unable to occupy the extensive tract of country which, of right, belongs to them, and which was possessed by their ancestors for many generations," ceded to the United States a tract of 8,608,167 acres in the heart of Illinois, reserving for their own use only 350 acres near the town of Kaskaskia, and the privilege of locating another tract of 1,280 within the bounds of the ceded land. This treaty was signed by Jean Baptiste Ducoigne, as principal chief.

The Peorias were a tribe of the Illinois nation, but lived apart from the consolidated tribes until 1818, when they united with the Kaskaskias, ceded their territory in Illinois to the United States, and were granted 640 acres on Blackwater River, in Missouri, their annuities to be paid at St. Genevieve, Mo. The Painkeshaws and Weas were Miami tribes. The Weas ceded their lands in Indiana and Ohio in 1818, and the Piankeshaws still earlier, reserving only a tract of two square miles, which also they soon ceded to Government.

The united tribes were removed to the vicinity of St. Genevieve, Mo., in 1818. At the treaty made by the Weas at St. Mary's in 1818, in Ohio, when they ceded their land to Government, a small reservation was made for the tribe, and also a grant of one section each was made to "Christmas Dageny (Christmas Dageny came to Kansas with the tribe, serving as chief until his death in 1848) and Mary Shields, formerly Mary Dageny, children of Me-chin-quam-eshe, sister of Jacco, a chief of the said tribe.

On October 27, 1832, the United States ceded "to the combined tribes of Kaskaskias and Peorias, and the bands united with them, 150 sections of land, to include the Peoria village, west of the State of Missouri, on the waters of the Osage river." The United Kaskaskias and Peorias made a small band of 140.

October 29, 1832, the Piankeshaws and Weas were granted "250 sections of land, bounded on the north by the Shawanoes; east by the western boundary line of Missouri for fifteen miles; and west by the Kaskaskias and Peorias." The band numbered about three hundred and fifty. The tract assigned them was within the limits of the present county of Miami.

On the 30th of May, 1854, treaties were made with these united bands, by which they ceded all their lands, except 160 acres for each individual, and ten sections to be held as common property. By treaty of February 23, 1867, they were provided with new homes in the Indian Territory. They then numbered about one hundred and fifty, and were located upon the Quapaw Reserve.

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