INTRODUCTION
SENECA KANSAS CLAIMS
On November 23. 1898, the United States Court of Claims rendered judgement in favor of the New York Iroquois for lands set apart for them in Kansas Territory under the terms of Article 2 of the Buffalo Creek Treaty of January 15, 1838. Few Iroquois emigrated in the 1840s. Subsequently, the federal government opened this land for sale and settlement of non-Iroquois. The Iroquois sued the federal government for reimbursement for the loss of the Kansas land. By Act of Congress, February 9. 1900, a fund was established tor payment, and responsibility for carrying out the terms of the Act to the Office of Indian Affairs.
The Office of Indian Affairs developed an application tor payment which was to be filled out by all Iroquois in the United States who claimed to have ancestors who could have emigrated to Kansas Territory in the 1840s. The forms provided detailed family information for three generations of the applicant's family. and therefore, are a valuable family history resource.
Special Collections. Reed Library has copies of the claims for the Oneida, Onondaga. Cayuga.
Tuscarora, and Seneca. However, the Seneca files are principally applications from Seneca/Cayuga in Oklahoma and a few non-enrolled Seneca in New York State. The applications from members of the Seneca Nation cannot be located at the National Archives. Tonawanda Seneca were not a party to the original suit in the Court of Claims. Through various treaties and agreement, they traded Kansas lands for part of their original reservation. which had been sold by earlier treaties.
The 26-page index lists all names found on the applications and provides the application claim numbers. if the number is enclosed in parentheses it is the person's own application. Xerographic copies of the claims arranged by application claim number are located in the Seneca Collection. as part of the Seneca Nation Archives. and have been digitized for this online version.
These rejected Seneca claims have supporting papers that indicate why the claim was rejected. The reasons for rejection:
1. Mother was white. from Canada. or member of another Indian nation.
2. Parents were allotted land in Kansas Territory.
These supporting documents can be very useful to family historians.
Seventy-three of these claims are from descendants of New York Seneca who went to Kansas Territory.
Some resided in Tiff City. Missouri. others at Wyandotte. Indian Territory. and at Quapaw Territory, Also included in this online version is a list of applicants arranged by application number .