99.) Brothertown Indians: Their Mission Statement. Their participation in the "Six Nation Movement", 1922-1930's. And how they lost their lands through tax foreclosures and tax auctions. (11 min. read)

Website info to follow at end.

In the second excerpt, Laura Kellogg, who testified at the 1929 US Congressional Hearings (as mentioned in article 93.) is credited with starting the well-meaning Six Nations Movement, and then, what happened to it.

In the third excerpt, it explains how Brothertown asked for US citizenship and individual ownership of land. And this caused many indians to lose their lands to foreclosures because they were unable to pay the property taxes and their land were sold at tax auctions. This is commonly referred to as "checkerboarding". Meaning there are lands that belong to Indians and then lands belong to non-indians, all mixed together. Let's think about the monetary land settlements with extinguishment agreements, currently being pushed upon Indigenous Nations.

First excerpt, from "Brothertown timeline" page 49: "1995 the Brothertown Indians Nation Mission Statement (several years ago, I texted this Mission Statement to several of my contacts, so you may have read this before.)

"The mission of the Brothertown Tribe is to continue a stable and dynamic government which will promote and maintain the spiritual, physical, intellectual, social, and economic well-being of our citizen; to restore and preserve our unique historical, cultural, and traditional beliefs; to preserve and protect our sovereignty in order to achieve self-determination and self-sufficiency; to promote a positive image of integrity, honesty, respect and fairness when pursuing cultural, economic and social initiative; to promote peace and harmony for the fulfillment of our vision as community where all people can prosper and grow in mind, body and spirit. The Brothertown Tribe recognizes and accepts the relationships which must be forged between all who will be affected by our sovereignty. It is in faith we undertake these tasks and it shall be with the spirit of cooperation and friendship that we reach the goals which we have set apart in this document."

Second excerpt, from "Brothertown timeline" page 47:

"1922-1930's The Six Nation Movement, led by Laura Kellogg Cornelius

The post-world World War I period was particularly traumatic for the tribes in Wisconsin. The Brothertown Indian Nation had already lost its tribal land. The federal government then began dividing up the lands of the Oneidas, Stockbridge and Winnebago Tribes for individual ownership, and many tribal members lost their land, a process that was exacerbated by the post-war depression. The Six Nation Movement took hold easily among the dislocated tribes of Wisconsin. The Six Nation Movement started in 1922 and the Brothertown Indian Nation was approached by 1923 to assist in this Movement.

The Six Nation Movement, led by Laura Cornelius Kellogg, an Oneida, and her non-Indian husband, Orrin, spread throughout the New York Indian Tribes in Wisconsin and New York. Born in 1880 in Wisconsin and educated at a number of prestigious schools, including Barnard College in New York, she returned to Oneida, Wisconsin, married Orrin Kellogg, and quickly became active in Indian affairs. The Kellogg's led the Six Nations Movement allegedly to secure damages from New York State for the land lost by the tribes in New York including the Brothertown Indian Nation. Supposedly to secure funds for legal actions, the Kellogg's organized a series of dues - paying clubs. These clubs held meetings, signed up members, and collected money to pursue the claim. The Brotherstowns had formed various Six Nation Cubs to finance the land claim, including one at Quinney and at Fond du Lac. The Six Nation Clubs continued into the 1930s before all the Indians became disillusioned, realizing, one of their own had swindled them out of thousands of dollars and their 'Indian Money' they had dreamed of."

Here is the third quote from "History - the Brothertown Indian Nation", page 7: it is about Indians losing their lands by foreclosure for not being able to pay property taxes and subsequent tax sales of their land. And how this situation came about.

"The tribes one, and possibly only, protection against this was to secure land in the same manner that the lands of neighboring tribes were secured - by patents in fee simple. By a perversity of law, as long as the land was held in trust by the federal government, common and inalienable, it was subject to loss by government action. It was natural to assume that the best means to protect it was in the same manner as the property of non-indians - through private ownership. In an effort to remain on the new lands in Wisconsin the Brothertown headmen requested a Congressional Act that would divide the lands into individually owned plots and grant Brothertown tribal members United States citizenship (Love 1899;327). They were officially granted citizenship in 1839. The Brothertown subsequently elected a committee of headsmen to divide the Wisconsin lands into individual plots. The language of the Congressional Act may be interpreted by some to indicate that the Brothertown Indians relinquished their tribal status through their request for citizenship and individual title to land. Congress may have intended to act unilaterally to usurp the power of the Brothertown Indians to self government through the Act (Lowe 2001; 119); however, the Brothertown Indians sought protection of their land and to prevent yet another forced removal by the federal government. The Brothertown Indians did not seek relief of the right to self-govern or to be dissolved as an Indian tribe. What this language proposed to do was assure that in the governance of the town, territorial and later state law would be in force and not tribal law. In other respects, the power of the tribe to act was not diminished by the statute. The final line in the Act made it clear that the government of the Brothertown Indians continue other tribal activities, including the collection of annuities..."

"The desire of Brothertown Indians to seek such protections must be understood against the backdrop of Indian tribes being removed to lands in the west, as well as the Brothertown's long history of displacement. The purpose of the 1839 legislation was not significantly different from the General Allotment Act passed nearly 50 years later. 

Allotment took its inevitable toll, and the Brothertown quickly lost their lands to foreclosures and tax sales. By 1880, many were living with friends and relatives on the Oneida and Mohican reservations and, if they were lucky, providing day labor in neighboring white communities."

(End of quotes from document.)

The reader should examine the entire document as a whole, so that these excerpts will not be taken out of context.

Website:

brothertownindians.org/history/

title: "History - Brothertown Indian Nation

The Brothertown Indian Nation History by Craig Cipolla and Caroline Andler

For companion resource download the extensive Brothertown Time Line (written by Caroline Andler and Courtesy of the Brothertown citizens)"

Presented as a starting point for discussion in your circle. Lot of good historical information in this 60 Page document. It seems history repeats itself.