Lee County Iowa
Genealogy The Half Breed Tract
The following comes from:
The History of Lee County, Iowa
Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879
Pages 164-166
Typed and Submitted by Mary Sue Chatfield for the benefit of Lee County Researchers
Before any permanent settlement had been made in the Territory of Iowa, white
adventurers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along the
Mississippi
and its tributaries, as agents and employees of the American
Fur Company,
intermarried
with the females of the Sac and Fox Indians, producing a race of half-breeds,
whose
number was never definitely ascertained. There were some respectable and
excellent
people among them, children of men of some refinement and education. For
instance: Dr.
Muir, a gentleman educated at Edinburgh, Scotland, a surgeon in the United
States Army,
stationed at a military post located on the present site of Warsaw (Illinois),
married
an Indian woman, and reared his family of three daughters in the city of Keokuk.
Other
examples might be cited, but they are probably exceptions to the general rule,
and the
race is now nearly or quite extinct in Iowa.
A treaty was made at Washington, August 4, 1824, between the Sacs and Foxes and
the
United States, by which that portion of Lee County was reserved to the
half-breeds of
those tribes, and which was afterward known as "The Half-Breed Tract."
This reservation
is the triangular piece of land, containing about 119,000 acres, lying between
the
Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. It is bounded on the north by the
prolongation of
the northern line of Missouri. this line was intended to be a straight one,
running due
east, which would have caused it to strike the Mississippi river at or below
Montrose;
but the surveyor who run it took no notice of the change in the variation of the
needle
as he preceeded eastward, and, in consequence, the line he run was bent,
deviating more
and more to the northward of a direct line as he approached the Mississippi, so
that it
struck that river at the lower edge of the town of Fort Madison. "This
erroneous line,"
says Judge Mason, "has been acquiesced in as well in fixing the northern
limit of the
Half-Breed Tract as in determing the northern boundary line of the State of
Missouri."
The line thus run included in the reservation a portion of the lower part of the
city
of Fort Madison, and all of the present townships of Van Buren, Charleston,
Jefferson,
Des Moines, Montrose and Jackson.
Under the treaty of 1824, the half-breeds had the right to occupy the soil, but
could
not convey it, the reversion being reserved to the United States. But on the
30th day of
January, 1834, by act of Congress, this reversionary right was relinquished, and
the
half-breeds acquired the lands in fee simple. This was no sooner done, than a
horde of
specualtors rushed in to buy land of the half-breed owners, and, in many
instances, a
gun, a blanket, a pony or a few quarts of whisky was sufficient for the purchase
of
large estates. There was a deal of sharp practice on both sides; Indians would
often
claim ownership of land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in
proving
their mixed blood by the Indians, and they would then cheat the specualtors by
selling
land to which they had no rightful title. On the other hand, speculators often
claimed
land in which they had no ownership. It was diamond cut diamond, until at last
things
became badly mixed. There were no authorized surveys, and no boundary lines to
claims,
and, as a natural result, numerous conflicts and quarrels ensued.
To settle these difficulties, to decide the validity of claims or sell them for
the
benefit of the real owners, by act of the Legislature of Wisconsin Territory,
approved
January 16, 1838, Edward Johnstone, Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham were
appointed
Commissioners, and clothed with power to effect these objects. The act provided
that
these Commissiners should be paid six dollars a day each. The commission entered
upon
its duties and continued until the next session of the Legislature, when the act
creating it was repealed, invalidating all that had been done and depriving the
Commissioners of their pay. The repealing act, however, authorized the
commissioners to
commence action against the owners of the Half-Breed Tract, to receive pay for
their
services, in the District Court of Lee County. Two judgments were obtained, and
on
execution the whole of the tract was sold to Hugh T. Reid, the Sheriff executing
the
deed. Mr. Reid sold portions of it to various parties, but his own title was
questioned
and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid and those
holding under
him were made by both District and Supreme Courts, but in December, 1850, these
decisions
were finally reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of
Joseph
Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid, and the judgment titles failed.
About
nine years before the "judgment titles" were finally abrogated as
above, another class
of titles were brought into competition with them, and in the conflict between
the two,
the final decision was obtained. These were the titles based on the "decree
of partition"
issued by the United States District Court for the Territory of Iowa, on the 8th
of May,
1841, and certified to by the Clerk on the 2d day of June of that year. Edward
Johnstone
and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort Madison, filed the petition for the
decree
in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of half-breed lands. Francis S. Key, author
of the
Star Spangled Banner, who was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which
held
heavy interests in these lands, took a leading part in the measure, and drew up
the
document in which it was presented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of
Burlington,
presided. The plan of partition divided the tract into one hundred and one
shares and
arranged that each claimant should draw his proportion by lot, and should abide
the
result, whatever it might be. The arrangement was entered into, the lots drawn,
and the
plat of the same filed in the Recorder's office, October 6, 1841. Upon this
basis the
titles to land in the half-Breed Tract are now held.
On page 531 of the same book, it tells pretty much the same thing, just going
into the
legal and financial aspects a little more. The only additional that might help
you is this:
"A Member of the Bar" prepared a very full and concise history of the
legal contest, and
the status of the titles as they existed at the time, which was published in the
Keokuk
"Register" in December, 1848, where it is preserved, and where it may
be reviewed if any
of the points involved ever become subjects of controversy or dispute.
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