DNR, Josiah White’s join forces to document Native American school

By Amanda Redman aredman@thepaperofwabash.com

Rosa Fast Horse died in April 1885 at the then Josiah White’s Manual Labor Institute.

The 14-year-old Sioux girl is one of an untold number of Native Americans sent to the school in rural Wabash County between 1882 and 1895 under a federal program meant to “Americanize” them.

Rosa was buried in a small cemetery in a wooded area on the campus grounds along with 5-year-old Reba White.

In October, Josiah White’s, now a residential facility providing foster care, family services, substance abuse and behavior treatment, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR.)

There are a total of 11 children buried in the cemetery on the grounds. DNR is now researching the site for restoration and outreach.

Chelsea Epp, Josiah White’s marketing and communications director, said the project will acknowledge the deceased, restore stones, and reach out to affiliated tribes.

“We of course said that we were interested in the project and provided (DNR) with all the information that we have on the cemetery,” Epp said.

Rosa and Reba’s causes of death are not listed. They are the first two to be buried there.

Three other Sioux children buried in 1890 died from a “prolonged illness” on campus, according to the National Register of Historic Places registration form.

Chief Fast Horse visited his daughter Rosa’s grave in 1886 making the trek from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

The federal program intentionally created distance from families by sending youth from Eastern reservations to Western states, and those from Western states to Eastern schools.

Miami Indian children had formerly been admitted to the school until the federal funding mandated they be sent to schools in South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

“Initially, the school was intended by founder Josiah White as a general orphanage but in the 1880s and 1890s the board decided to enroll in the Indian Normal School program so that they could collect payments from the Federal Government for bringing in Native students” explained Noah Sandweiss, DNR Cemetery Registry Coordinator.

Upon his death in 1850, Josiah White bequeathed $40,000 to Society of Friends for two labor institutions to serve “poor children, white, colored and Indian.”

The Society of Friends purchased the land for Josiah White’s on Treaty Creek from Miami Indian Chief Meshingomesia. The first 640 acres cost $6,500 in gold. An additional 120 acres was then acquired for $1,700.

The second institution is now known as Quakerdale Farms located in New Providence, Iowa.

White wanted the institutions to be self-sustaining with farmland tended by students who would “appreciate the dignity of labor.”

“Between 1874 and 1917, 16 children died at the site, at least nine of whom were Native American. Eleven of them were buried onsite and the rest were interred at nearby Quaker and Catholic cemeteries,” Sandweiss said. “The school cemetery has been documented for the State Cemetery Register as well, which will help us keep track of its condition and serve as reference for future research, maintenance, or restoration,”

According to the registration form, nine of the buried are Native American, one African American and one of Mexican descent.