ContentsBIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTE SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE RECORDS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS Ser. 1. Correspondence, 1839-1849 Ser. 2. Annual Reports and Extracts from Minutes, 1836-1846 Ser. 4. Documents on Emigration Question, 1839 Ser. 5. Memorials of Joint Committee, 1840-1841 Ser. 6. Memorials of Senecas, 1841-1846 Ser. 7. Address from Committee to Seneca Chiefs |
An Inventory of the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs (Society of Friends : Hicksite) Records, 1836-1850Finding Aid Prepared by FHL staffEncoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries2000
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTEThe Indian Committees of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Genesee Yearly Meetings (Hicksite) united in 1838 to protect the Seneca Indians from the Ogden Land Company, which was trying to buy their land. The Joint Committee was convinced that the Indians had been bribed to sign the treaty agreeing to cede their New York lands. They gathered evidence and sent it to President Van Buren. However the Senate ratified the treaty by which the Senecas had agreed to sell their land, and the only recourse of the Friends was public opinion. They issued a great many pamphlets setting forth the facts of the case, including a book, The Case of the Seneca Indians, published in 1840. In 1842 a conference was held between the Secretary of War, agents of the Ogden Land Company, and a delegation of Friends. As a result, the Ogden Co. agreed to a supplemental treaty giving the Senecas title to reservations at Cattaraugus and Allegheny. In 1846 a small party of Senecas emigrated west. They soon found themselves in need and appealed to their tribe in New York, who in turn appealed to the Friends. In 1848 Joseph Walton and his family went to Cattaraugus to continue the work of the Female Manual Labor School and to get the farm ready to turn over to the Indians. By 1849 the active work of the Friends with the Senecas ended, and the Joint Committee dissolved in 1850. The Secretary of the committee was Benjamin Ferris of Philadelphia and the members in 1840 included Philip E. Thomas, William E. Bartlett, Jacob Lafetra and Phineas Janney of Baltimore, Griffith M. Cooper of Genesee, Abraham Bell, Thomas Carpenter, Samuel Smith and Dobel Baker of New York, and William Wharton, Joseph Warner, John H. Bunting and George M. Justice of Philadelphia. Return to the Table of Contents SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE RECORDSThis collection contains papers relating to the joint committee of representatives, including correspondence chiefly concerning the ceding of Seneca lands in New York by treaty under questionable circumstances. Correspondents include Benjamin Ferris (1780-1867). Return to the Table of Contents SELECTED SEARCH TERMSThis collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Friends Historical Library (TRIPOD). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings: Return to the Table of Contents The collection is organized into 10 series. The series are: For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Return to the Table of Contents DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDSSer. 1. Correspondence, 1839-1849This series consists of Benjamin Ferris' correspondence: letters addressed to him as Secretary of the Committee and some rough dated 11/4/1839 of letters he sent to the President of the United States and to the Secretary of War. The correspondence is arranged chronologically.
Ser. 2. Annual Reports and Extracts from Minutes, 1836-1846This series consists of hand-written and printed reports of the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs of the Four Yearly Meetings and of the Indian Committees of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New York Yearly Meeting, and Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Also included are reports of G.M. Cooper on a visit to the Senecas in 1845. The reports and extracts from minutes are arranged chronologically.
Ser. 3. List of Indians, 1838This series consists of a list of those Indians who assented to the treaty concluded at Buffalo Creek.
Ser. 4. Documents on Emigration Question, 1839This series consists of answers by Indians to the questionnaires on emigration, lists of Chiefs for and against emigration, and statements by Chief's against emigration arranged chronologically.
Ser. 5. Memorials of Joint Committee, 1840-1841This series consists of drafts and printed copies of memorials sent to the President of the United States, to the Senate and House of Representatives, to the Secretary of War, and to the Governor and Council of the State of Massachusetts arranged by name of recipient.
Ser. 6. Memorials of Senecas, 1841-1846This series consists of hand-written copies of memorials sent by the Senecas to the President of the United States, to the Secretary of War and to the Legislature of the State of New York arranged by the name of the recipient.
Ser. 7. Address from Committee to Seneca ChiefsThis single address from the Committee to the Seneca Chiefs is undated but was evidently written after 1846
Ser. 8. Legislative documents, 1839-1845This series consists of manuscript reports of the Indian Committee of the United States Senate and manuscripts and printed Acts of the New York legislature. These documents are arranged chronologically.
Ser. 9. Poster, 1844This series consists of a poster size public notice signed by Seneca Indians objecting to the Ogden Land Company selling lots in Buffalo Creek Reservation.
Ser. 10. Clippings, 1840-1846This series consists of clippings from contemporary newspapers about the affairs of the Seneca Indians.
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