Greetings all,
I would like to bring to your attention a matter which has effected our people for a very long time. This matter is the property of the Kansas City Huron Cemetery "owned" by the Oklahoma Tribe of Wyandotte and tended for their relatives by the immediate families of the folks buried there, the Wyandot of Kansas. This land was established as a cemetery "in perpetuity" in trust for BOTH tribes in a treaty in 1855. A subsequent treaty effected the status of the Kansas tribe, making them the citizen band of...
The Oklahoma tribe has recently pushed the land through the approval process which would permit them to build a casino on the property adjacent to / on the cemetery.
This must be stopped. While empathizing with the needs of the Oklahoma Tribe to better the living conditions of their people, it can not be upon the graves of their and our ancestors.
Following is a partial history of the cemetery and our people, written by Janith English of the Wyandot Tribe of Kansas. It can be read in its entirety at:
* The term "Huron" was a somewhat derisive nickname bestowed by the French. It is a reference to the traditional headdress worn by Wendat (or Ouendat) people that reminded the French of the bristly hairs that stood up on the back of a wild boar. Wyandot has evolved from our original name of Wendat (or Ouendat) means people of the islands and refers to our origins on the shores of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.
1842 March 17. The Wyandot Nation ceded all lands in Ohio and Michigan in exchange for 148,000 acres west of the Mississippi.* The Government promised to pay the Wyandots $17,000 annually, forever, plus $500 per year for the support of the school and $100,000 for moving expenses*
1843 July. 12. 664 Wyandots started on their Journey to Kansas. Illness (possibly typhoid) struck while the Wyandots were still camped along the Missouri River. Between 60 and 100 of their number died. Their bodies were carried across the river to a high ridge which overlooked the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Huron cemetery is established.*
December 14. In an Agreement between the Delaware and Wyandot Tribes, the Delawares granted 3 sections of land of 540 acres each at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. They granted and quit claimed to the Wyandott Nation 36 additional sections of land for $46,080.*
1844 Another epidemic resulted in over 100 burials in Huron Indian Cemetery.*
1855 January 31. Treaty dissolved the tribal status of the Wyandots, declared them citizens, and took their lands "in severalty; except as follows, viz: The portion now enclosed and used as a public burying-ground, shall be permanently reserved and appropriated for that purpose...."*
1859 January 29. The Town of Wyandot is incorporated. Two streets are cut across the Huron Cemetery tract. 1857 Plat illustration shows that the northern and western corners of the cemetery were cut off by Minnesota Avenue and Seventh Street..
1867 February 23.. A new Indian Treaty was proclaimed. Its provisions cover the Senecas, Mixed Senecas and Shawnees, Quapaws, Confederated Peorias, Kaskaskies, Weas, Pinkershaws; Ottawas of Blanchard's Fork and Roche de Bouef; and certain Wyandotts. It is by virtue of this 1867 treaty that the Oklahoma remnant of the tribe seeks to desecrate and destroy the graves of their ancestors".
1890 Senator Preston B. Plank introduced a resolution in the Senate to sell the old Indian Burial Ground. This proposal resulted in "a storm of protest from Wyandott descendants." (Kansas City Times September 8, 1916.)*
June 4. Lucy B. Armstrong in writing of Huron Indian Cemetery: "To the best of my recollection and belief I think that between the years 1844 and 1855 there were at least 400 interments there and most of these graves are not perceptible and cannot be found. There were no tombstones placed there in those days.
1899 Real estate speculators persuade the Wyandottes of Oklahoma to sell the Huron Indian Cemetery. A storm of protest arose from local Wyandott descendants; and in face of the opposition, the sale was never completed. Kansas City, Kansan*.
March 22. The tribal council of the Wyandotte Tribe in Indian Territory gave William E. Connelly a Power of Attorney to have the graves moved and mke a sale of the old Huron Indian Cemetery. The Connelly commission was to be 15% of the sale. (K.C. Kansan reports the document to be in the Kansas City Kansas Library.)
June 7. K.C. Star. The Wyandot Cemetery Association is chartered to take care of the cemetery. The directors were Susan Betton, Lillian Hale Walker, Justin Walker, Walter R. Armstrong and William Mc Mullan; all related to Wyandots.
1906 June 21. The K.C. Kansan reports that a provision was buried in a section of a 65 page Congressional appropriations bill, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to sell a tract of land located in Kansas City Kansas (Huron Indian Cemetery.) Remains of persons buried there were to be moved to Quindaro Cemetery. *
The Conley sisters established "Fort Conley" on cemetery grounds and led a successful resistance to this proposed action.*They padlocked the front gate and hung a sign on it warning all persons to "Trespass at Your Peril. Over the graves of their parents, they erected a small building where they slept during their vigil.*
1906 October 25. KC Times quotes: Miss Lyda Conley, " In this cemetery are buried one-hundred of our ancestors...why should we not be proud of our ancestors and protect their graves? We shall do it, and woe be to the man that first attempts to steal a body. We are part owners of the ground and have the right under the law to keep off trespassers, the right a man has to shoot a burglar who enters his home."
Any who would like to comment on this planned desecration can do so by sending a petition with their comment from the following web site:
Thank you for your interest in our newsletter.
Ishgooda