Provided by the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center, Allegany Territory – September 6th, 2022
September 9, 1966 – According to page one of the Si-Wong Geh community newsletter: LACROSSE NEWS – The Lacrosse game last Saturday night between the Newtown Lacrosse Club and the St. Catharines Lacrosse Club wound up as a 14-14 tie. “Granny” Stevens was the high man with six goals for the local club. “SI-WONG-GEH?” – The Name the Paper Contest was won by Nora Sandy Bennett of Newtown. The five dollar prize was donated by Mrs. Martha Hughson on behalf of the Womens’ Suffrage Organization. [Si-wong-geh translates Have you heard?] The following quote was shared with readers: “To talk good is not to be good; to do good, that is being good!”
September 15, 1797 -Big Tree Treaty negotiated in the Genesee valley (Geneseo, NY). By late August upwards of 1,200 Senecas and others had begun gathering at the town of Conewaugus. Formal negotiations began August 30. The Seneca Nation relinquished 4,000,000 acres valued at $4.5M in exchange for $100,000 (.025¢/acre). Our remaining 216,000 acres were divided into reservations, i.e. Allegany, Cattaraugus, Buffalo Creek, Tonawanda, and along the Genesee River were Conewaugus, Big Tree, Little Beard’s Town, Squawky Hill, Gardeau (Mary Jemison), and Caneadea. The Oil Spring Territory was mistakenly omitted from the final document, but was later confirmed. The entire process was rife with unscrupulous land speculators (Morris family – Robert Sr., Robert Jr., Thomas), bribery, fraud, alcohol (supplies included 25 gallons of whiskey), and bad faith.
September 25, 1952 – Parents and resident of the Allegany Territory attended a dedication of the new Allegany Indian School, i.e. Red House school. Previously Allegany children attended one-room district schools at Shongo, Red House, Cold Spring, Robinson Run, and Quaker Bridge. The addition to the one-room district school house created five (5) classrooms for children in grades K through 6. Several upper grades were combined into one classroom. The building was considered to be temporary and if the Kinzua Dam/reservoir project had not happened a permanent school was to be constructed. However, by the late 1950s it was apparent the dam would be built and in January of 1966 of the school was closed. Students from the Red House school were transferred to a new elementary school in Salamanca.
CORRECTION to the August chronology – The settlement in PL 88-533 totaled $15,000,573, not $15,000,053.
