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History
Segments Presented by Lyle Harvey
THE PONCA INDIANS
(Read at the Page Methodist Church on Mar. 2, 2008)
When
the settlers arrived in the Page area in 1882 and 1883, the land they
were homesteading was the ancestral hunting grounds of the Ponca Indians.
The Ponca Tribe lived in northeast Nebraska and their main village was
at the mouth of the Niobrara River where the town of Niobrara now resides.
These
Indians were removed from their land in 1877. They were forced to walk
from Niobrara to Ponca City, Oklahoma, going by way of Neligh, Columbus,
Seward and Beatrice. The trip was a terrible ordeal through bad weather
and sickness. One child died near Neligh and the citizens there promised
to look after the grave and they keep flowers on it to this day. You
will find it in the southwest part of the cemetery near the historical
marker.
In
1879, Standing Bear’s son died and it was his son’s wish
to be buried on the banks of the Missouri River near Niobrara. A small
group of tribesmen started out for Niobrara walking behind the wagon
containing the son’s remains and pulled by two old worn out horses.
When notice of the escape had been received by the Department of Interior-an
order was issued to arrest them. These Ponca were arrested near the
Omaha Indian Reservation and taken to Omaha.
A
trial was held and the case centered on the fact that an Indian was
not a person in the eyes of the law. At the end of the trial, after
an emotional speech by Standing Bear, Judge Dundy decided that an Indian
was a human being and therefore entitled to protection by the constitution
of the United States.
Standing
Bear and his people were freed and he was allowed to bury his son on
the ancestral Ponca burial ground near the bridge that today bear’s
his name. The Standing Bear Bridge.
Lyle Harvey
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