By Kandice Watson (Wolf Clan)
Documentarian
Sometimes as I’m researching Nation Members from the past, I often stumble upon a piece of information about a family that shocks or saddens me and I feel our Nation Membership should know about it as well. The hardships and trauma that our ancestors experienced is sometimes hard to hear. The daily struggles we all face today are important to us, but at least we get to be with our families. The boarding school experience was horrible and it’s amazing that any of our people survived. Not all of them did.
Here is the story of Nancy Obediah Hill Doxtater (Wolf Clan) (7/20/1863-12/25/1950) and her children.
Nancy’s parents were John and Melinda Obediah, but I have been unable to find Melinda’s maiden name. Her Indian name was Willenti, but I cannot find anything more about her or her life before she married John Obediah. They had Eliza (1855-1874), Stephen (1856), Amos (1862-1875), Nancy (1864), David and Lafayette.
In 1886, Nancy, age 22, and her brother Stephen, 34, were living on the Onondaga reservation. Nancy was married to Elijah Palmer Hill at the time and had daughters Emma (1883) and Mary Ann (1885). By the 1892 New York State Census, she and Elijah have added Laura (1887) and Adeline (1890) and were still living at Onondaga. Nora was born in 1892, right around the time when that census was taken.
I am not sure what happened between Nancy and Elijah, but in 1895, I found Nancy admitting herself to the Onondaga Almshouse (above) and all of the girls have been enrolled at the Thomas Indian School, where they remained until they were of legal age of at least 18.
- Emma (1895-1900)
- Mary Ann (1895-1905)
- Laura (1895-1909)
- Adeline (1895-1901, died at the school)
- Nora (1897-1910)
Nancy had another child, a son she named Jefferson H. Jackson in 1902, who died sometime around 1907. She married George Doxtater and had a son, Lalow Rolls Doxtater in 1906 but unfortunately, he died in 1918 at age 12. She lived alone on the Onondaga reservation for the remainder of her days until she died on Christmas Day, 1950 at the age of 87.
Sadly, Nancy’s daughters did not fare much better than their mother.
Thomas Indian School Graduates, circa 1910. Photo from the NYS Archives.
Emma Hill (3/5/1883-5/14/1922)
Emma married Felix Isaac Wilson White in around 1905 after leaving Thomas Indian School and moved to the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska, where he was a member of the Omaha Nation. There they had 4 children: Felix Jr (1907), Eugene (1911), Woodrow (1913) and Roxanna (1915). Emma died in 1922 on the Winnebago reservation at the young age of 39 when her children were still very small. I found 5 year old Roxanna living with her grandmother Nancy on the Onondaga Reservation on the 1920 US Federal Census, but then by 1930, she was living back with her father in Nebraska and from what I can find, never returned to New York. Emma’s children remained in Nebraska and moved to other western states, marrying and having children, never knowing their affiliation with their mother’s Oneida relatives. Her sons all married women from out there, so they would not have had enrolled Oneida children, but Roxanna’s children could have been enrolled.
Roxanna had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls (Priscilla, Kenneth, Eugene, Maureen, Eleanor and Charles). Again, her sons would not have had enrolled children, but her daughters’ children would have been eligible for enrollment. Priscilla had 2 boys: Kent and Terry. Maureen had 1 son, Quentin, that I could locate, who sadly died by suicide in 1986 at age 17. My heart broke when I discovered this information, I wondered if things would have been different for him if he had known he had another whole Indian Nation on the east coast that was opening a bingo hall at that time who would have welcomed him with open arms? I had difficulty tracking Eleanor and from what I have found, she did not have any children, so our enrolled Oneida relatives ended with this generation. It saddens me to know that we had Oneida cousins out in Nebraska who knew nothing of their Haudenosaunee relatives back home, and likewise, we knew nothing of their existence.
Mary Ann Hill (9/20/1885-11/1982)
Mary Ann fared better than her mother or her sisters and went on to have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that we all know today. She married Joseph Gonyea in 1912 and had children: Mable (1910-1950) (Powless), Abigail (1912-2006) (George), John (1917-1918), Raphael (1919-1992) and Benjamin (1920-1923). She lost John and Benjamin as young children, which sadly, was a normal occurrence during that time period. (Pictured above: Mary Gonyea, date unknown; Abigail, Ben and Mable, date unknown; Raphael, 1936)
Mable Mary Gonyea married William Powless in 1932 and did not have any children. She died in 1950 at 40 years old.
Abigail (Abby) married Howard Lazore and that union produced Howard Jr. in 1933. She then went on to marry Webster George and had Dean (1934), Keller (1938), Wellington (1940), Webster Jr. (1941), Randall (1944) and Lucille (1945). Abby died in Oneida, Ontario in 2006 at the astounding age of 96 years young.
Raphael went on to marry Sarah Bush and they had 9 children of the Onondaga Nation. He served in the US Army with distinguished service. An article describing his military experience can be found HERE.
Laura Hill (1887-1909)
Laura was sent to the Thomas Indian School in 1895 with her sisters after the apparent tragedy that befell her family as a young girl of 8 years old. She remained there until she was 18 in 1909, but then disappeared. I am not sure what happened to her, whether she married and moved away such as her sister Emma, or if she died. Thomas Indian School records have her listed as a student there from 1895-1909. I am assuming she passed away at that time. However, I do not think she died at the school.
Adeline Hill (1890-1901)
Adeline went to Thomas Indian School with her sisters in 1895 and died there in 1901 at the age of 11. I am not able to find out what caused her death, but will continue to search. Sadly, I do not know if she was buried there or if she was returned home to Onondaga for burial. Her mother Nancy was destitute at the time, so I am assuming she did not have the resources to bring her daughter home.
Nora Florence Hill (9/4/1892-4/12/1917)
I wish I had known Nora. I felt her pain as I did this research. Our people have suffered so much throughout the years and Nora experienced every single bit of it. It seems she never had a chance. She was born in 1892 and was too young to go to Thomas Indian School with her sisters in 1895 as she was only 3. When she was 5, she was sent to the school, where she remained until she was 18 in 1910. I imagine she was relieved to finally be out of that school and to have some responsibility for herself and her own happiness. I am not sure that she ever married, but she did have 3 children: Elijah Palmer Hill (1913), Elizabeth Grace Hill (1916) and Barney Hill (1917 – 1922). I believe she died giving birth to Barney on 4/12/1917 at only 25 years of age. (He died in 1922).
After Nora’s death in 1917, Elijah and Elizabeth lived with their grandfather Elijah and his second wife Emma for a while as I found them residing with them on the 1920 Federal Census on the Onondaga reservation. However, I was able to locate them both on the New York State Census in 1925 as enrolled inmates at the Thomas Indian School. The school’s records state that Elijah Palmer Hill was there 1921-1928 and Elizabeth Hill was a student 1921-1933. I found Elijah Palmer (17) again living with his grandfather and his wife Emma on the 1930 Federal Census on the Onondaga reservation, and in 1950 he was living in Rochester as a boarder. I was unable to locate him anywhere in 1940. As for Elizabeth, I found her living at the Newark State School for the Mentally Defective in Arcadia, NY in 1940. I was not able to find her on any 1950 Federal Census. I am assuming she died sometime between 1940 and 1950.
Nancy Obediah Hill Doxtater was dealt a bad hand but had to play it. She suffered great losses throughout her life, was unable to raise her daughters and had 2 sons pass away as young boys. I do not know her and I cannot judge her, I can only empathize with her and her situation and be grateful every day that this was not my life. Many know that my mother was a student at the Thomas Indian School and that I have dedicated a good part of my life to doing this research because of that, but it’s painful. This research wrecks me for days sometimes. I wish things could have been different for our ancestors, but as a mathematician by training, I am a realist. This is our history. This is the truth. Sometimes it’s draining, but it has to be told. We have to make sure we take care of each other and hold each other up as best that we can. We need to invite Members to come home. We need to welcome them and show them acceptance. The boarding school era is obviously still painful and continues to affect many of us to this day. The only thing we can do is tell their stories and remember that they were Oneidas, just like us.