People
Meet the many people who argued for and against carceral, institutional, and interpersonal confinement in the petitions filed in County and District Courts throughout the American West over the long nineteenth century. Browse or search people by name, demographic characteristics, case role, and/or relationships described in each petition. Our encoding practice for people features data pulled from the available case files and in some instances additional data from supplemental sources is also included. Only people with case roles are indexed here, while all persons named in a case are listed on the case page. The Glossary defines the attributes used to structure data from the habeas petitions. The Code Book explains the relational structure of the data and functionality of the database website.
Featured story: Lucía Martínez: Yaqui Arizona, 1854-1900
Basic Search
Simply enter the word you wish to find and the search engine will search for every instance of the word in the journals. For example: Fight. All instances of the use of the word fight will show up on the results page.
Wildcard Searches
Using an asterisk (*) will increase the odds of finding the results you are seeking. For example: Fight*. The search results will display every instance of fight, fights, fighting, etc. More than one wildcard may be used. For example: *ricar*. This search will return most references to the Aricara tribe, including Ricara, Ricares, Aricaris, Ricaries, Ricaree, Ricareis, and Ricarra. Using a question mark (?) instead of an asterisk (*) will allow you to search for a single character. For example, r?n will find all instances of ran and run, but will not find rain or ruin.
Capitalization
Searches are not case sensitive. For example: george will come up with the same results as George.
Phrase Search
Searching for a specific phrase may help narrow down the results. Rather long phrases are no problem. For example: "This white pudding we all esteem".
Subsequent Searches
Because of the creative spellings used by the journalists, it may be necessary to try your search multiple times. For example: P?ro*. This search brings up numerous variant spellings of the French word pirogue, "a large dugout canoe or open boat." Searching for P?*r*og?* will bring up other variant spellings. Searching for canoe or boat also may be helpful.
Filter by:
Race or Ethnicity
- Indigenous 69
- Multiracial 5
- Black 2
- White 2
- Hispanic (Mexican) 1
Birth Place
- Unknown 50
- Nebraska 9
- New Mexico 4
- Arizona 2
- United States 2
- Alaska 1
- Ohio 1
- Sonora, Mexico 1
- Washington Territory 1
Age Category
- Unindicated 32
- Adult 24
- Minor 11
- Unclear 3
Relationships
- judged by 56
- attorney for 46
- jailed by 30
- attorney against 29
- married to 13
- child of 9
- parent of 9
- superintendent of 4
- court-appointed guardian of 3
- Indian Agent of 3
- parent-appointed guardian of 3
- sibling of 3
- detained by 2
- in legal custody of 2
- in parent- appointed custody of 2
- in the disputed interpersonal custody of 2
- relative of 2
- represented by 2
- an Indian ward of 1
Cases
- In the matter of the Application of Ma-chu-nah-zha (Standing Bear) for a writ of Habeas Corpus 26
- In Re the Petition of Juan Rey Abeita for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 4
- In the matter of the application of Charles Green Rainbow, James Fisher and Peter Decora for a writ of habeas corpus 4
- Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Anna Vine vs. Sheldon Jackson 4
- The State of Nebraska v. Yellow Sun et al 4
- In the matter of the application of Louis Dick for a writ of habeas corpus 3
- Lucia Martinez vs. Thomas Barrman, K. S. Woolsey, John Ammerman & Mrs Ammerman 3
- In the matter of the application of Can- ah- couqua for a writ of habeas corpus 2
- In the matter of the application of Charles N. Replogle, Superintendent of the Mission, upon Douglas Island, Alaska, of "Kansas Yearly Meeting of of Orthodox Friends" on behalf of Nu-Shukk, a minor Indian child, for writ of Habeas Corpus 2
- In the matter of the application of Lelah Puc-Ka-Chee, and Ta-Ta-Pi-Cha, for a writ of habeas corpus 2
- In the matter of the application of William Walker for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 2
- In re: The application of Antwine Michel for a writ of habeas corpus 1
- In the Matter of Application of John Suelling for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of application of Sunny Luckey alias Charles Edwards for writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of Elihu Schooner 1
- In the matter of the application of Billy Phillips for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for Ellen Phillips his wife 1
- In the matter of the application of Columbia George for a writ of habeas corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Edward Blackfish, For writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Indian, Peters, for a writ of habeas corpus 1
- In the Matter of the Application of John Heo for a Writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Joseph Tebo for H. C. 1
- In the matter of the application of Joseph Tebo for writ of H. C. 1
- In the matter of the application of Moses Keokuk for a writ of habeas corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Samuel Jackson for a writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of Spafford Woodhull for a writ of Habeas Corpus 1
- In the matter of the application of William S. Garrett and John F. Meyers for a writ of habeas corpus 1
69 results
Download JSON Download CSVE-tun-kah (Big Mouth)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Unknown
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Phillips, Ellen
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party
Wo-zha-zhi (Crown Hair)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Unknown
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Keokuk, Moses (Ke-o-Kuk)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party, petitioner
Dick, Lucy
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party
Blackfish, Edward
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Woodhull, Spafford
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner
Peters,
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Sloan, Thomas L.
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous, Multiracial
- Case role(s): Respondent attorney, petitioner attorney
Michel, Antwine
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Me-he-da-wah (Midst of the Sun)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Unknown
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Ske-det-kitty-butts (Little Wolf)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Decora, Peter
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Can- ah- couqua (Can- ah- couquay)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Female
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner
Wah-thi-ca (Swift)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Unknown
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Rainbow, Charles Green
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Me-don-ah-oaz (Cries For War)
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Fisher, James
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Petitioner, bound party
Con- ca- dach
- Birth date: N.D.
- Birth place: Unknown
- Sex: Male
- Race or ethnicity: Indigenous
- Case role(s): Bound party
