Fort Belknap Enrollment

Mrs. Larsen states that her mother was a Gros Ventre Indian and her father Mose Soloman, a white man; that Mrs. Larsen’s father lived in Helena, Montana, and educated Mrs. in the public schools there; that in 1890 Mrs. Larsen, those maiden name was Emma Soloman, married her present husband and that they moved to Ft. Benton and that her husband took up a homestead and that the family has resided at Fort Benton since that time.

Mrs. Larsen has nine children living; one daughter being married to a white man. Mrs. Larsen states that in 1901 she placed three of her children in the Fort Shaw Indian School and that they remained there three years.

The family is now here but I have refused them admission to the Reservation and informed them that I would not put them on the rolls of the Agency until instructions from your office had been received.

The Supt. then goes on to state that there are many now trying to come on the Reservation with the prospect of getting land, and recommends that some steps be taken at once and that orders be given from the Indian Office to prevent any outsiders from coming on the reservation with the hope of getting land until their case has been passed upon by the Indian Office and decision made as to whether or not they should be placed on the rolls of the Agency.

The fact that Mrs. Larsen was educated in the public schools; that she was practically separated from the Tribe for so many years should preclude her from gaining any rights on this reservation and I respectfully recommend that her application for enrollment be denied.

I have the honor to reply to your office letter of the 9^th, relative to the status of the applications of Mrs. Esther Eastlund and Mrs. Emma Larsen for enrollment on this reservation.

This matter was taken up before the Business Council and at one meeting a majority of the Council voted to enroll them, but at the next meeting this action was rescinded and the Business Council voted to have a general meeting of the Indians for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Indians desired those people enrolled.

Owing to the severe weather, it will be impossible to have a meeting of the Indians now and it is hardly likely that a representative council could be secured before spring. 

(Rastall)

…

The applications of Mrs. Larsen for enrollment of herself and her children was duly considered and after much discussion the question of whether should be enrolled or not was duly voted on by the council and 83 voted in the affirmative and 11 voted in the negative. Report signed by John Buckman, President and William Bigby, Secretary.

The report of the council meeting was received at the Indian Office on Nov. 7, 1917, as shown by receiving stamp there on. 

The Larsen family has no legal right here until their enrollment is actually approved but as there is little doubt that the tribe will again vote favorably upon their applications, it seems possible that the department will approve the same. I have therefore hesitated, especially in view of the national emergency as regards food stuffs, to enforce what seems to me to be strictly right in their case. If the office desires that [it] be not permitted to use land pending the determination of their claims, I request that I be so instructed.

Yesterday the son-in-law of Mrs. Larsen, Eastlund by name, called upon me in reference to use of land by himself in the name of his wife and children. He stated that he has 130 acres plowed and ready for sowing to grain in the spring. He desires to have some other white man come on the reservation and crop this 130 acres, preferably on the share basis. This would of course be practically leasing the tribal land to an outsider for the benefit of individual and that individual not a recognized member of the tribe. It would not be objected to for Eastlund to make arrangements with some other member of the Larsen family (pending enrollment) or Indians of the reservation to take over the land and pay him for breaking done.

…

You are requested not to authorize persons whose applications for enrollment have not been approved to use lands on the reservation, as they are trespassers and should be treated as such until their rights to participate in benefits with the tribe has been determined.

Object of meeting to consider applications for enrollment.

…

The application of Mrs. Emma Larsen was next presented: her own affidavits and various affidavits submitted for her being read and explained. After a thorough discussion it was voted that there is no doubt of her having Gros Ventre blood on her mother’s side, though there seems to be a dispute about who her father really was. The majority of the council is of the opinion that her real father is Moses Soloman, a white man but vote unanimously to admit her and her [nine] (9) children and two (2) grandchildren to the rolls for the reason that she has Indian blood and has always admitted same and has visited the relatives on the reservation and the Indians on the reservation have visited at her home and were recognized as relations. 

…

Signed by John Buckman, President and Ben Horseman, Secretary. Minutes certified by C. D. Munroe, Supt.

About 70 years old; has known Mrs. Emma Larsen for about 40 years; knew her when she was on the Marias River near Fort Benton; she was born there. In reply to the question “who was her father” Frog replied: Little Boy, a Gros Ventre Indian was her father. Later after Mrs. Larsen was born her mother married a white man, named Moses Soloman; her mother was Strike, a Gros Ventre woman of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation; said Mrs. Larsen had never lived on the Reservation until she returned here about two years ago; she lived with her father Moses Soloman until she was married except that she lived with First Kill an Indian of this reservation for about a year after her mother’s death; since her marriage she has lived near her father on the Marias River near Fort Benton until she moved to the reservation recently.

Frog (his mark)

John Buckman and Stephen Bradley witnesses; Sworn to before Agent.

About 60 years old; knew Mrs. Larsen; she was born in my father’s tent about 43 years ago when I was there; her mother’s name was Strike, a Gros Ventre woman; her father, Mose Soloman, a white man; she was born on the Marias River below Fort Benton, it used to be within the territory where the Gros Ventre Indians lived but not on the present reservation.

In reply to the question: Where did she live all her life? Sleeping bull replied: She lived with her father and mother until her mother’s death; then my father, Bulls Robe, took her and kept her four years or more; after that she went back to her father, Moses Soloman near Fort Benton, and lived there until she was married to a white man, Zack Larsen; after that she lived on the Marias River until she came here a couple of years ago; She has visited here a number of times since her marriage but did not live here legally until two years ago.

Sleeping Bull (his mark)

Witnesses: John Buckman, Stephen Bradley. 

Subscribed and sworn to before the Agent, C. D. Munroe. 

I, Curley Head, Have heard read the affidavits in application for enrollment of Mrs. Emma Larsen and desire to say that the real father of Mrs. Larsen was Moses Soloman; I know that some say her father was Little Boy and that her mother would run with that Indian, but when she went to live with Moses Soloman she had no child. After some time she gave birth to a child, who was the present Mrs. Larsen. I am 59 years of age and have known her since she was a small baby.

Curley Head (his mark)

Witness: Ben Horseman.

I, Ed. Rider, first being duly sworn depose and say that I am A full blood Indian of the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana; 53 years of age; I remember seeing the present Mrs. Emma Larsen when she was a small baby and was about 10 or 12 years old, but I do not know whether she was on the reservation or not; that I knew her mother who was a full blood Gros Ventre named Strike; that her mother’s husband was a white man, but I have heard the Indians say he was not her father of Mrs. Larsen but that her father was a full blood Gros Ventre named Little Boy; that Mrs. Larsen was born only a few months after the marriage of her mother; That I saw Mrs. Larsen occasionally after this in the vicinity of Fort Benton where she lived with the white man she called her father until her marriage. I have been told that she was back on the reservation for about a year when she was a little child, but I did not know of my own knowledge. She was married off the reservation and lived away from here until 1916. All her children were born away from the reservation. I do not know of her attending school on the reservation nor any Indian school outside the reservation.

Ed.Rider (his mark)

George Cochran and C.D.Munroe witnesses; Sworn to before Munroe.

I am a white man, 59 years of age and the husband of Mrs. Emma Larsen that applied for enrollment on the Fort Belknap Reservation; that I first saw Mrs. Larsen in 1888 at Marion, Mont., that I married her at Fort Benton, Montana, about 1890 or 1891; she then lived about one year at Havre, Montana, and since that time at Marias, Montana on the Marias River, until she came to the Fort Belknap reservation, I in March, 1916, and she in Aug. 1916; that at no time did she live on any Indian reservation until 1916; that Emma Larsen filed on public domain allotment in 1896 and relinquished it back to the Government without a consideration about five or six years ago; that I took a homestead on the Marias River about two miles west of the present town of Loma some time after my marriage with Emma Larsen and I proved up on the same and sold it in 1916 just before coming to the reservation (the present town of Loma was formerly called Marias); that there are nine (9) children from the marriage of myself and Emma Larsen, all of whom are now living on the Fort Belknap reservation and have lived there since 1916; that they all lived with us or in our immediate vicinity from their birth until the present time; that one of our daughters has two daughters, whose enrollment is also applied for; that the names of the children are as follows: 

• Agnes Larsen Stookey 
• Esther Larsen Eastlund 
• Zach Larsen, Jr.
• Berthold Larsen
• Edward Larsen 
• Matildia Larsen
• Emma Larsen 
• Jack Larsen
• Ruth Larsen

and the grandchildren are Minnie Eastlund and Winnifred Eastlund, that none of the children or grandchildren, except Winnifred Eastlund, were born on the Ft. Belknap or any other Indian reservation.

Zack Larsen

No witnesses: Subscribed and sworn to before C.D. Munroe. 

From Knowledge derived from my father, I was born in March, 1875, at Eagle Butte, which was then a part of the Fort Belknap Reservation, that my father was Moses Soloman, a white man, who was a trader at Eagle Butte; that my mother was Strike, a full blood Indian woman of the Gros Ventre tribe; that I was taken by parents in May or June 1875 to Ft. Benton where my father was also in business as a trader. In 1876 I was taken by them to Marias, Montana, where my father kept a road house until about 1905; that my mother died in 1879, but I continued to live with my father. I was married in 1890 at Fort Benton to Zack Larsen, a white man; lived at Fort Benton and that vicinity until August 1916 when I moved with my family to the Fort Belknap Reservation. I had been on the reservation before that date, but never lived there until 1916. I have resided here continuously since 1916. I attended an Indian school, St. Peters Mission, west of Cascade, Montana, for one year, about 1888; the balance of my schooling was in white schools, where I attended about six or seven years altogether. In about 1896 I filed on a public domain allotment about ten miles south of Fort Benton, but relinquished the same back to the Government about 1898 or 1899 without consideration. Zack Larsen, my husband, filed upon and proved up a homestead of 154 acres since my marriage to him, was sold just to prior to our removal to Fort Belknap. I hereby make application for the enrollment of myself, my nine children and two grandchildren with the Indians of the Fort Belknap Reservation. Their names are as follows: 

• Agnes Larsen Stookey: born in 1891 at Fort Benton; has lived with me or near me all her life and now resides with me on the reservation. 
• Esther Larsen Eastlund: born in 1893, near Fort Benton has lived with me or near me all her life and now resides with her husband and children on the reservation. 
• Minnie Eastlund; my granddaughter, born in 1914 near Fort Benton, and has since, and is now living with her parents. 
• Winnifred Eastlund; my granddaughter, born in 1916 near Fort Benton, and has since and is now living with her parents.
• Zack Larsen, Jr; born in 1895 at Fort Benton, has since and does still reside with me and is now on the reservation.
• Barthold Larsen, born 1897 near Fort Benton, and has since and still does live with me and is now on the reservation.
• Edward Larsen; born 1904 near Fort Benton, has since lived with me and is now attending school at St. Paul Mission school on the Fort Belknap Reservation. 
• Mithilda Larsen; born 1905 near Ft. Benton, has since lived with me and is now attending school at St. Paul Mission school.
• Emma Larsen; born in 1907, near Ft. Benton has since lived with me and is now attending school at St. Paul Mission school. 
• Jack Larsen; born 1911 near Ft. Benton, and has since lived with me at home. 
• Ruth Larsen; born 1915 near Ft. Benton, has since lived with me.

Mrs. Emma Larsen. 

Subscribed and sworn to before the Supt. 

…

This letter encloses affidavits of the foregoing and the minutes of the meeting of March 28th and of March 30th, and states on page two:

The Council voted to admit Mrs. Emma Larsen and her nine (9) children and two (2) grandchildren for the reason that they were satisfied as to her having at least one-half Gros Ventre Indian blood. Her own affidavit and that of her white husband indicates that she has lived off the reservation all her life until her application for enrollment here. That she was educated at white schools almost entirely; that her children were all born away from the reservation and that during her married life her husband had taken up, proved up on and sold a homestead; that her father, with whom she made her home up to the time of her marriage, was a white man and lived as a white man and not among Indians. It appears that she visited the reservation at times and that some of the Indians visited her at her home off the Reservation, and that she has always admitted her blood. I do not know the degree of affiliation that the Department requires in order to support a claim for enrollment, but it appears to me that this family considered themselves as white people in spite of their occasional visits to the reservation. Zack Larsen used his rights as a white man to file on and prove up on a homestead and no claim for rights or enrollment here appears to have been made until he met with financial reverses in 1916 and moved to the reservation for the purposes of revenue. It is our job to make citizens out of Indians and not Indians out of white citizens and I am not in favor of the enrollment of the Larsens. I therefore recommend that their application be disapproved and they be not admitted to the rolls. 

…

In re: Mrs. Emma Larsen, her children Mrs. Agnes Stooky, Mrs. Eastlund and four minor children and Zack, Barthold, Edward, Mathilda, Emma, Jack and Ruth Larsen:

The evidence establishes that the father of Mrs. Larsen was Moses Soloman, a white man, and her mother was Strike, a full blood Gros Ventre Indian; that the said Emma Larsen was born in 1875 at Eagle Butte, Montana, and was reared among the whites; that she in turn married a white and her children were all born at Ft. Benton, Montana. That in Aug. 1916 this family including the children and grandchildren removed to the Fort Belknap Reservation, where they are now residing. The further facts are that the Tribal Council of March 30, 1918; unanimously agreed to admit all the applicants to membership for the reason that Mrs. Larsen has Indian blood and has always admitted same and has visited with relatives on the reservation; the Indians on the Reservation have visited at her home and were recognized as relations.

The Superintendent reports that this woman was educated at white schools almost entirely; that she visited the reservation at times and received visits from Indians thereof, but the husband Zack Larsen used his rights as a white man and filed on a homestead and that this family made no claim for enrollment until they met with financial reverses in 1916 and removed to the Reservation for the purposes of revenue. The Superintendent recommends that the applications be Disapproved. As the Indians in council unanimously recognized the applicants as belonging by blood to the Gros Ventre Tribe and have unanimously agreed to admit them to membership, the office is of the opinion that they should be granted the rights sought as they have cast their lot with the Tribe.

Recommendation: that authority be granted for the admission of the said applicants to membership by adoption.

E.B.Merritt

…

The other cases involve the applications of Mrs. Emma Larsen and her children, etc. The recommendations of your office are favorable to those persons for the reason that the Tribal Council agrees to their enrollment and in view of the fact that they have removed to the reservation. The department does not concur in the latter view of your office. The facts are that the members of the Larsen family were born away from the reservation, have been educated among whites and never affiliated with the Indians. The husband of Mrs. Larsen is a white man who made and proved up a homestead and sold the same. Mrs. Larsen herself made a homestead entry but relinquished the same. According to the Superintendents reports, this family made no claim for enrollment until they met financial reverses and then moved to the reservation “for purposes of revenue”. The Department has given careful consideration to the facts of these cases and find no justification for the enrollment of the members of either of these Families, but, on the contrary, that the applications for enrollment should, in both instances, be denied. The recommendations of your office are modified accordingly. 

…

also the applications of Mrs. Emma Larsen and children for similar rights; there is enclosed a copy of a self-explanatory decision of May 23, 1918, by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior denying these persons the right sought. Please furnish them copies of the adverse decision and advise other persons interested. 

73 years old; has been associated with the Gros Ventres and other Indians of Montana for more than 53 years; has been in the Government Indian Service for 29 years on the Fort Belknap Reservation; that he is well acquainted with Mrs. Emma Larsen and her children and knows that Esther Larsen, now Mrs. Esther Eastlund, is a daughter of Mrs. Emma Larsen, a Gros Ventre Indian and belonging to said tribe of Indians and that he has heard read the foregoing affidavit of said Esther Eastlund attached hereto and knows that her statements as to her marriage and condition and all maternal things in said affidavit he knows to be true and believes that all her statements are true and that his continuous residence upon the reservation gives him personal Knowledge of the facts herein stated. 

Also appeared David A-Ring, 49 years old, employee of the Indian office for 14 years; associated with Gros Ventre Indians for 30 years past, is well acquainted with Emma Larsen and her family and has been for the past thirty years, has heard affidavit of Esther Eastlund read and knows from personal knowledge her statements are true. 

Mrs. Esther Eastlund, first being duly sworn deposes and says she is the daughter of Mrs. Emma Larsen, an Indian person, now located upon the Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation, in the State of Montana, and that she herself now resides upon said reservation and that she is the mother of three children, who each reside with her on said Reservation; and that the Tribal Council agreed to the family of my mother and myself, to the enrollment upon the Records of said Reservation as belonging to the tribe of the Gros Ventre Indians the of said reservation; that she has received through the Superintendent a copy of the notice of date May 23, 1918, made by S.G.Hopkins, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, denying the right to be enrolled as of the Tribal Indians of said Reservation, that she has carefully noted the reasons of said denial by the Department, and the error of some of those reasons. First that it was error in the statement that Mrs. Emma Larsen did not make application to so be enrolled until meeting financial reverses; that said Mrs. Larsen and family made application some years ago, and that they also made such application in the year 1913. Second, that the education of said family and children was in the Indian schools of Ft. Shaw, Montana, and that Mrs. Larsen received her education at Saint Peters Montana. Third that the Homestead of Mrs. Larsen as spoken of in the notice from said Acting Secretary, was simply an application for a home outside of the Reservation, by as an Indian application, but said application was not granted, for the reason that Mrs. Larsen did not settle upon the land, as she did not wish to make improvement on lands before knowing that same would be allowed; and Fourth, that the error of the Supt. in assuming that said Larsen and my own family removed to the reservation “for the purpose of revenue” is wholly at fault for the reason that your affiant and Mrs. Emma Larsen and the families were far better off financially at date of such removal than at any time in their lives; but that since their taking up residence upon the reservation they have expended most of their finances in the improvement and cultivation of the lands taken up, believing they had full rights as other Indians of the Tribe; and that this affidavit is made in good faith for the purposes of securing Tribal Rights, is make with full understanding of the conditions and the action at this time by the Department, and this affidavit is not made for the purpose of injury to any person or persons whatever, and that the families of Mrs. Larsen and your affiant are living in very friendly and peaceable relation with other Indians upon the Reservation. Her Post Office address is Harlem Montana.

THE LARSEN FAMILY 

While at St. Paul Mission the Larsen family took up with me the ruling which had been made by the Department of the Interior last year denying to them the rights as to the reservation and being enrolled as Gros Ventre.

The Agency files aid not disclose to me a great deal concerning this case but I found that they had been ordered from the reservation by the Secretary on the grounds that they were not entitled to any tribal rights because in years past they had severed their connection with the reservation and had within recent years returned thereto for revenue only. The above order was caused by the insistency of Superintendent Munro in various letters to the Indian office. I was not able to substantiate the facts as he gave them to you, but found in a large measure that the very contrary was true.

Mrs. Larsen is a Gros Ventre Indian and has been considered so by the Tribe throughout her life. In the several votes which have been taken by the Tribe as to her tribal standing, she has been practically unanimously every time declared a Gros Ventre Indian. At no time were more than eleven votes cast against her. At the vote taken during my council she was unanimously elected as a member of the Gros Ventres and as one who was entitled to all the tribal rights.

Mrs. Larsen was born on the reservation, now ceded portion, in 1875. She was educated at a Catholic Mission, St. Peters, then and now a Catholic school erected for the purpose of educating Indians. In 1891 she married Zacharia Larsen a native of Sweden, but a naturalized citizen of the United States. The marriage was legal and was performed at Fort Benton, Montana. From this marriage has been born four boys and seven girls. Nearly all of these children have been almost wholly educated in Indian schools, some of them having attended Fort Shaw for several years. One of the girls married a white man Eric Eastlund, in 1913, and from this union three children have been born. Another girl married a white man, W.L.Stookey, in 1916, they have no children. 

Upon 1906 Mrs. Larsen entered upon a homestead not far from the Reservation and kept it until 1912, when she surrendered it back to the Government with the distinct understanding that she had reservation rights as a Gros Ventre Indian which she wished to accept in lieu of her allotment on the domain. The Government released her and the tract of land which she gave up has been homesteaded by a white man.

When Supt. Munro was attempting to ascertain the facts as to this family, he held a meeting at Hays. He arbitrarily and illegally forced Mrs. Larsen and her family to leave this meeting, so the Indians state, and she had no opportunity to present the facts to him. Eric Eastlund claims that Supt. Munro has always refused to accept his data and made little effort to arrive at the truth, because of his enmity to the Larsens. There has been no time since 1875 that this woman has not been an Indian and has not mixed and mingled freely with her own people on the reservation and they with her on the public domain, the statute plainly states that an Indian woman may marry a white man and in doing so she becomes a citizen the United States with all rights and privileges of such citizenship, and that such a marriage shall not in any way alienate from her, her tribal rights. Another section states that the children of an Indian mother have the same tribal rights as the mother.

To my mind it is an unjust and unfair conclusion of the law, both as to practice and as to theory, that when an Indian leaves the reservation he or she loses their tribal rights. Personally, I have attempted to persuade hundreds of Indians to leave the reservation and go out into the world and secure the standing to which they were entitled and which would be denied them so long as they remained among their people. I would not have dared to do this had I for a moment thought that if I were obeyed the Indians would Sacrifice property rights thereby.

No superintendent has claimed that any of these people were a detriment thorough evil habits and bad character to the Indians. Their conduct since they have been on the reservation during the past few years has been exemplary and no trouble has been had with them. I personally met several of the families and they demonstrate to a considerable degree that our efforts to civilize then and make them as we are has been successful. Both Mr. Eastlund and Mr. Stookey, the sons-in-law, are popular with our employees and so far as I could see were an example of energy and thrift to the Indians with whom they came in contact.As the order now stands, to expel these people from the reservation, as Supt. Symons and the other employees are supposed to enforce it, I respectfully recommend that the case again be reopened with the Secretary and if I have not given you sufficient data to secure a reversal, that Superintendent Symons be asked to furnish you with all the necessary evidence.

…

On investigating the case of Mrs. Larsen the Commission finds that Mrs. Larsen was born in 1875 at Eagle Butte south of the Bear Paw Mountains, on the Missouri River. This territory was a part of the reservation at that time. Her father was Moses Soloman, a white man; her mother Capture, a Gros Ventre; that the country where the she was born was at that time Gros Ventre Country; the Indians coming to this reservation in 1888. Mrs. Larsen continued to live at that place until 1915, when she came to the present reservation, where she has since made her home. In 1916 and 1918 her case was brought before the Tribal Council, which both times unanimously voted in favor of her enrollment. So far as can be learned, the Indians of this reservation regard her as a member of the Tribe and entitled to enrollment and allotments of the land on this reservation.

After due consideration of the facts in Mrs. Larsen’s case the commission recommends that Mrs. Larsen and her children be enrolled. I am enclosing for your information statements of Mrs. Larsen made in her application for enrollment. 

STATMENT OF MRS. LARSEN 

Name Emma Larsen, now Mrs. Zach Larsen. Born in 1875 at Eagle Butte, south of the Bear Paw Mountains. Father’s name, Moses Soloman, mother’s name Capture (Strike or Cheering); father a white man, mother belonging to Gros Ventre; did not know where mother was born; mother’s father’s name, Iron Head. Mother’s mother’s name Captive Woman; belonged to Gros Ventre. Always lived around the Marias River section until 1916, when she came to the reservation. In reply to the question; Did you ever try to move back on the reservation, she replied: 

Yes, it was during Mr. Logan’s, Mr. Hay’s, Mr. Martin’s and Mr. Miller’s, time. Those were the four we applied to before we moved and Mr. Rastall was here when we moved here. 

Asked “Did these agents allow you to move on the reservation”, she replied:

I have papers to show that I put in applications to move on to this reservation. 

Have you any letters sent to Mr. Logan? No but I have some that were sent to Mr. Miller. 

When you saw Mr. Logan in person, what did he say? He said it was not necessary for us to move on the reservation at that time. 

What was the name of the next agent that you made application to? Mr. Hays. He said that he did not think that it would be necessary for us to move down here until allotting time. When allotting time came we could receive our land the same as the rest. He took our names and the names of our children. 

Was that about the same story that the others told you? Yes, I have letters from Mr. Miller to show. 

Stated that her mother received rations around Ft. Benton. She remembers going with her mother with a team to receive the rations. Her home was 12 miles from Ft. Benton. Received an allotment in 1896 and relinquished it in 1901. Has letters from the land office showing it was cancelled. Never took up a homestead and is not enrolled on any other reservation. Attended St. Peter’s Mission school. 

Are you a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe? I think so; they all recognize us as belonging to these people. Recognized by the Council in 1916 at Lodgepole and Hays in 1919. 

Witness: Bear Nose, Return to War, Bull Head

There is submitted herewith the office records regarding the rights of Mrs. Emma Larsen and certain of her children with the Indians of the Ft. Belknap Reservation, Montana.

The facts are that Mrs. Emma Larsen was born in 1875 at Eagle Butte, south of the Bear Paw Mountains, among the Gros Ventre Tribe of Indians, and in territory then occupied by said Indians, but it has since been ceded by them to the Government. That her father, Moses Soloman, was a white man and her mother was a full blood Gros Ventre Indian woman. That in 1891 Mrs. Larsen married a white man, who is the father of her children; that Mrs. Larsen and her children moved to the present Ft. Belknap Reservation in 1915, there they have since resided. The further facts are that the Tribal Council has on several occasions voted in favor of enrolling this family and on April 29, 1918 this office recommended that action of the Council be approved and that these persons be enrolled by Adoption of the tribe. On May 23, 1919, the case was reviewed by the Department and it was said that “the members of the Larsen family were born away from the reservation; have been educated among the whites, and never affiliated with the Indians.”

It therefore seems that the conclusion reached was based largely on the belief that Mrs. Larsen as well as her children were born apart from the Tribe and had never been affiliated therewith, when in fact she was born on the reservation, now a ceded portion thereof, among the Indians and has lived on the present reservation since 1916. 

The court in the case of Oaks v. U.S. 172 Rep, held in effect that originally the test of the rights of the Indians to share in tribal property was existing membership in the tribe, but this rule has been so broadened by Acts of March 3, 1875 and of Feb. 6, 1887 (18 Stat. L. 420 and 24 Stat L. 388 respectively) as to the entitle Indians who were once recognized as members of a tribe to share in the distribution of the property of the Tribe.

Under this decision, it is believed that Mrs. Larsen is entitled to enrollment and that the children who were born apart from the reservation and tribe and whose father was a white man were not born to tribal membership and should not be enrolled. It is respectfully recommended that authority be granted to add the name of Mrs. Emma Larsen to the Fort Belknap Tribal rolls and that her children be denied enrollment.

Signed by Burke, Commissioner.

Approved December 28, 1921, F.M. Goodwin, Assist. Secretary of the Interior.

Enclosing copy of opinion of the Solicitor’s Office regarding enrollment of Fort Belknap Reservation. M. 6728 Memo. June 7,1922. 

Recommending that the approval of the rolls as made under date of January 9, 1922 be recalled, in order to give additional time for correction of rolls and removing therefrom persons fraudulently enrolled. 

Office letter of the secretary of the Interior, Land Cont. 95547-E R M, of date December 17, 1921, recommends that Mrs. Larsen be enrolled on the Ft. Belknap Tribal rolls and her children be denied enrollment. This recommendation was approved, by the Secretary on December 28, 1921, and the name of Emma Larsen was entered on the Gros Ventre Roll as No. 608.

The examination of the Tribal rolls approved by the Dept. Jan. 9, 1922, shows Mrs. Larsen enrolled as No. 334 under the name of Mrs. Zach Larsen. The following-named children of Mrs. Zach or Emma Larsen are also enrolled: 

• No. 335 Barthold Larsen
• No. 336 Edward Larsen 
• No. 337 Matildia Larsen 
• No. 338 Emma Larsen
• No. 339 John Sanford Larsen
• No. 340 Ruth Larsen 
• No. 341 Eva Larsen (Reva) 
• No. 349 Agnes Larsen Stookey 
• No. 231 Esther Larsen Eastlund 

All the above are children of Zach or Emma Larsen, 1875. On this approval roll will be found the names of the following grandchildren of Mrs. Zach or Emma Larsen; 

• No. 232 Minnie Eastlund 
• No. 233 Winnifred Eastlund 
• No. 234 Fern Eastlund 
• No. 235 Dixie Eastlund 

As there seems to be a difference between the intent of the letter and approved roll referred to above, I respectfully request that this matter be looked into and that I be informed as to whether the children and grand-children of Mrs. Zach or Emma Larsen be allotted? 

This difference perhaps came about through the name of Emma Larsen being used in the letter above and the name of Mrs. Zach Larsen being used in the approved rolls. Mrs. Zach Larsen and Mrs. Emma Larsen are, however, two names for the same person.

On April 29, 1918, application for enrollment of Mrs. Emma Larsen and certain other members of the family were submitted to the Department with their enrollment by adoption be authorized. The Department did not concur. The case was then, under date of Dec. 17, 1921, submitted to the Department with the following statement, which was approved by the Assistant Secy. of the Interior Dec. 28, 1921.

It appears that in the meantime the Enrollment Commission placed the name of Mrs. Larsen on the rolls as Mrs. Zach Larsen and also enrolled nine of her children and four grandchildren.

Letter then quotes Section 1 of the Act of March 3, 1921, states, after quotation, it is doubted whether under the provisions of the Act that the Department would and be warranted in striking the names of the children and grandchildren of Mrs. Larsen from the roll in the absence of a specific showing that they used fraudulent or illegal means to gain their enrollment. 

In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that the roll as submitted by the Commission be approved by the Department January 9, 1922, be corrected by striking therefrom the name of Mrs. Emma Larsen, Roll No. 608, as she is also enrolled as Mrs. Zach Larsen, Roll No. 334 and that the order of Dec. 28, 1921, denying the enrollment of the children of Mrs. Larsen be vacated and the names allowed to remain on the roll as prepared by the Commission and approved by the Department as above mentioned. 

Merritt.

Attention is called to the enrollment by the Commission of certain members of the Larsen and Eastlund families whose names appear on the Gros Ventre roll from Nos. 231 to 235 inclusive and from 334 to 341, inclusive, and also the enrollment of Mrs. Agnes Larsen Stookey No. 549.

These persons were denied enrollment by the Assistant Secretary on May 23, 1919 as they were known to be only slight degree Indian Blood; were born away from the reservation; had been educated among whites and never affiliated with the Indians, and as the husband of Mrs. Larsen, a white man, had entered and proved up a homestead and sold the same, and further, as Mrs. Larsen herself had taken up a homestead land but relinquished same. It further appeared that the family made no claims for allotment until met they met financial reverses and then removed to the reservation apparently for purposes of revenue only. 

Mrs. Larsen was later, December 21, 1921, enrolled by authority of the Department upon recommendation of the Enrolling Commission, as it was she [was] born among the Indians on what is now a ceded portion of the present reservation and had lived on the present reservation since 1916. It was thought that she was therefore entitled to enrollment under the decision of the court in the case of Oakes v. U.S. 

With reference to the other members of the families you are requested to transmit for consideration the entire record containing the evidence upon which the Commission based the enrollment of these persons. 

The law authorizing the enrollment and allotment of the Ft. Belknap Indians of March 3, 1921 provides for a pro rata distribution among the Indians found entitled and as such distribution cannot be made until the number of participants has been definitely ascertained, it is important that your investigations should be made and report submitted with the least possible delay.

On October 25, 1930, the appellants, who are the relators in this case, filed a petition praying a writ of mandamus against Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the Interior. (R. 2.) A rule to show cause was issued pursuant to the petition. (R. 9.) 

On December 15, 1930, the respondent filed an amended answer, with exhibits, to the petition and to the rule to show cause. (R. 10.) 

On May 20, 1931, the relators filed a replication to the answer, which was accompanied by two exhibits, A and B. (R. 20, 23, 24.) 

…

The judgment of the lower court states that the case was heard upon the pleadings and exhibits, but makes no mention of any evidence. (R. 32.) 

This apparent contradiction in the record has arisen through the somewhat informal manner in which the case was presented to the trial court for determination. Without further explanation, the appellee concedes that all papers printed in the record now are properly before this court, and he agrees that all of them may be considered by the court in determining the merits of the case. 

THE FACTS 

The facts in this case, as disclosed by the record, are that prior to 1875 a full-blood Gros Ventre Indian woman named Strike married a white man named Moses Solomon, and thereupon abandoned both her tribal relations and the reservation of her tribe, and removed with her husband to Fort Benton, Montana, outside the Gros Ventre Indian Reservation. (R. 11.) 

In 1875 a child, Emma Solomon, was born of this marriage at Eagle Butte, Montana, a place which is conceded to be outside the Gros Ventre Indian Reservation at this time. There is a dispute, however, as to whether or not Eagle Butte was within the reservation as it existed at the date of Emma Solomon’s birth. The appellee, the Secretary of the Interior, says in his answer to the appellants’ petition for mandamus that Eagle Butte was not within the Gros Ventre Reservation at the date of Emma Solomon’s birth. (R. 11.) The question, however, is immaterial to the decision of this case. 

Mrs. Solomon (Strike) died in 1878. At that time she was recognized by the Gros Ventre Tribe as one of its members. (R. 11.) 

Strike’s child, Emma Solomon, continued to live with her white father until 1890, when she married a white man named Zack Larsen. (R. 11.) At the time of her marriage Emma Solomon was only 15 years of age, and therefore still was under the natural guardianship of her father. 

Emma Solomon Larsen lived with her husband at Havre, Montana, among white people, during 1891. In 1892 she and her husband moved to Marias, or Loma, Montana. During that year Larsen made homestead entry for a ranch located about two miles west of Loma, where he and his wife and children thereafter resided until 1916. (R. 11.) 

In 1896 Mrs. Larsen also made homestead entry for a tract of public land, but relinquished the same in 1913. (R. 11.) 

In March, 1916, after selling his ranch near Loma, Larsen went to the Fort Belknap Reservation of the Gros Ventre Indians. In August of the same year he was joined upon the reservation by his wife, and their eight children who are the appellants in this case. (R. 11.) This was the first time Emma Solomon Larsen ever had resided on a Gros Ventre Indian Reservation. (R. 12.) 

One of the Larsen children, Esther, had married a white man named Eric Eastlund. (R. 13.) Four children were born of this marriage. Three of them, Minnie, Winnifred, and Fern Eastlund, sued as relators in this case by their mother, Esther Larsen Eastlund, as their next friend, and they now are appellants before this court. The fourth child, Dixie Eastlund, died before the institution of this suit. None of these four children was born on a Gros Ventre Indian Reservation or among the Indians. (R. 3.) 

On July 6, 1917, and again on March 30, 1918, the Council of the Gros Ventre Indians voted in favor of enrolling Mrs. Larsen and her children as members of the Tribe. (R. 4, 24.) They were to be enrolled, however, “by adoption of the tribe.” (R. 24.)

On December 17, 1921, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs recommended to the Secretary iof the Interior that Mrs. Larsen be enrolled as a Gros Ventre Indian, and that her name be added! to the Fort Belknap Tribal rolls. He recommended, however, that her children be denied enrollment. The Commissioner’s recommendation was approved by the Secretary on December 28, 1921 (R. 25), and thereafter Mrs. Larsen was enrolled as a member of the Gros Ventre Tribe of Indians, accordingly. (R. 12.) 

Mrs. Larsen had been denied enrollment on May 23, 1918, by the Department of the Interior, on the ground that “the members of the Larsen family were born away from the reservation, have been educated among the whites, and never affiliated with the Indians.” (R. 25.) The subsequent modification of this ruling in favor of Mrs, Larsen was made pursuant to and by virtue of the act of June 7, 1897 (30 Stat. 90). (R. 12.) 

Subsequent to the removal of Larsen and his wife and children to the Gros Ventre Reservation, and by virtue of an act of Congress of March 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1355), a commission was appointed, having authority to make a complete and final roll of the Gros Ventre Indian Tribe. Thereafter the commission enrolled all of the relators in this case as members of the Gros Ventre Indian Tribe, and the roll containing their names was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on January 9, 1922. (R. 12.)

On June 10, 1922, five months later, the Secretary vacated and set aside his approval of the roll. (R. 12.) 

Thereafter, during 1922 (R. 28), the Indian Office recommended that the names of all the relators in this case be stricken from the roll of the Gros Ventre Indians. This recommendation was accepted by the Secretary of the Interior, and a roll of the Gros Ventre Indians, with the names of the relators deleted therefrom, was approved by the Secretary on April 3, 1923, effective as of November 30,1921. (R. 28.) 

On October 20, 1925, two and one-half years after the Secretary’s action, as above, the relators filed a motion asking that their names be restored to the Gros Ventre Indian roll. On October 30, 1925, the motion was denied by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. (R. 7.) The Commissioner’s action was affirmed by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior. (E. 15.) In his decision, dated October 12, 1926, the Assistant Secretary said, “the facts of the case have been many times stated and the application for enrollment repeatedly denied.” 

On October 25, 1930, more than four years after the Assistant Secretary’s adverse decision, as above, and more than six and one-half years after the final approval of the tribal roll by the Secretary of the Interior (E. 29), the relators in this case, who are the eight children and three grandchildren of Mrs. Larsen, filed a petition for mandamus to require the Secretary of the Interior to restore their names to the Gros Ventre Indian Tribal roll of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and for incidental relief. (R. 2-8.) The petition was dismissed by the trial justice, and the relators thereupon appealed to this court. (R. 32.) 

Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. 
Thursday, June 18, 1931. 

Session resumed pursuant to adjournment, Hon. F. L. Siddons, Justice, presiding. This cause having been heard by the Court upon the pleadings and exhibits, and having been submitted for final determination and judgment after argument by counsel for the respective parties hereto; therefore, this 18th day of June, 1931, it is by the Court considered and adjudged that the plaintiffs’ petition in this cause be dismissed, that the said plaintiffs take nothing by their suit, and that the defendant go thereof without day. And it is further considered that the said defendant do recover against the said plaintiffs his costs and charges by him about his defense in this behalf expended, to be taxed; and that the said defendant have execution thereof. 

From the foregoing judgment the plaintiffs, Agnes Larsen Stookey, Esther Larsen Eastlund, Berthold Larsen, Edward Larsen, Matildia Larsen, and Emma Larsen Edelman; and John Sanford Larsen, Ruth Larsen, Minnie Eastlund, Winnifred Eastlund, and Fern Eastlund, by their next friend, Esther Larsen Eastlund; and Esther Larsen Eastlund as the heir at law of Dixie Eastlund, by their attorney of record, in open court and at the time of the rendition of the said judgment, note an appeal to the Court of Appeals of this District, and the same hereby is allowed. The amount of the bond to be given by the appellants, covering the costs of the case, hereby is fixed in the sum of $100, with leave granted to the appellants to deposit the sum of $50 with the clerk of this court in lieu of such bond.