Alex Kennedy

Alex was a Chippewa man of the Turtle Mountain band but he lived off-reservation (Standing Rock) in Slope County. He appears to be living with a Sioux family surnamed Manywounds.

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized tribe that lives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.

The Chippewa migrated to North Dakota primarily around the early 1800s. They moved westward from the Great Lakes region and settled in the Red River Valley, particularly around Pembina. The fur trade and bison hunting opportunities drew them. The main band of Chippewa in North Dakota is known as the Turtle Mountain Band, which settled in the Turtle Mountain region of the state.

Still, some Chippewa people were part of the Standing Rock Agency, living in Slope County west of the reservation.




White Butte is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of North Dakota and is in Slope County

Biography:
Born c. 1857-1858 based on date calculations (i.e. age 64 at death in 1921=1857) to unknown parents. Based on the book Vanished in Hiawatha, author Carla Joinson states that Alex committed from the Standing Rock Agency, North Dakota on September 7, 1917, for unstated reasons. He possibly lived in Slope County, located west of the Standing Rock Reservation, with a Sioux family surnamed "Manywounds", but under the jurisdiction of Standing Rock because he was an Indian. He was, most likely, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa.

Information is sparse on Alex Kennedy, and the above is theory only.

He appears to have died on February 15, 1921, based on an entry in the South Dakota Grave Registration records in the Canton Asylum but was not buried in the Hiawatha Cemetery as stated based on the Ltr. dated 2.17.1934 by Dr. L.L. Culp in which he lists all those who were buried there.

His profile is part of the https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Canton_Asylum.

Research Notes:
-Listed as age 60 on the October 1, 1917, Canton School attendance record, therefore born c. 1857
-Alex is NOT in the Jun 30, 1916, Turtle Mountain census, the year before commitment to Canton, so we can conclude he was NOT living on the reservation
-Alex was not in the June 30, 1922, Standing Rock census
-Curator Note: It appears to me that Alex Kennedy was a Turtle Mountain Chippewa who lived with a Sioux family with the surname Many Wounds in Slope County west of an off-reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. How this came about has not been determined.

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Sources:

"North Dakota, Census, 1915", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVR9-8HP3 : Thu Jan 09 15:08:32 UTC 2025), Entry for Alex Kennedy, 1915, pg. 35/667, line (family) 69-5 (Native Indian all males over 60), census of Slope Township, Sioux County, North Dakota

1917 Oct 1 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=774, line 20 (age 60), attendance record for the Asylum for Insane Indian School

1918 Jun 30 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=886, line 21, census of the Canton Asylum

1920 Jan 30 - "United States, Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J7-FF4 : Tue Jan 14 14:48:17 UTC 2025), Entry for Alex Kennedy, 1920, pg. 651/1130, line 40 (age 62, Inmate), census of the Asylum for Indians, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1920 Jun 30 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=898, line 16, census of the Canton Asylum

1921 Feb 20 - South Dakota, Grave Registration Records, 1939-1942", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:CY86-69MM : Fri Mar 08 13:58:46 UTC 2024), Entry for Alex Kennedy, no image, summary
Name Alex Kennedy
Sex Male
Age 64 years
Death Date 20 Feb
Event Type Burial
Event Place Presho, Lyman, South Dakota, United States
Event Place (Original) Indian Asylum
Cemetery Indian Asylum (This statement is NOT supported by L. L. Culp Ltr dated 2.17.1934 )