Godfroy Reserve Marker in Montpelier Indiana

The Godfroy Reserve was a tract of land allotted to Chief Francois Godfroy (Palaanswa), chief of an American native tribe, the Miami Nation, by United States government Indian treaty. The reserve is located along the

Salamonie River The Salamonie River is a tributary of the Wabash River, in eastern Indiana in the United States. The river is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 It is par ...

Blackford County, Indiana Blackford County is located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Indiana. The county is named for Judge Isaac Blackford, who was the first speaker of the Indiana General Assembly and a long-time chief justice of the Indiana Supre ...

. The Miami Tribe was forced to move west to

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

(and later to

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

), but several tribal leaders, all of mixed French Canadian and Native American heritage, were allotted land in Indiana. This exception was due to their history of cooperation with the US and their willingness to participate in government attempts to "civilize" them. The reserve land was occupied as a

Half-breed tract A Half-Breed Tract was a segment of land designated in the western states by the United States government in the 19th century specifically for Métis of American Indian and European or European-American ancestry, at the time commonly known as ha ...

between about 1814 and 1834, after which Chief Godfroy left because white neighbors repeatedly encroached upon the land, and because of the conditions of the Treaty of 1834 between Indiana and the Miamis who remained. The text of the marker reads:

Reserved by U.S. to Chief Francois Godfroy of the Miami Nation of Indians by treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio, 6 October 1818, 3, 840 acres on Salamonie River at La Petite Prairie, Harrison Township, Blackford County; reserve lands sold 1827, 1836.

The history of the Reserve and of Chief Godfroy is detailed in ''History of Jay County, Indiana: including its World War record''. Unsuccessful efforts were made in the 1960s to turn the reserve into a state park. Efforts were again made in the 2000s, but since it was the habitat of two plants, the

frog orchid ''Dactylorhiza viridis'', the frog orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It has also been treated as the only species ''Coeloglossum viride'' of the monotypic genus ''Coeloglossum''. Description The plant ari ...

and the small purple-fringed orchid, on the Endangered Species List, the plans failed. The site once contained many Native American artifacts.

References

External links

Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties
Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904. {{authority control Geography of Blackford County, Indiana Native American history of Indiana Former American Indian reservations Miami tribe