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Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. T-620-3 (Third of Six" Interviews) MARY LANE RED EAGLE,'.QUAPAW INTERVIEWED BY: VELMA NEIBERDING INTERVIEW'DATE: DECEMBER 15, I969 TRANSCRIBED BY: MONSTTE COOMBES TRANSCRIPTION CHECKED BY: MONETTE COOMBES 1 GENERAL SUBJECT: QUAPAW WORDS; CLANS-;* SOME FAMILY HISTORY; MEDICINE AND HERBS . « « • BACKGROUND OF INFORMANT: " Mary Lane.Red Eagle was born around 1891 on Spring'River in* northeastern Oklahoma. She lived with an aunt until -she was sent to Seneca Indian School at "Wyandotte, Oklahoma and then Haskeil Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. Her aunt died while she was attending Haskeil, and she then went to the Sisters of Loretta Academy in Kansas City, she studied music and was a student at the Kansas Conservatory of Music .where she met Madame Schumah Heinke and Lily Pons. Mrs. Re.d Eagle has traveled extensively and has sung before many audiences. She came back to Miami, -Oklahoma to make her home and has lived here for .several years. Mary was married tu Wa-Go-She, an Osage and inherited his headright when, he died. Her first.husband was Leroy Red Eagle. Her father was •a medicine man (Big Jim Lane1). ^ Note: The other interviews on this tape are: Ruby Diebold, Seneca-Cayuga William Shawnee, Shawnee Language Class, Seneca Ruby Diebold, Speaker Emelece Reynolds., Cherokee Language Class, Seneca • Robert White, Speaker A \ \• Mary Lane Red Eagle, Quapaw * (We are now going to talk to Mrs. Mary Red Eagle, member of the Quapaw t r i b e . • She's considered a historian of the t r i b e and is one of the few who speak the . language. Mrs. Red Eagle is going to give us some Quapaw words. Mary, now what i s the word for God?) • Wah-kon-tah. The word for God i s Wah-kon-tah, and the meaning would be that He i s the highest being and knows a l l . (What i s the word for corn?) The word for corn is , wah-tu-zah^/?). . ' • (Do you think of some other words or some sentences you-could say for me?) • Well, the word for bird i s wah-zhinga (?). Aad well,*the word for moon i s meum-bah. " (Do you have a word for stars?) v ' And the word fdr start is' me-gu-a (?). > • (Do you remember the clans of the Quapaw? The*clans?) ^ % , I don't. They're—course we have the clans the same as other tribes, but I don't really remember. As for myself I--I believe that I have forgotten the* clan that I belong to.' * ' ( . .x" (I_believe you are a member of the Beaver clan if I—) (Irrelevant words). \ Do you want me to say my name first--Mary Lane? My name i s Mary Lane, and I was bornton Spring River and—'course t h a t ' s Quapaw reservation. And the Storing River—I was born where the old village blacksmith shop is—was--* well i t ' s s t i l l known as that name. And I love to go down there as i t is beautiful around there—foliage, trees are j u s t beautiful. And of course i t •* makes me quite lonesome to* see my old home place. vSome of /our folks are buried there, I believe Mary?) Yes. Nearly a l l of my people are ouried there. children of # us, ray brother and I . And there were onl^ two And.of course he'd ouried there with my father and my mother and my r e l a t i v e s . • ' -1- ' But there are quite a few graves . * -2there. T-620-3 'Course there wouldn't be seen or you couldn't f.ind them now because it's good many years ago. _ ' (What was your mother's name?) My mother's name was Julia Ann Sactaw. That was—Sactaw was her Potawatomi name." She^'was a'Potawatomi, member of the Quapaw-Potawatomi tribe from St. Marys, Kansas. And it seems though, the history goes,- I believe that there was a/,preacher that worked among the Indians at that time and he happened to be*"up• around St. ^Marys, Kansas and he said he would like to go down south and see where he could find a reservation where he could work. And he'd like to take some people down therewith him, because'they helped him when he was in his prayers,' and in his singing—they all learned how to sing. And so he wanted someone you know, to go along with him and to help him. So there was a bunch of; people--I don't know how many families left, but -they did— v they migrated dowi south tbward Kansas. And I don't know much about the history, but i t seems though that they camped along the northern part of Kansas and small.Tpox broke out. Quapaws there. Ancf t h a t ' s where we l o s t quite a number of the But they* f i n a l s came on in--further into Oklahoma and began to s e t t l e around, and of course, around north of Baxter Springs, Kansas and ,/ • • s l\ - .• - then further1on south. And—but they always wanted water and they always I *' ' * saw to it that they would camp along the river so that they would have plenty • . / * * ' - • • * . ' of water fcjr what little stock that they had--left, you know, coming down toward Oklahoma. And of course then I was born there at the village black-, smith sho£>, as'I told you there at the little ford. (What"was your father's name?) , > 0 * My father'.: name was George Lane, but he had a nickname—he .was a^ir; feli^.v and they--his friends nickname'd him "Big George Lane." He was always-.known thtt: ' , •{He was a doctor- also, wasn'.t: he — sort of a'herb doctor?) .. He was the doctor of the tribe. And he doctored of course with the root— -3- . - T-62Q-3 with the herbs and sometimes the flower. But the flower—the flower, I have " / , forgotten the name, but I can just see it and it has a beautiful odor. And it was made more for a tea, for a bath like you have a sore throat and you ''have a headache, you put this tea, you'know across your head. And this tea, • * why you bathed in i t and where ever i t hurt Tou. i And they used that quite a lot for medicine too. (You don't remember i t ' s ' name ?) - f Well, I don't remember i t ' s name, but i t ' s a long stem and i t ' s has a — i t ' s a,purple—purple flower and the leaves are real slender. l o t of leaves around that l i t t l e center p a r t . have a beautiful odor. There are a whole And they are-purple and they I c a n ' t - - ! don't know, i t doesn't smell like camphor, 'but I don't remember the name. But I know that my aunt used that cyjite a lot in headaches, and wherever your' leg aches arid whatever you had that was, paining ^ou, why they j u s t made kind of a planter like and put there. (Do you remembe» arty of the roots they used?) Well, no, I don't. I don't remember any of the rpots, but there were plenty I know, that, they-have for indigestion for t h e i r stomach trouble, why they dug' and they had—they'd make tea out of that too and they would chew some of that. And that way i t seems though they• were.-quite relieved. ' They used to<tell a story about the time that they--the' small-pox was a rage, i t wa.long-'-well, i t was in the northern part of the northwestern part of Kansas.and along the l i n e . And i f seems'though that the soldiers werdfell eampei. I t was durinr-V . >End oi' interview.) • \ >