Figure 39. Photograph of NHBP Young Adults. Reprinted from “Pottawattamie Indians Having a Good Time,” by J. A. Little, 1909.
In 1900, a federal census was taken in Athens Township (within Calhoun County, Michigan), numbering the people living at the Pine Creek settlement. This census included both the reservation and East Indiantown, placing the residents on special “Indian Population” census sheets, which differed from the rest of the township (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, p. 194).
[At the time], there were 21 households living in 20 dwellings, with a total population of 68 persons, of whom 25 were under the age of 21. These special “Indian Population” census sheets provided considerable additional information, including the individual’s Indian name if it differed from the English name, tribal affiliation, and blood quantum [(blood quantum is the total percentage of an individual’s Indian blood, which may derive from more than one tribe)]. Generally, all persons at Pine Creek were recorded as Potawatomi, paying taxes, having U.S. citizenship, and having a fixed residence (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, p. 313).
Between 1900 and 1930, the NHBP saw a gradual population increase, which can be directly traced to the control of childhood diseases such as diphtheria and measles and the gradual extermination of tuberculosis in the adult population (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, pp. 327-328).
References:
Little, J. A. (1909). Pottawattamie Indians Having a Good Time [Photograph].
Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc. (1995). United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Acknowledgement and Research. https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/009_hurpot_MI/009_pf.pdf