Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Stockbridge and Munsee at Stockbridge, Wisconsin Territory (1839)

In 1839 the Stockbridge and Munsee ceded the east half of their Lake Winnebago tract at $1 an acre; some chose to move west.

Signed
September 3, 1839
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 22,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On September 3, 1839, Albert Gallup, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at Stockbridge in Wisconsin Territory with the Stockbridge and Munsee tribes, formerly of New York, who lived on Lake Winnebago. In Article 1 they ceded the east half of the 46,080-acre tract laid off for them on the east side of the lake under the October 27, 1832 treaty with the Menominee. The ceded half was to contain 23,040 acres. The United States agreed to pay one dollar per acre.

The treaty records that part of the tribes wanted to remove west and the others to stay. Article 2 paid the emigrating party $8,767.75 for their share of the whole tract. Article 3 paid them $3,879.30 for their improvements, for a total of $12,647.05 to the emigrants. The remaining $10,392.95 was paid to and invested for the 342 people who stayed at Stockbridge. Of that, $6,000 became a school fund.

Article 6 let up to three people explore the country west, with their costs borne by the emigrants. It also said the United States would pay the emigrants' removal costs west of the Mississippi and a year of subsistence when they asked. The treaty was proclaimed on May 16, 1840. The treaty text does not describe the negotiation, and the sources used here do not say what followed.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. hereby cede and relinquish to the United States, the east half of the tract of forty-six thousand and eighty acres of landTreaty with the Stockbridge and Munsee, 1839 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. a portion of said tribes, according to a census or roll taken, and hereunto annexed, are desirous to remove west and the others to remainTreaty with the Stockbridge and Munsee, 1839 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. east half of the tract of forty-six thousandTreaty with the Stockbridge and Munsee, 7 Stat. 580 (govinfo)

Research notes. The treaty text says 46,080 acres, while the ceded half is "to contain" 23,040 acres. The cited sources do not describe what happened afterward.

What the treaty did to the land

About 22,000 acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-stockbridge-and-munsee-1839-0529reference work
    Treaty with the Stockbridge and Munsee, 1839 Sept. 3, 1839. | 7 Stat., 580.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.