Ioway Elder, Mae Murray Sine
The early recorded history of the Ioway dates back to the 1600's. During the periods of movement, the Ioways recognized land rights in land and boundary lines of occupancy.
One of these leaders was the distinguished Ioway Chief Nacheninga, No Heart (1797-1862). One of his most historical achievements is the 1837 hand-drawn map of Ioway Indian villages and rivers illustrating where the Ioways moved and lived.
When a delegation of Ioway Chiefs went to Washington, D.C. in 1837, he presented this remarkable map to the U.S. Government in his plea for compensation from the government for Ioway land. He was a visionary leader who contributed to the sovereignty of the Ioway Nations.
In the years following, discontent grew as the Ioway endeavored to survive on a small land base in Kansas. In 1878 some of the Ioway moved to Indian Territory. The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma reservation was established by Executive Order dated August 15, 1883. They were now Southern Ioways and settled on land within their boundaries south of the Cimarron River, one mile south of Perkins, Oklahoma.
The Dawes Severalty (Allotment) Act enacted in 1887 was to assign to individual Indians tracts of land and to pay them for surplus reservation land after allotment was completed. In 1890 the Ioway sold their surplus reservation land which was soon settled by white settlers who entered the reservation on September 22 in the Land Run of 1891.
In 2002, the city manager of Perkins, Oklahoma approached the Chairman of the Ioway Tribe in reference to bronze statues that would be placed in a proposed plaza project and asked for selection of an Ioway Chief to be included with Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton, Perkins Cowboy and Oklahoma State University Mascot. The plaza is a joint project of the City of Perkins, the Perkins Community Foundation and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
A bronze twelve-foot statue of Ioway Chief No Heart by Wayne Cooper now stands in the 'Oklahoma Territorial Plaza." The plaza was recently dedicated on September 20, 2008. The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has given the highest honor in remembrance to this prestigious chief who made the road good for the generations to come after him.






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