Andrew TASSO
submitted by:
Barbara Clayton

Andrew TASSO was born about 1858 in Dakota, Colorado or Montana Territory (wherever the Cheyenne Tribe roamed in that time frame). He was born to "YELLOW OWL" and "GOOD WOMAN," full-blood Cheyennes. I haven't found what his "Indian name" was and I wonder where the name TASSO came from since it is of Italian origin.

Andrew was the grandson of "BEAR FEATHERS" who was listed among the Cheyenne family heads present at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 in Colorado Territory. This list was printed in the September 1982 issue of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal News.

He was allotted 160 acres in the SW/4, Section 4, Township 16 North, Range 8 WIM in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma by the Act of March 3, 1891 ( 26 Statute 1022). Trust Patent was issued May 6, 1892.

He worked as a freighter on the Chisholm Trail between Wichita, Kansas and Fort Sill, Oklahoma as reported by his wife Mary to George PEDIGO for "The Chisholm Trail Story" printed in The Kingfisher Free Press on Monday, January 30, 1956.

Andrew first married "GHOST WOMAN," daughter of "BLACK KETTLE." They had a son named "BLACK BIRD," or John TASSO in 1887. While working at John SEGER's Indian school in Colony, Oklahoma, he met his second wife, Mary NORTH. Mary was born in Missouri about 1867. She was the
daughter of Robert NORTH, a French Canadian and "SOUR MOUTH," a full-blood Arapaho. They married by Indian Ceremony and moved onto his allotment in Kingfisher County.

They had eight children: Bessie in 1890; Nettie in 1892; Maud in 1894; Elliot in 1896; Eva in 1898; Lena in 1900; Gilbert in 1902; and Martha Rose in 1904.

Indian agent, A.E. WOODSON, appointed Andrew to work as a farmer among the Cheyennes in hopes of easing the misunderstandings that were arising between the Cheyennes and the white farmers. Called
"additional farmers" by the Indian agency, Andrew earned $720.00 a year according to the book entitled "The Cheyenne and Arapaho Ordeal" written by Donald J. BERTHRONG.

Andrew's wife Mary was a graduate of Carlisle Industrial School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1884. She was an assistant matron in service at Darlington, Oklahoma in 1913. She also worked as a cook at the Kingfisher stage station prior to that.

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This page was last updated on 8/8/2000..