In 1845, the European settlers were still moving West... at this time, the land where the farm sits was inhabited but the Saux (Sac) and Fox Native American tribes.

 

"The tribe has been historically located in the St. Lawrence River Valley, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. Meskwaki were called “Renards” (the Fox) by the French, but have always identified themselves as “Meskwaki”. The Meskwaki fought against the French in what are now called the Fox Wars (1701-1742) and in 1735, the Sauk and Meskwaki allied together to fend off Europeans and other Indian Tribes. Both tribes moved southward from Wisconsin into Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Even though the Meskwaki and Sauk are two distinct tribal groups, with linguistic and cultural similarities, the two tribes have often been associated throughout history.

 

After the Black Hawk War of 1832, the United States officially combined the two tribes into a single group known as the Sac & Fox Confederacy for treaty-making purposes. Through a series of land concessions in 1845 under the name of “Sac & Fox”, the Sauk and Meskwaki formally lost all lands and were removed to a reservation in east central Kansas (although some persevered and chose to stay). After their banishment to Kansas, Meskwaki ancestors longed to reclaim their Iowa woodland homeland. Choosing to remain, some stayed hidden in Iowa, while others left for the Kansas reservation only to journey back to Iowa over the next few years. Throughout, there was an unbroken presence in Iowa and by 1856, the State of Iowa enacted a law allowing the continued residence of the tribe.

 

On July 13, 1857, the Meskwaki formally purchased their first 80 acres in Tama County, which gave formal federal identity to the Meskwaki people as the “Sac & Fox In Iowa”. Then 10 years later, in 1867, the United States government allowed the Meskwaki living in Iowa to receive federal annuity payments for the first time. This unique identity (that of unclear jurisdictional status since the tribe had formal federal recognition but also continuing relations with the State of Iowa due to the tribe’s private ownership of land) allowed the Meskwaki people to be virtually ignored by federal as well as state policies. Always persevering, this gave them time to return, thrive and grow."

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(taken from https://www.meskwaki.org/about-us/history/)