Friday, July 30, 2010

Bill Moose Crowfoot and Flat Stanley

Bill Moose MemorialThis Memorial sits on 3.5 acres of land at 2875 Lane Road in Upper Arlington, Ohio. The land originally donated by the city of Columbus is comprised of 39 granite boulders taken from The Scioto Riverbed and stands just over 9 feet tall. The tower of granite boulders resembles a TeePee. The memorial sits on a rise a short distance from Scioto River Road which follows The Scioto River. A fitting location since Bill Moose Crowfoot often walked these grounds, fished and hunted these grounds. He lived on the land as he learned from his father.
Bill Moose biographyA short bio of Bill Moose under glass stands at the park entrance. (click to enlarge). Bill lived to be almost 100 years old, as did both his parents. His father died in 1871 at 100 years of age, his mother the following year in 1872 at the age of 106. Both are buried in The Indiana Cemetery in Upper Sandusky.
Bill Moose PortraitThis small photo (original housed at The Ohio Historical Society) is curled and faded over time is visible beside the above bio of Bill Moose. The fancy headdress and beads were worn when people wanted a photograph. These were given to Bill during the 9 years he was employed by The Sells Brothers Circus as an Indian Rider in The Wild West Act. Beyond living off the land, Bill's income consisted of having his photo taken, selling postcards and trinkets and teaching children Indian Crafts.
flower garden and MemorialThe park is pretty with wild flowers covering his grave and walled in with The TeePee Memorial facing The Scioto River and Scioto River Road. A paved walking path, small picnic area, and bench provide a peaceful spot to reflect on Bill's life.

Bill here telling stories to a group of young boys, an apparent common sight at his shack. I've read accounts of Bill having lunch at The Wyandot Country Club (where the blind and deaf school now are located), the Railroad allowed him to continue living on land they owned. This area is now Clintonville; even though the residences of Dublin want to claim him as their own. Bill and his family stayed in Ohio, one of only 12 families to do so when the tribe moved west to Kansas and Oklahoma.
As the tribe moved westward and inter-married with other tribes there were no longer full blooded Wyandots, except those few left here in Ohio. One by one they perished. Bill outlived his tribe and was the last known living Full Bloodied Wyandot Indian in the state and the territory. He died just 2 months short of turning 100. The last 7 years of his life he lived in the Franklin County Home, too aged to continue living off the land. His shack became a children's playhouse.

His funeral was attended by thousands who lined The Scioto River Bank to witness his full ceremonial burial, the largest funeral on record for The Rutherford Funeral Home. He layed in state for 5 days from July 13th through the 18th in 1937. In a short bio Bill mentioned he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and was a republican. Bill never married but lived a long and very full life. He was well liked and respected by thousands. The two hands in friendship on his memorial seem most fitting.

Activities the kids could enjoy and help them remember and learn from this adventure:
  1. go to a stream, riverbed, creek and let the kids collect rocks. Get some glue and let them building their own teepee style memorial
  2. color pictures
  3. make word puzzles
  4. make vocabulary lists of new words from the adventure
  5. paint rocks with a design, shaking hands for example
  6. string beads and make a necklace or bracelet
As always if you missed any of Flat Stanley's adventures, now's the time to catch up:
See you next week, Friday August 6th for another Flat Stanley Adventure, bring the kids! Stay tuned, Flat Stanley has a cousin, Flat Bob who will be visiting in the next couple of weeks. You don't want to miss that.


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20 comments:

  1. My grandfather was one who often visited with Bill and often took him produce from their garden. Grandpa often told us as kids about his Indian friend who had lived in a shack by the railroad. As a child, we would go to that same "teepee" rock pile to climb the rocks and walk the paths (no longer there now after the remodeling of the park), and we would sled down the huge hill there in the winter. I have many happy memories of that place and about tales of Bill Moose. Thanks for bringing back some good memories for me.

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  2. Bill and his parents enjoyed a rather long life.

    Be careful taking rocks from some state parks and land marks, it is potentially illegal in some parts.

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  3. Wow, Bill and his parents lived a very long time for that day and age! Very interesting man!

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  4. Carolyn I really want to hear some of the stories.

    Frank I think I suggested riverbed's for kids to pick up rocks, not state parks or other land marks.

    Beaded Tail, I too thought he was a fascinating man.

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  5. I still remember when my mom is telling me story about this. I was just a kid in that time. I am so amazed on everything that my mom said. Bill Moose Crowfoot is a great man.

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  6. That is very cute. I like flat Stanley. A little about Mr. Linky. If you link up on my blog on the weekends you do not have to leave a comment. Just ignore Mr. Linky asking for a comment.

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  7. Hey Girl,
    There is so much great history in your state and I continue to thank you for bringing these facts to life, along with Flat Stanley. Very interesting to know that there were some native Indians that truly made a difference on others in a positive way. Thanks!

    Friends 4 Life!

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  8. What a great idea. I really enjoy your blog. I enjoy travel as well but never thought about exploring my own backdoor.

    Busy Mom's Tips

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  9. "Traveling Suitcase" has been included in this weeks A Sunday Drive. I hope this helps to attract many more new visitors here.

    http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunday-drive.html

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  10. Dining Room would love to hear some of your Mom stories. Care to share?

    Russ and Lee, glad you're enjoying Flat Stanley as much as I am.

    Busy Mom, do explore your own backyard; you'll be amazed. That's the reason I started this Flat Stanley series so folks would keep their eyes peeled.

    FishHawk, WOW, many thanks for being highlighted. It's much appreciated.

    Sandy

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  11. Wow, that was some great info. He certainly had an interesting life. I love the teepee of rocks. Wonder what makes them stay there.
    Hope you have a wonderful day.

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  12. Good history lesson. Bill and his parents must have shared good genes!

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  13. Hey this is good to know about memorial sits and more interesting to know about its information.I came to know so many new things from this post including Bill Moose.

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  14. Explain to me why Flat Stanley gets to go on all these awesome trips!

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  15. I lived in Ohio for four and a half years and knew none of this. I regret that I didn't give Ohio more of a chance because it has so much more to offer than I gave it credit for. Great informative post and I'm glad you're enjoying Ohio!

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  16. This was some interesting reading! I really enjoyed this post. Thanks!

    Take care! Bye bye...

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  17. It's a beautiful, distinct monument!

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  18. Great pictures! I dont know why but anytime I see Flat Stanley he makes me laugh. Immature I guess! Good luck with your comment challenge.
    Wanna Check Me Out?

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  19. It is a big pleasure to visit your website and to enjoy your exclusive articles here. I like that very much. I understand that you paid much attention for those posts, as all of them make sense and are very useful. Thank you for sharing. I can be very good reader & listener. Appreciate your work!

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  20. Thank you for this! I've lived in Ohio for twenty years and I am ashamed to just now learn about Mr. Bill Moose. Will be sure to visit his memorial in Upper Arlington! Thanks again.

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