In 1932, nearly 40 years after Electa’s son John died, an old wooden trunk that had belonged to him was discovered in a barn near Antigo. Inside was an amazing surprise!
In John’s trunk were many things. There was a handwritten list of Stockbridge and Munsee Indians who became US citizens in 1871, including Electa. The truck was stuffed with other papers, too. There were copies of treaties between the United States and the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe and lots of legal papers from the 1800s. Books, letters, a wallet, and a photo of John taken in Washington, DC, in 1876 were there as well.
Incredibly, in all the years that it sat in the barn, the trunk and its contents didn’t get wet or damaged. Those who opened it knew right away that it was important. They made sure it was given to people who would preserve it.
John Clark Adams’s trunk
John’s trunk became very important to the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe. Inside was information that tribal leaders thought had been lost forever. It helped them understand their history.
There were also many clues to Electa’s life. John saved letters that friends and family members wrote to Electa after she returned to Wisconsin in 1855. Some were very special, like the letters that John’s brother Daniel wrote to Electa from Missouri before he died in the Civil War.
Thanks to the things that John saved, we know a lot more about Electa’s life and a lot more about the Stockbridge Indians. What do these things, and the other puzzle pieces of her life, help us to know about Electa Quinney?
Electa led a remarkable life. She was well educated and comfortable around Indians and white people. She had many friends and was a good mother and an excellent schoolteacher. She talked easily in English about complicated subjects such as Indian treaties. She knew important white and Indian leaders and found herself in situations and places of great importance to Stockbridge, Oneida, and Cherokee Indian history. Because she was there, we understand more about the difficult choices members of these tribes had to make in the 1800s. The story of her life also helps us to know Wisconsin history. Nearly 200 years after she became Wisconsin’s first public schoolteacher, Electa is still teaching us today.
