66 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



fall skins — 79 Coon — 8 Mink & the ballance I think first 

 rate winter & spring Muskrat — 



I have some more on hand yet to pack & a hundred or 

 two that I shall get if I ever find time to go to the Wig- 

 wams after them — 



In haste yours &c. Solon Robinson 

 [Addressed:] Messrs. Hammel & Henning Merchants 

 — Morgans Prairie — Porter Co — 



Richard Fansher et al: Petition to the President 



[Ms. in Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs] 



[July 4, 1836] 



To the President op the United States — 



Most venerable Father — 



Thy children 

 are oppressed and seek redress — Justice — simple jus- 

 tice — 



In the fall of the year 1834 we sought for a home for 

 our families on the public lands of our government & 

 found one that pleased us, in the N. W. part of the state 

 of Indiana — We have located upon section (17) 

 seventeen in Town (34) Thirty four N. of Range (8) 

 eight W. under the firm expectation of being permitted 

 to purchase our homes when offered for sale by govern- 

 ment — 



After enduring the privations & difficulties incident 

 to the settlement of a new country & making comfortable 

 houses and improvements to the value of more than a 

 thousand dollars we have just been shocked & had our 

 hearts wrung at the prospect of distress exhibited to us 

 by the grief of our wives and children, on learning for 

 the first time that an "Indian floating reservation" 1 had 

 been located upon our homes and "approved of by the 

 President" — 



1 See Introduction, 12 ff., and post, 80 ff. 



