Godfroy Reserve — Miami Nation
Montpelier, Blackford County, Indiana
Marker Inscription
Godfroy Reserve Reserved by U.S. to Chief Francois Godfroy of the Miami Nation of Indians by treaty at St. Mary's, Ohio, 6 October 1818, 3,840 acres on Salamonie River at La Petite Prairie, Harrison Township, Blackford County; reserve lands sold 1827, 1836.
Erected by Indiana Historical Bureau
The Story
Under the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's, the United States reserved a 3,840-acre tract on the Salamonie River for Chief Francois Godfroy of the Miami Nation, at a place called La Petite Prairie. Such individual reserves let some Miami leaders remain on ancestral ground even as broader lands were ceded. Godfroy's reserve was itself sold off in stages in 1827 and 1836.
Why it matters
The reserve and its piecemeal sale trace the slow dispossession of the Miami people, a pattern of treaty promises and land loss repeated across the Great Lakes region.
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Related people
- · Francois Godfroy
Related events
- · Treaty of St. Mary's (1818)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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