Number15: Fellows v. Blacksmith

In the 1830s and 1840s there were two treaties between the United States and the Seneca Nation. The treaties, called the Buffalo Creek Treaties, were brought on by the Ogden Land Company who wanted to take title of the remaining Seneca lands in Western New York.

Following the Second Buffalo Creek Treaty (1842) the Tonawanda Seneca were required to move to Kansas. The Tonawanda Seneca's argued that the treaty was illegal because the Tonawanda Seneca chiefs and sachems did not participate in the negotiations and never signed it. The government’s opinion was that since a handful of Seneca's from the other reservations signed the treaty, it was valid.

With the approval of the Treaty by the United States government, the Ogden Land Company attempted to take possession of the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. The Ogden Land Company began the process of surveying and appraising the unimproved lands. They started selling the land in 1844.

Tonawanda Seneca Sachem John Blacksmith, refused to leave his land and company representative, Joseph Fellows, tied to forced him off. Blacksmith improved his land by building a dam and sawmill more then 20 years earlier. Following the attempted removal, Blacksmith sued the Ogden Land Company.

The chief question in the suit was: did the Ogden Land Company have proper title to the land?

Blacksmith’s suit went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided in 1857 that since Blacksmith’s property and improvements were never appraised and therefore, Blacksmith was never paid, the Ogden Land Company held no title to the land and could not legally remove Blacksmith from the property. The United States Supreme Court also stated that the Ogden Land Company had no legal authority to remove Native Americans from their lands and that only the United States government could.

This is the only known court case to originate in Genesee County to be heard in front of the United States Supreme Court.

The lawyer representing John Blacksmith was John Henry Martindale. Martindale graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1831. He was admitted to the bar in 1838 and practiced in Batavia. He was the District Attorney of Genesee County from 1842 to 1846 and 1848 to 1851. After his term as District Attorney, he entered into private practice in Rochester. He took up Blacksmith’s cause while in private practice. During the Civil War, Martindale became a Major General and was Military Governor of Washington, D.C. He died in 1881 and is buried in the Batavia Cemetery.

Another person to take up the cause was well known Seneca, Ely Samuel Parker. After John Blacksmith died in 1852 Parker was selected to replace Blacksmith as Sachem of the Wolf Clan. In his position as Sachem he became a defendant in the case as an administrator of the Blacksmith estate.

When the Supreme Court sided with Blacksmith, it was a victory for all the Tonawanda Seneca. Because of the Tonawanda Seneca victory, it prevented their relocation to Kansas. In November 1857, the Tonawanda Seneca entered a treaty with the United States where they received undisputed title to their reservation of 7,549 acres.