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Below: Photo of Verna Everill, who is believed to be Fred Everill's little sister. This school photo was
taken in Hamburg, Siskiyou County, in 1914. Verna is in the second row, third from the left.
| Fred Everill's little sister, Verna |
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| Hamburg School Class Photo, 1914 |
Was Graton Rancheria a reservation? No, it was not.
Dr. Stephen Beckham of Lewis and Clark College, a renowned expert on West Coast Indians, has stated that
"There appears to be widespread misunderstanding in California about rancherias.
They were federal fee lands (not reservations) where homeless Indians (and others) lived without paying taxes. The Rancheria
Termination Act ended the non-taxed status and distributed the land and assets to residents. It is possible to argue that
"restoration" of the rancherias was nothing more than restoring the non-tax status of the former federal fee lands."
The original deed to the Graton Rancheria after it was purchased by the federal government, and which
we now have in our possession, proves that Graton was held by the federal government in fee, not in trust, as is necessary
for a reservation. The property was purchased from private landowners. Even though there are several ways for Indian
land to be placed and held in trust, none of these were done at Graton Rancheria. There is absolutely no record that any
Indian reservation or trust land of any form existed at the Graton Rancheria at any time in its history.
This is one point that the Archives make clear: when they were established, the rancherias
were very different from reservations. They were not under the authority of the agent and the usual chain of command, nor
was control of land distribution under the control of a tribal council. The inhabitants were not considered "wards" of the
government as were reservation Indians and were not supervised by the agent.
Was Graton Rancheria a "Village Home"? The intent of the United States Government in purchasing the Graton Rancheria was to provide
a rent- and/or mortgage-free living situation "for the use and occupancy of the Marshall and Sebastopol bands of homeless
Indians"
The FIGR has often cited as their source for the "village home" claim to be Special
Indian Agent John J. Terrell, who was working in California to buy the plots of land that became known as Rancherias. But
here is what Terrell actually said in his June 14, 1920, letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC:
"While the enclosed proposal to sell (the land that became Graton Rancheria)
by Mr. Corda and wife designates the ‘Marshall & Sebastopol Indians’, really I have in mind that this 15.45
acre tract should be set aside, in event of purchase, for the village home of the Marshall, Bogeda (sic) and Tomales
Bay Indians."
Note that Terrell’s letter confirms that it was Washington's original intent
to use this land for landless or homeless Indians from the vicinity of Marshall and Sebastopol, not as a "village home".
Terrell’s suggestion was never acted upon by Washington. That verbiage was
never found before Terrell’s letter and is never again found in the archives after his letter. Subsequent letters use
only the verbiage "Marshall and Sebastopol" Indians repeatedly, signifying the intent of the government, but not the actual
circumstances of Graton Rancheria, because no one lived at Graton Rancheria at all from 1921 to 1937. In
1937, all restrictions for residency at Graton were lifted by the federal government, and it was opened up to any homeless
California Indian. ( See the letters - Page 4 & 5 )
In 1937, because no one had as yet moved onto the Rancheria since its purchase in
1921, local Indian Agency Superintendent Walter McConihe wrote Washington, asking for permission to open the Graton Rancheria
to any homeless California Indian, saying,
"In 1921 there was purchased a tract of 15.45 acres...The purchase was intended ’for
use and occupancy by the Marshall and Sebastopol bands of homeless California Indians’, but said bands never occupied
the tract, nor has any Indian ever lived on the tract from date of purchase up to now...The question I want settled is: Am
I limited to Indians of the Marshall and Sebastopol bands, or their descendants? I think decision should be that any landless
Indians may be located on these unused California tracts."
In his reply to McConihe dated July 6, 1937, Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs
William Zimmerman, Jr., writes from Washington that
"The records show that the deed conveying the property to the United States does
not contain any limitation or provision as to what Indians should be settled thereon. The land was paid for out of an appropriation
made by Congress for the purchase of lands for landless Indians of California. While the
land was purchased primarily for the occupancy and use of the Marshall and Sebastopol Bands, there is no limitation or reason
why other landless Indians may not be settled thereon".
This 1937 letter could not be more clear. There was never any intention on the part
of the government to establish with the purchase of the Graton Rancheria, a "village home" for any specific Indians, and even
the minor restriction to ‘Marshall and Sebastopol" Indians was lifted by Zimmerman’s decision.
As a result, the first resident of the Graton Rancheria was Andrew Sears, from the
town of Sonoma in Eastern Sonoma County, who moved there with his wife in 1937.
| Map of Karuk & Shasta Territories |
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What Indians lived at the Graton Rancheria?
Occupancy at the Graton Rancheria was not limited to Coast Miwok and Pomo Indians of Marshall, Bodega, Tomales, and,
Sebastopol, all of which are located in Western Sonoma County. The first California Indian to take up residence on the Graton
Rancheria, Andrew Sears, was a 4/4 Pomo man from the town of Sonoma in Eastern Sonoma County, who, with his wife, Nora Maximillian
Sears, moved onto the Rancheria in 1937 as the first official assignee.
In 1945, Mrs. Laura Faber from Lake County lived at Graton briefly, then moved to
Santa Rosa. Mrs. Faber’s son, Art, was an employee of the Indian Agency. Over the next two decades, a handful of people
lived on Graton briefly, then moved off. There were never more than three residences on the property at any time, whether
in the form of platform tents or small homes.
In 1950, Frank Truvido, along with his wife and child, took up residence on Graton
Rancheria with an unofficial status. Mr. Truvido claimed 1/4 Indian blood on his August 21, 1952 application for Graton Rancheria
residency. His application does not state his lineage. The record indicates that Mr. Truvido’s wife was Ramona Cordova,
but her application is not in our possession. The application for Frank’s daughter, Gloria Truvido (now Armstrong),
gives no blood quantum or lineage at all.
In 1951, John Frederick Everill moved in with Andrew Sears, whose wife had died.
Mr. Everill was 1/4 Shasta Indian. Mr. Everill’s father was an Englishman from Cornwall and his mother, Louisa Offield
Everill, was 1/2 Shasta Indian and 1/2 White. Mr. Everill was originally from Hamburg in Siskiyou County, CA, where his brother
still lived at the time. Information on the Everill family was derived from archival records and from a Shasta Indian woman
who is researching Shasta Indian families, including the Everills.
Another application from 1952 was for Violet Bellman, whose grandfather was a White
man from Ohio. Her parents are shown to be from the Covelo (Round Valley) reservation, which was established in 1856 and whose residents are descendants of the Yuki, Concow Maidu, Little Lake
and other Pomo, Nomlaki, Cahto, Wailaki and Pit River peoples. Mrs. Bellman does not give either her blood quantum or lineage.
Her husband, Lawrence Bellman, also applied (unsuccessfully) for an assignment at
Graton in 1952. He was the son of a White man whose mother was 4/4 Native American. In interviews with Graton residents Andrew
Sears, Frank Truvido and Fred Everill taken in August 1952, the men say clearly that they "resent" Mr. Bellman, but would
withdraw their objections if the Director approved his application. Mr. and Mrs. Bellman’s applications were not approved.
Clearly, the residents and those few who (futilely) applied for residency at Graton
Rancheria in 1952, were a mixed bag, and clearly, they were not limited to those Coast Miwok and Pomo Indians from Bodega,
Tomales, Marshall and Sebastopol. The record shows that at the very least, Pomo from both the Coast and the Sonoma in the
eastern portion of the County, Coast Miwok, Shasta from near the California-Oregon border , and Round Valley Indians
from Mendocino County, either lived on Graton at some time, or applied to live there in 1952.
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