This post was originally published on January 23, 2014.
Beginning in 1901 Herbert finally appears on the US Indian Rolls with his English name.
1901 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 354-5
Wah-per-che, female, mother, 24 years of age
Yer-nip-cut, Herbert Wah-per-che (English name), male, son, 9 years of age
In 1902 the family changed a bit. It’s confusing.
1902 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 354-6
Wah-per-che, female, mother, 25 years of age
Yer-nip-cut, Herbert Wah-per-che (English name), male, son, 10 years of age
Enoch (English name), male, son, 3 months of age
So, it doesn’t seem as though Wah-Per-Che has remarried, yet she has a new child.
1903 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 345-7
Wah-per-che, female, mother, 26 years of age
Yer-nip-cut, Herbert Wahperche (English name), male, son, 11 years of age
Enoch, male, son, 1 year of age
Interestingly enough, they didn’t put Enoch’s name in the English name row. This leaves the idea open that perhaps his Indian name sounded like Enoch, but was not actually Enoch. Or perhaps the enumerator just didn’t care that much.
1904 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 342-4
Wah-per-che, female, mother, 27 years of age (it had said 28, but then a 7 was typed over the 8)
Yer-nip-cut, Herbert Wah-per-che (English name), male, son, 12 years of age
Enoch (once again under English name), male, son, 2 years of age
Again in 1905 the family changes.
1905 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 344-8
Ni-yah, male, husband, 26 years of age
Wah-per-che, female, wife, 28 years of age
Yernipcut, Herbert Wah-per-che (English name), male, son, 13 years of age
Enoch (English name), male, son, 3 years of age
Flora Ni-yah (English name), female, daughter, 1 year of age
It seems as though sometime between the 1904 enumeration and the 1905 enumeration Ni-Yah and Wah-Per-Che married. This also leave us to wonder who Enoch’s father was, even though this lists both Herbert and Enoch as the sons of Ni-yah. The 1906 roll, however, leads us to believe that Ni-Yah is Enoch’s father.
1906 US Indian Roll, Comanche, Numbers 340-4
Ni-yah, male, husband, 27 years of age
Wah-per-che, female, wife, 29 years of age
Yer-nip-cut, Berbert (sic) Wahperche (English name), son, 14 years of age
Enoch Ni-yah (English name), male, son, 4 years of age
Flora Ni-yah (English name), female, daughter, 2 years of age
This is the last record I can find for the family for the years 1901-1910, though I am still searching through records (due to transcription errors, etc.).
It is known that Ni-Yah’s English name was Emerson Niyah, and I found some great information about him and from him. He seemed to be a very talkative person who shared a lot in the way of Comanche ethnography, so am excited to be able to share some of that information in the future!
In my last post about Herbert I mentioned that I was still trying to track down some rolls prior to 1895. I was told that they are most likely in the National Archives in Texas. So I will have to plan a trip!
To be continued…
