Native American and Alaskan Native Religions

Big Day, William

Big Day was adopted and raised in the traditional ways of his people by his adoptive grandparents. He was baptized a Roman Catholic but later converted to the Tipi Way sect of the Native Am... [more]

for California

Catches, Peter

Catches was orphaned and then raised in a Catholic mission school. When he left the mission he gradually became involved in traditional Lakota beliefs, reducing his Catholic commitment as t... [more]

Chips, Horn

Horn Chips was orphaned as a young child and raised by his grandmother. Later he was adopted by the uncle of Crazy Horse. He had the gift of prophecy, could change the weather and find l... [more]

Dowd, Donny

Dowd spent part of his childhood in a Roman Catholic orphanage. When old enough he joined the US Navy and fought in Vietnam, where he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He return... [more]

Hensley, Albert

Hensley's mother died when he was a baby and he was fostered by his grandmother for five years, until she died. Then he went through a series of foster families for two years, before going ... [more]

Jackson, Henry

These two men were captured as boys by the Klamath and Modoc people before 1864. They remained with their captors until after the Modoc War of 1872-73, when they returned to their home in C... [more]

Jumping Bull

Jumping Bull was an Assiniboine boy, captured by Sitting Bull during a battle. Sitting Bull adopted the child as his brother (thereby saving his life) and named him Hohay (Jumping Bull). Ho... [more]

Little Sun, Roy

Little Sun is a white man, born in Indonesia and he spent the first 14 years of his life there. He claims to be the adopted son of a Hopi religious elder, Grandfather Titus. His position... [more]

Mo Keen, Loki

Mo Keen was a Mexican captured by the Kiowa people as a small boy. He grew up as a Kiowa, and his status as a captive made him important in their religious rites: his performance of the rit... [more]

Mountain Wolf Woman

Born to a traditionalist Winnebago family, Mountain Wolf Woman converted to Christianity and then to Peyotism. She was adopted by a Lakota family to replace a dead daughter (see also Sh... [more]

Mustache, James

Opwagon was raised by traditionalist grandparents, and in addition to promoting Ojibwa religious ceremonies and beliefs, he was a member of the tribal court and a delegate to the National C... [more]

Parker, Quanah

Parker's mother was Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman captured by the Comanches in 1836, when she was about 12, who had married a Comanche chief, Nocona. After 25 years, in 1860, she was re... [more]

Pitt River Charley

These two men were captured as boys by the Klamath and Modoc people before 1864. They remained with their captors until after the Modoc War of 1872-73, when they returned to their home in C... [more]

Tenskwatawa

Tenskwatawa (Open Door) was one of triplet boys (one source states that he and Tecumseh were twin brothers). Their father, Pucksinwa, was killed in a battle with white men (1774) before t... [more]