Not a "Vanquished" tribe
Peter Doxtater became dissatisfied with the speed of efforts in Pennsylvania, and instead began to lobby in New York for a federal initiative to return the land. While he had been able to secure a deed to 200 acres of land in the Lancaster area, he had not been able to secure status for his people or return of the land that we were promised use of in perpetuity. Approaching the end of his life, and with the tireless support of other descendants and sympathetic politicians, he succeeded in the highest profile effort to recognize the survival of Conestoga-Susquehannock people.
In 1872, Robert Holland Duell, a politician from New York, introduced a joint resolution in the US House of Representatives to return the land at Conestoga to the surviving descendants. The introduction of this bill sparked optimism about the future of the tribe. Some descendants in New York returned to the area, anticipating the return of the land. Catharine Benson, who was enumerated as Native on the 1880 census of York county, was one such person. While the bill died in committee and the land was never returned, she started a family and remained in the area. Her descendants were active participants in later efforts to recognize the tribe, and are enrolled as Conestoga-Susquehannock people to this day.
Tragically, Peter Doxtater would pass away shortly after the introduction of this Joint Resolution. He lived long enough to see the effort fail, and joined the long list of Conestoga descendants who never lived to see the recognition of their survival.
Gallery:
The 1872 Joint Resolution:
“Whereas, The Conestoga tribe of Indians, by the treaty made with William Penn, reserved to themselves the following tract of land situated in what is now known as the county of Lancaster, State of Pennsylvania, described as follows: "Extending from the mouth of Pequea Creek fourteen miles up the Susquehanna, measuring, by the course of the stream, to the neighborhood of Blue Rock, in Manor township, and extending back eastward up the Pequea Creek six miles, and continuing of that width at all points, thus making the east line of the tract of a serpentine course corresponding with the bends of the river;
Whereas, The said Conestoga Indians, after said treaty, occupied said reservation as owners until about the year when they were massacred by the whites. except a remnant of said tribe then with the Oneidas in the State of New York, and the said tribe never having parted in any way with their title to said reservation, either to the United States or the State of Pennsylvania, and the same is now occupied by various white persons, without color of title, to the exclusion of the survivors of said Conestoga Indians ; therefore, Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled That the title to the tract of land hereinbefore described is hereby declared to be in the Conestoga tribe of Indians, and the survivors of said tribe are entitled to the possession and the free use and enjoyment of said lands ; and the Secretary of the Interior, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs are here directed to take such steps as may be necessary to restore said lands to the possession of the survivors of said tribe and their descendants”
A newspaper article describing Doxtater's deed to 200 acres of land in Lancaster. Mrs. Hall was an advocate for the tribe, and he ultimately left the land to her for safe-keeping.
Robert Holland Duell, who introduced the 1872 joint resolution.
The 1880 York county census, in which Catherine Benson is enumerated as American Indian. Her descendants have been active in the tribe to this day.