An Analysis of Indian Deaths at the Lincoln Institution

The Lincoln Institution was an Indian school between 1884 and 1906. From 1884 to June 1900 it was a federally-funded Indian school, and between 1900 and 1906 it was a privately-funded Indian school.

As a federally-funded Indian School, the Lincoln Institution took in 100 boys and 100 girls. The boys were housed at the Educational Home on 49th Street in Philadelphia. The girls were housed at the Lincoln Institution site on 11th street. During the summers the girls stayed at the Ponemah site which was initially housed at the Spread Eagle Inn, and later was at a site that spanned the Upper Merion - Tredyffrin border. There was a considerable turnover of children and over 800 names of Indians who stayed at the Lincoln Institution have been collected.

Thirty three Philadelphia death certificates have been found for Indians at the Lincoln Institution. One of the death certificates was for the period after June 1900 when the Lincoln Institution was a privately-funded Indian School. It is noticeable that in the case of two of the six deaths in and after 1900 the children were buried in New York State, Thomas Billings was buried in Syracuse, NY, while Williams Abrams was buried in Helena, NY. John Frenchman was originally buried in Fernwood, but later was re-interred in a Nebraskan cemetery.

In the period 1884 to 1900, 8 annual reports for the Lincoln Institution have been found, and 7 annual reports for the Educational Home. These reports list the number of deaths but do not name the children. There are also reports sent to the Department of Indian Affairs which will be investigated in future research.

There seems to be both an additional death certificate relative to the number of deaths reported and also in some annual reports more deaths are noted than death certificates for the period. The following table gives details of the 34 death certificates and links to additional information about the children. The total number of Indian deaths is likely to be in the range 34 to 36.

Cemeteries the burials were mainly at two cemeteries in Philadelphia - initially Woodlands and later Fernwood (Finding Aid).

An analysis of the Soldiers Orphans’ deaths at the Lincoln Institution can be found here HERE

Document History

• Created by MB from HCS and other documents, 2024-12-28, last updated 2025-04-12