Term: Street, Joseph Montfort 1780 - 1840
Definition:
Indian agent, b. Virginia. About 1805 he moved to Frankfort, Ky., where for a time he published the Western World. In 1812 he became one of the first settlers in Shawneetown, Ill., and in 1827 was appointed agent for the Winnebago Indians with headquarters at Prairie du Chien. Street held this position until 1836, despite friction with American Fur Co. agents, the civil government, and the military. During the Black Hawk (q.v.) uprising of 1832, Street managed to keep the Winnebago and Menomonee under control, and when Black Hawk was captured in 1832, the aged Sac chief was delivered to Street in Prairie du Chien. In 1836 Street moved to Rock Island, Ill., to establish a Sac and Fox agency there, and in 1839, after the removal of Black Hawk and most of the Sac and Fox Indians to Iowa, followed them to Agency City on the Des Moines River in Wappello County, Iowa Territory. B. E. Mahan, Old Fort Crawford . . . (Iowa City, 1926); P. L. Scanlan, Prairie du Chien ([Menasha, Wis.] 1937); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 11 (1888); WPA field notes.
The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Joseph Montfort Street Papers for details.
[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
