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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL
HISTORY

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES
Volume 33

CHICAGO, U.S.A.
1941-1947

FA

CONTENTS

PAGE

1. Camp, Clan, and Kin Among the Cow Creek Seminole of

Florida 1

By Alexander Spoehr.

2. Kinship System of the Seminole - . 29

By Alexander Spoehr.

3. The Florida Seminole Camp . 115

By Alexander Spoehr.

4. Changing Kinship Systems • 151

By Alexander Spoehr.

CAMP, CLAN, AND KIN AMONG THE
COW CREEK SEMINOLE OF FLORIDA

BY

ALEXANDER SPOEHR

ASSISTANT CURATOR, AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY

[HE UBKhXY °HHt

AUG 8 19*1

UHWOWIYOFMIHO..

ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

VOLUME 33, NUMBER 1

AUGUST 2, 1941
PUBLICATION 498

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS

FA

CONTENTS

PAGE

List of Illustrations 5

I. Introduction 7

II. Camp, Clan, and Kin Among the Cow Creek Seminole 9

The Camp 10

The Clan 14

Kinship 16

Levirate and Sororate 23

III. Conclusion 24

Bibliography 26

Index 27

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TEXT FIGURE

PAGE

1. Clan camps of the Cow Creek Seminole 11

CAMP, CLAN, AND KIN AMONG THE
COW CREEK SEMINOLE OF FLORIDA

I. INTRODUCTION

The main body of ethnographic knowledge of the Southeast
concerns the four major tribes that dominated the area in early
historic times — the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee.
Thanks largely to the assiduous work of Swanton, this knowledge
has been brought to an orderly state. At the present time, apart
from the historical studies of Foreman, Debo, and others, and apart
from work directed toward tying together archaeological and eth-
nological data, research in the ethnology of the Southeast tends to
reflect two principal interests. One of these is the study of special
aspects of the culture of particular tribes, suggested by contradic-
tions or obvious lacunae in the literature. Although ethnographic
material among most of the Southeastern groups is primarily a
matter of the past and no longer amenable to direct observation,
this type of work has been valuable in clarifying a number of aspects
of Indian culture. Haas' articles on Natchez clans and on the dual
division of Creek towns (Haas, 1939, 1940), and Speck's work on
the Southeastern Siouans (Speck, 1935, 1938a, b) may be cited as
examples. The second interest, related to the first, is concerned
with the comparative study of culture change in a series of
tribes. It is exemplified by Eggan's paper on shifting patterns of
kinship, wherein he concluded that a Crow type of kinship system
was formerly widespread in the Southeast, that the variations from
this type recorded from Southeastern tribes represented a shift
from a matrilineal toward a patrilineal emphasis, and that these
variations were directly related to different degrees of the same type
of acculturation (Eggan, 1937). This paper indicated the fruitful-
ness of further comparative study of Southeastern social organiza-
tion to determine as far as possible the basic similarities, the changes
which have occurred, and the conditions under which these changes
have taken place. Such research can be directed toward the solution
of several types of problems. On the one hand there is the possibility
of describing a series of changes common to the major tribes of the
Southeast. On the other hand, it may be possible to probe more
deeply into the inter-relations of social institutions by examining
them in the light of historical analysis, and to isolate certain types
of change and state the conditions under which they took place;

8 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

these conditions can then be compared with those in other similar
situations of culture contact in an attempt to discover empirically
derived regularities in the acculturation process (cf. Eggan, 1937).
In a future publication on Southeastern kinship I hope to make at
least a beginning attack on certain of these problems.

A comparative study of culture change among the Southeastern
tribes naturally leads to field work with the least acculturated
groups. Of these, the Florida Seminole are prime conservatives.
My work among them was too brief to allow more than a glimpse
into the culture they continue to maintain, though it was soon
apparent that they represent an ideal tribe for the study of the
effect of white contact on a small Indian group. The ethnographic
data pertaining to them also have an important bearing on compara-
tive problems involving the Oklahoma Seminole, the Creeks, and
those other Southeastern tribes that are still extant. However,
the turmoil of the present makes any future anthropological program
a highly uncertain matter, and for this reason I am here publishing
a brief sketch of the social organization of one of the Seminole bands.
A fuller report awaits the completion of further field work.

I am indebted to Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator of Anthro-
pology, and to Dr. Frederick Eggan for advice and criticism. Dr.
Mary Haas has kindly checked the orthography of the Seminole
terms. The ethnographic data were gathered from February to
June, 1939, under a project supported by the Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Chicago.

II. CAMP, CLAN, AND KIN AMONG THE
COW CREEK SEMINOLE

The Florida Seminole consist of the descendants of that handful
of conservative Indians who refused to move west with the main
body of the tribe after the Seminole wars of the nineteenth century.
Dispersed through the southern part of the Florida peninsula, the
Seminole managed to keep largely to themselves until the invasion
of ranchers, farmers, promoters, and tourists finally engulfed them.
At the present time the Indians, still conservative, remain a foreign
element in the dominant white-negro society of Florida. Lacking
any formal tribal organization, they nevertheless maintain a certain
tribal cohesion, based primarily on factors involving contrast or
opposition to whites and negroes. The Indian women and a con-
siderable number of the men continue to favor their own distinctive
costume, few speak English with any degree of fluency, and all are
very conscious of their singularity in the matter of race, language,
and culture.

The Florida Indians number about six hundred. Though there
is a high degree of cultural homogeneity among the tribe, two
linguistic divisions are represented. The larger of these is the
Mikasukis, speaking a Hitchiti language; the smaller is the Cow
Creek Seminole, speaking Muskogee proper. It is with the latter
group as they exist today that this paper deals.

When MacCauley visited Florida in 1880 he found the Seminole
living in twenty-two camps at five widely separated settlements.
The latter he called Cat Fish Lake, Fish Eating Creek, Cow Creek,
Big Cypress, and Miami River, after the most prominent natural
features connected with them. "These settlements," he wrote
(1884, p. 478), "are from forty to seventy miles apart, in an other-
wise almost uninhabited region. . . . The camps of which each
settlement is composed lie at distances from one another varying
from a half mile to two or more miles." Not long after MacCauley 's
visit, the Cat Fish Lake and Fish Eating Creek settlements were
abandoned. The Cat Fish Lake Indians and probably a majority
of those at Fish Eating Creek moved to Cow Creek territory where
today they form the Cow Creek band, the northernmost division
of the tribe. With a few exceptions, the individuals composing the
Cow Creek band are to be found on the recently established Brighton
reservation and at scattered camps west of Fort Pierce (Fig. 1).
Including those Mikasuki individuals who have married into the

9

10 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

Cow Creek band, as well as several other Mikasukis who live in Cow
Creek territory and participate in Cow Creek ceremonials, the band
totals approximately 175 persons.

In addition to the linguistic and territorial criteria, there is
another factor which defines the Cow Creek band as a social unit.
This factor is the ceremonial organization. The band is an aggrega-
tion of single camps and assembles on only two occasions: at the
annual Green Corn Dance in the spring, and at the Hunting Dance
in the fall. The former is the more important and retains a great
deal of its traditional significance. The old hierarchy of town king
and subordinate officers has disappeared, but in its stead is a small
council of elderly medicine-men, among whom the chief medicine-
man is the acknowledged leader, particularly in matters relating
to the Green Corn Dance. On their part, the Mikasukis maintain
two ceremonial organizations. However, I found no evidence that
these three Seminole "fires" were divided according to a white and
red dual division, such as formerly prevailed among the Creeks
and Oklahoma Seminole.

The Camp

Seminole daily life revolves around its most obvious unit, the
camp (istihapd). The term can be taken in two ways: on the one
hand it is where the household group lives, and on the other it is
the group itself. We may first consider the former of these meanings
and describe briefly the general appearance of the camp.

The Cow Creek camp is built on a high spot among the pines or
on a hammock, depending on the type of country. The camps are
all constructed on a similar pattern and consist of a number of palm-
thatched, open-sided houses built around the outer zone of a clearing,
with a cook house in the center. The houses face toward the center
of the clearing and fan out in all directions from the cook house.
The latter is a rectangular structure with neither sides nor floor and
consists simply of a thatch roof supported by four posts. The
surrounding houses are similar to the cook house, but they are
larger and more substantially built, with floors raised some two
feet off the ground. None has closed sides and in warm weather
all are reasonably cool. One such house is always reserved for
eating. In addition, each family in the camp has a house of its
own, used as sleeping quarters, for the storage of food, clothes, and
bedding, and as a working place for the women. Boys and girls
over the age of ten or so sleep in separate houses, and an extra one
may be needed. The major part of the floor space is used for sleep-

BrightonB

Br
Rese

ighton j ~p

ervotion5_/|/

Okoioccoochee
Slough

Big Cypress Swamp

Clan Camps
O Panther
• Bird
9 Talahasee

€> Snake
® Deer

Miami

Fig. 1. Clan camps of the Cow Creek Seminole.

11

12 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

ing, except that during the day the scanty bedding and mosquito-bar
are rolled up to permit a place for lounging and for the women's
sewing. A Singer sewing machine, which every worthy matron
possesses, sometimes a portable phonograph, and a miscellaneous
assortment of bundles of clothing and large lard cans containing
food supplies occupy the remainder of the floor space.

The other features of the camp are a collection of miscellany.
During the day the yard is cluttered with dogs, pigs, chickens, and
small children, through which melange the women calmly move.
Platforms are set here and there and serve a variety of purposes —
to butcher a pig or simply as a place to keep the cumbrous wooden
mortar and pestle used in grinding corn. Behind the family house
is often a second small one, just large enough for one person, used
by the wife for a month after the birth of her child, during which
time she cannot associate with men and must cook, eat, and sleep
alone. After this period the house stands empty until the next
confinement. Finally, at the edge of the camp there is a pile of
firewood and a pigpen where sick pigs and hogs can be doctored.
These are the outposts of the camp.

The membership of the camp is based on the matrilineal lineage.
A camp is usually composed of a woman, her daughters, and their
children, and the husbands and unmarried brothers of these.
Occasionally the camp consists of the elementary family, with a
man, his wife, and their children the sole occupants; if this occurs
the children are apt to be numerous. In other cases, the camp is
expanded to include female first cousins or even women more
remotely related, together with their husbands and children. But
in any event a basic rule is observed — the women in a camp belong
to one clan. Cow Creek clans are matrilineal, and residence after
marriage is matrilocal. Unmarried men live with their sisters or
mothers and so all belong to the same clan, but the husbands in
any given camp necessarily come from other clans. Thus when a
man marries, he goes to his wife's camp, builds her a house, and
moves in. Later on, if the two of them do not get along, a divorce
is effected simply by the husband's packing his few personal belong-
ings and moving out. Children remain with the mother, and the
father need not assume any further responsibilities for the upkeep
of the children or of his erstwhile wife.

Members of the Cow Creek band all maintain permanent camps.
The membership of a camp, however, is not fixed and unvarying.
Aside from visiting each other for reasons of pleasure, the Indians

Camp, Clan, and Kin 13

are constantly coming and going. A man may work on the reserva-
tion but still have a dozen or so hogs ranging in country thirty
miles away; every so often it is necessary for him to hunt his hogs
and perhaps treat them for screw worm. Or a Seminole may become
ill and leave to see a distant medicine-man for treatment. In the
spring the women work as pickers in the vegetable fields near Fort
Pierce, Vero Beach, and Lake Istokpoga; consequently they set up
temporary camps for the duration of their stay. At other times they
go off in more remote sections to gather huckleberries, which they
sell in the towns. In this shifting around the strength of the clan
emerges strongly. Thus when a man and his wife visit another
camp for an overnight stay they go to one where the women belong
to the wife's clan. This is the natural and expected procedure.
On the other hand, if the man is unmarried or has left his wife at
home he goes to a camp where the women are of his own clan rather
than of his wife's. A man feels free to drop in on his own
clan-mates, but not on those of his wife unless she is with him.
Again, when women go off to the bean fields and set up temporary
camps, they invariably separate according to clan. The feeling of
clan solidarity is particularly strong with the women.

The camp is the food-consuming group and as such is a basic
economic unit. Food is prepared and eaten in common. Generally
speaking, it is the duty of the men in the camp to provide the food
(or the money to buy it) and the women to prepare it. The women
take charge of the food supplies, and the housewife of each family
within the camp doles out her share to the common supply. If she
is stingy or her husband a poor provider, conflict inevitably breaks
out. Thus, although the camp usually consists of an extended
family group, quarrels arising over food throw into relief the in-
dividuality of the elementary family as this exists within the more
inclusive household unit. A man is first of all responsible for provid-
ing and caring for his own wife and children — an unmarried man his
sister or mother.1 Also, though personal possessions such as sewing
machines, automobiles, and tools may be lent to others in the camp
there is no doubt about the family to which they belong.

On the whole there is a greater feeling of solidarity among the
women of a camp than among the men. The men may belong to

1 Women whose brothers are married can find a place at the camp of a married
sister, real or classificatory. Widows live with their daughters. Actually single
women are not at a great economic disadvantage at the present time, for they
can derive a considerable cash income from work in white-owned vegetable fields
and from the sale of dolls to tourists. There are a number of single women who
are financially independent.

14 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

more than one clan but the women are closely united by the kinship
and clan bond. This solidarity of the women seems to be the most
important cohesive element in keeping the extended family together.
On the other hand, there are certain factors tending to limit the size
of the camp. In the old days the importance of hunting made for
a dispersion of the population and acted to keep down the number
of persons in a single establishment. Today probably the most
important factor is that the domestic arrangements with respect to
cooking and eating function best if there are not more than twelve
or fifteen people in the Seminole household.

' The camp and the clan are basic units in Seminole society.
But the former is the more obvious, for it is a local as well as a kin-
ship group, with its members living at one spot, and with the houses,
cooking utensils, pigs, chickens, and other material appurtenances
giving it a solidity of appearance and tangibility that the clan lacks.
The camp provides a place for cooking, eating, and sleeping. Loung-
ing on the smooth-worn floors of the houses, the people retail gossip
and news, and the camp becomes the market place for the exchange
of ideas and opinions. It is where the Indian relaxes, whether
merely to lie in the shade of a thatch roof and contemplate the
contrast of the green sword-like fans of the surrounding palms
against the blue of the sky, or to sample a jug of liquor with some
friends. It provides the milieu in which children play and are
reared; where they are told trickster tales by their mothers and are
occasionally punished by an elder; and where they gradually extend
the range of their acquaintance to include their fellow tribesmen.
The camp witnesses the establishment of new families and the
break-up of old. It is the scene of jealousy and conflict, whether
such be over a love affair or the more mundane matter of having
enough corn to make safki. v A place of comfortable disarray, the
Seminole camp is the core of the Indian's daily life.

The Clan

Among the Cow Creek Seminole there are five matrilineal
exogamous clans, four of which are totemic. The names of the five
clans are as follows: Panther, Bird, Talahasee, Deer, and Snake.
The existence of the non-totemic Talahasee ("old town") clan is
puzzling. MacCauley stated that the Cow Creek and Cat Fish
Lake Seminole called themselves "Talahasee Indians." This was
in 1880. However, informants' testimony indicates that the Tala-
hasee clan all lived at Cat Fish Lake. Also there is a disposition
on the part of the members of this clan to regard themselves as a

Camp, Clan, and Kin 15

subdivision of, or at least very closely linked to, the Bird clan.
I have separated Bird and Talahasee because they maintain a
separate chain of camps and because in the eyes of my non-Tala-
hasee informants they are distinct.

In addition to the clans named above, there are several others
represented by Mikasuki individuals residing with the Cow Creek
band. These clans are the Otter, Bear, and Talwalako. The
Talwalako ("big town") clan is non-totemic. It is not a Mikasuki
version of Talahasee but is an independent clan, though it is "related"
to Otter and the two clans are not supposed to intermarry. The
presence of these two non-totemic clans among the Florida Seminole
raises the remote possibility that they may be the remnants of broken
towns which have acquired the status of clans.

The phratry organization is still extant. However, the clan is
the more important social unit, for the phratry is simply a linking
of clans and assumes significance primarily in marriage prohibitions.
Of the linkages among the Cow Creek clans, that between Talahasee
and Bird is the strongest; these two clans never intermarry. Next
in strength is the Panther-Deer linkage. Panther is the "uncle" of
Deer; these clans are also not supposed to marry, though I have
recorded one such union. The weakest link of all is that between
Bird and Snake. This is merely traditional. Bird was the "uncle"
of Snake and formerly the two were not supposed to marry; actually
there are two such marriages today, the parties to which are well
thought of by the tribe. At present, therefore, the linkages are
Bird-Talahasee, Panther-Deer, with Snake standing alone. Tradi-
tionally, the system was that of a dual division, with Bird, Talahasee,
and Snake on one side and Panther and Deer on the other. This
division still has a limited function in the ceremonial sphere. Thus,
when boys reach puberty, they are given ceremonial names at the
Green Corn Dance in the spring. The ceremony of name-giving is
not performed every year, as the band waits until a number of boys
are ready. When this occurs, an old man from one side of the dual
division bestows the names on the boys from the other side. The
ceremonial names, however, tend to descend in clan lines, with a
young boy receiving the name of a dead clansman. So far as I
could determine, the clan divisions are unnamed, the hata-ka and
cilo'ko of the Creeks and Oklahoma Seminole not being used.

The relation of the clan to the camp has been briefly noted.
The camps of a single clan are all connected through the women's
belonging to one clan. The clan bond both supplies a prerogative —

16 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

that of descending on one's clan-mates for food and lodging — and
imposes an obligation — that of being hospitable to visitors if one is
a host, and of providing food if one is a long-staying guest.

The clan is also a political unit. In case a member of one clan
is murdered by an Indian of a different clan the bereaved clan will
kill the murderer if it can catch him, or another member of the
offending clan if it cannot. This is the traditional rule, though I
do not know if it would be followed today. Also, a sexual union
between two members of a single clan is considered incest, and
formerly both would have been severely punished. There is a
problem here, however, as to the relation of the clan to the band
organization in the punishment of crime. It is a question on which
I have no reliable data, as the Indians were extremely reticent in
discussing such matters.

Lastly, the clan has an important place in the ceremonial organi-
zation of the band. At the time of the Green Corn and Hunting
dances the various clan camps draw together like beads on a string,
with each clan setting up one large camp for the duration of the
festival. Ceremonial offices also tend to descend in clan lines; the
head medicine-man of the band always belongs to the Panther clan.
The watchers who exhort the people to dance, those who gather wild
medicinal herbs for the medicine taken at the Green Corn, and
various other officials are usually chosen from particular clans.
The ceremonial organization has simplified in the past century, but
the clan retains an important role.

Kinship

The clan, the camp, and the elementary families composing the
latter are the basic social groupings within the relatively loose
framework of the band organization. The ramifying bonds of
kinship underlie these units and bring them into relation with one
another to form a coherent social structure.

KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY

Although most of the Cow Creek Seminole kinship terms are
identical with those collected by Swanton for the Creeks, the applica-
tion of the terms differs somewhat (cf. Swanton, 1925, pp. 80-88).
The Florida system is closer to a pure Crow type, as all descendants
of the father's sister through females are classed as "little fathers"
or "grandmothers," irrespective of generation differences. The
non-vocative forms of the kinship terms and their applications are
given below.

Camp, Clan, and Kin 17

Man Speaking:

"Father" (cdlki). Applied to the father only.

"Mother" (cdcki). Applied to the mother only.

"Little father" (calkoci). Applied to the father's brother and to all males
in the father's clan; to the husband of the mother's sister; and to the
husbands of women called "little mother," with the exception of the
mother's brother.

"Little mother" (cackoci). Applied to the mother's sister and to all women
of the first ascending generation in ego's clan; to the wife of the father's
brother and to all wives of men called "little father"; and to the mother's
brother's wife.

"Grandfather" (capocd). Applied to the father's father, the mother's father,
and to the brothers and sisters of these; to old men of the second ascending
generation in ego's clan; and to the husband of any woman called "grand-
mother."

"Grandmother" (caposi). Applied to the father's mother, the mother's
mother, and to the sisters of these; to old women of the second ascending
generation in ego's clan; to the father's sister; and to all females in the
father's clan.

"Big grandfather" (capoca-ldkko). Applied to members of the father's father's
and mother's father's clans (regardless of sex), other than those relatives
already noted.

"Uncle" (capdwa). Applied to the mother's brother and to all men of the
second ascending generation in ego's clan.

"Older brother" (caldha); "younger brother" (cacosi). A man differentiates
older and younger brothers. The terms are applied also to all males of
ego's generation in ego's clan, and to all sons of men called "little father."

"Sister" (ca-wdnwa). A man uses only one term for a sister. This term is
applied also to all females of ego's generation in ego's clan, and to all
daughters of men called "little father."

"Son" (cappoci); "daughter" (caccdsti). Applied to ego's children, to the
brother's children, to the mother's brother's children, to the children of
any man called by a brother term, and to the children of a man belonging
to ego's clan.

"Nephew" (anhopoywa) ; "niece" (anhakpati). Applied to the sister's children,
and, by extension, to the children of any woman called "sister"; thus
everyone in the first descending generation in ego's clan is either a
"nephew" or a "niece."

"Grandchild" (amososwa). Applied to the child of any "son" or "daughter,"
"nephew" or "niece." The child of a "grandchild" is also referred to
as a "grandchild."

"Wife" (caheywa). Applied to the wife only.

"Sister-in-law" (cahacawd). Applied to the wife's sister, to the brother's
wife, to the clan sisters of the wife, and to the wives of classificatory
brothers.

"Brother-in-law" (avkapoci). Applied to the wife's brother, and, by exten-
sion, to the clan brothers of the wife.

"Brother-in-law" (ancokowdkki). Applied to the sister's husband, and, by
extension, to the husbands of classificatory sisters.

"Parent-in-law" (anhoktdlwa). Applied to the wife's parents. Can also be
used for the mother-in-law's brothers and sisters.

"Child-in-law" (anhatisi). Applied to the spouse of a "son," "daughter,"
"nephew," "niece," or "grandchild."

18 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

Woman Speaking (the usage is the same, with the following exceptions) :

"Brother" (cacilwa). A woman groups older and younger brothers under
one term. It is applied to the brother and to all males of ego's generation
in ego's clan, and to sons of men called "little father."

"Older sister" (caldha); "younger sister" (cacdsi). A woman distinguishes
between older and younger sisters. The terms are also applied to all
females of ego's generation in ego's clan, and to daughters of men called
"little father."

"Child" (caccoswa). A woman does not use separate terms for "son" and
"daughter," but calls a child of either sex by the same term.

"Little child" (caccosoci). Applied to the sister's children, and, by extension
of the system, to any child of a woman called by a sister term.

"Grandchild" (amosdswa). A woman uses this term for the brother's children;
for the mother's brother's children; for the children of anyone called
"child," "little child," or "grandchild"; and for children of men belonging
to ego's clan.

"Husband" (cdhi). Applied to the husband only.

"Sibling-in-law" {cahacawd). Applied to the husband's brother and sister,
and, by extension, to his clan siblings, and to the brother's wife and the
sister's husband.

In addition, the following terms are in common use:

iticd-kkiya-t. A covering term for sibling, used for either a brother or a sister,
real or classificatory.

caheyca. Frequently used for the father's brother or any male of the father's
clan as an alternative to "little father." The use of caheyca is interesting,
as it injects a non-classificatory element into a system that is in other
respects strongly classificatory.

In the extension of kinship terms, the Cow Creek system is based
on the clan. However, although the system is logical and con-
sistent, in actual practice it works somewhat differently from the
manner outlined above. The reason for this lies in the small
number of Cow Creek clans, and in the fact that Panther, Bird,
and Talahasee clans comprise more than three-quarters of the band.
As far as terminology goes, Bird and Talahasee are one, for the
members of the two clans use kinship terms as though they were.
The two clans also cannot intermarry. As a consequence, most
marriages are necessarily between Panther people on one hand and
Bird-Talahasee people on the other. This in turn affects the termi-
nological system, for people are constantly marrying into the
father's clan. The consequence is an interesting combination of
a large number of "cross-cousin" marriages with a Crow type of
system. For many relatives, therefore, an individual can make a
choice between alternative kinship terms. The Indians are conscious
of the alternative possibilities, and the question arises as to whether
the choices they make follow a definite pattern. During the course
of field work, I noted the following tendencies:

Camp, Clan, and Kin 19

(1) If the person referred to belonged to ego's clan, ego selected
a term he would ordinarily use for a member of his own
clan in preference to other possible terms.

(2) In a large number of cases two individuals belonged to each
other's father's clans; that is, A belonged to B's father's
clan and B belonged to A's father's clan. A (male) could
therefore call B "little father," cahiyca, or "son" (if B were
male), or "grandmother" or "daughter" (if B were female).
A (female) could call B "little father," caMyca, or "grand-
child" (if B were male), or "grandmother" or "grandchild"
(if B were female). B had the same choices in referring to
A. The only pattern of usage I could discern in such in-
stances occurred when there was a marked age difference
between A and B. In such cases the difference of age tended
to determine the choice. Thus if A (male) were much older
than B, he would call B "son" or "daughter," and B would
call A "little father" or caheyca; if A (female) were much
older than B, she would call B "grandchild" and B would
call A "grandmother." Caheyca seems to be used quite as
much if not more than "little father." It carries no connota-
tion of older or younger and is frequently used between men
of different ages who belong to each other's father's clan.

(3) Where a choice between the two is possible there is a tendency
to use consanguineal terms at the expense of affinal. Some
affinal relatives, particularly the father-in-law, very often
belong to ego's clan, while many other affinal kin are likely
to belong to the father's clan. In the latter case, the appro-
priate terminology for the father's clan usually takes preced-
ence, unless the affinal relatives are close blood kin of the
spouse, in which case either affinal or consanguineal terms
are used.

These are the only usages I discerned in the choice of kinship
terms. However, a longer and more intensive investigation is needed
to support or disprove them fully, while there may possibly be other
patterns of usage which escaped my notice. In any case one point
is clear. The small size of the band, the limited number of Cow
Creek clans, and the disproportionate size of three of these has
cramped the full and extended working of the terminological system,
for the Florida Seminole have been forced to marry into the father's
clan for several generations. As a consequence there are a large
number of cross-cousin marriages, though in its basic features the

20 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

Crow type of kinship system prevailing among the Cow Creek band
remains unchanged.

KINSHIP BEHAVIOR

A full exposition of kinship behavior among the Cow Creek
Seminole is beyond the scope of this paper. I include here only
a few general observations.

The behavior expressed in the ordinary person-to-person relations
among the Cow Creek Seminole is quite informal. The band is
small; everyone knows everyone else; there are no great discrepancies
in wealth; and, though considerations of social status exist, they
are not conspicuously apparent. There is a lack of highly formalized
patterns of behavior. Personality factors and how well individuals
know and like each other play a considerable role, so that kinship
behavior is rather individualized. It is difficult, therefore, to
generalize on the type of behavior expressed in a given relationship
and to classify it with regard to criteria such as familiarity and
respect. The latter exist, of course, and are about as follows:
Respect behavior is characterized by an absence of joking or teasing.
The persons concerned avoid bodily contact, such as tussling or
even one man's putting an arm across another's shoulders. A
respectful demeanor is demanded. One is careful about listening
to what the other person has to say, restrains any tendency to talk
too much, and avoids boasting. As for familiarity, there are no
highly formalized joking relations. As a matter of fact, among the
Cow Creek Seminole joking is not particularly noticeable. This is
not to say that the Indians are unduly sombre. Joking is indulged
in from time to time, but it has not been elaborated into an institu-
tionalized, formal type of behavior proscribed in certain kinship
relations. On the whole, familiarity consists simply of varying
degrees of an absence of those restraints characteristic of respect.

THE FAMILY

Siblings. — The relation between siblings is rather easy and
informal, except that familiarity between brother and sister is
restrained. As siblings of opposite sex grow to maturity they may
joke or tease each other a little but not much, while they avoid
tussling or bodily contact. Age differences also affect sibling
relationships, though this is perhaps more noticeable with adults
than with children or adolescents. Where the difference amounts
to some ten years, the younger sibling's attitude toward the older

Camp, Clan, and Kin 21

one is tinged with respect, though a good deal depends on the
strength of character of the elder sibling.

Parents-children. — Seminole parents are very fond of children
and treat them with considerable indulgence. On certain points,
however, there is no compromise, and discipline falls swiftly on the
child who refuses to obey his parents in matters they feel to be
important. For serious punishment the mother's brother is called
upon to scratch the arms and legs of the child with a needle or
sharpened nail. However, I was told that girls were not punished
in this manner, and I saw only boys with scratches.

The behavior of children toward their parents is one of respect;
the former are supposed to be obedient and attentive and do not
indulge in joking. On their part the parents occasionally tease
their children a little, but this is not marked. The mother looks
after small children of either sex; as they grow older the boys' and
girls' interests diverge, with the father becoming more responsible
for the boys' education and the mother continuing her care of her
daughters.

Husband-wife. — The relations between husband and wife are
quite informal and vary from couple to couple according to their
individual temperaments. A wife usually accompanies her husband
on visits to other Indians and on trips to town. Seminole women
have a very independent spirit. Aside from the duties which
traditionally fall to a wife she usually is ready to seize small oppor-
tunities to earn a little money, whether it be a matter of making
dolls, dressing a buckskin for a white hunter, or picking berries and
selling them in town. On her colorful clothes and her husband's
bright dress shirts she spends a great amount of time and the whir
of a portable Singer sewing machine is one of the usual accompani-
ments of camp life.

Mother's brother-sister's child. — In cases where the mother's
brother is unmarried and lives with his sister his influence is marked.
He is close and can easily be called on to lecture disobedient
nephews and nieces and to punish them if need be. He often takes
a general interest in his sister's child and looks after the latter in
various small ways, such as seeing that his nephew or niece receives
treatment in times of illness. However, if the mother's brother is
married he lives at a different camp, and though he may retain
an authoritarian role, his influence is usually confined to an occasional
act of discipline. Some married uncles are more solicitous of their
nephews and nieces than others, of course. But there are other

22 Cow Creek Seminole of Florida

cases where the mother's brother takes little interest in his sister's
children, particularly after they have reached adolescence. To
judge from my conversations with a few of the older men, the
influence of the mother's brother over his sister's children is declining
and the authority of the uncle has been decreasing in the last three
decades. I believe that this is the trend, but I also feel that its
inception may be due to factors which are nearly a century old.
The scattering of camps as the Seminole retreated into the fastness
of the southern interior no doubt tended to decrease the intensity
of contact between a married man and his sister's child. This in
turn would weaken the tie between the two, except where the
mother's brother was unmarried and lived at his sister's camp.
Also, if some provision were made for the nephew or niece to stay
at the married uncle's camp the two would retain close contact, but
there is no evidence that this was a regular practice. The behavior
of nephews and nieces toward the mother's brother is still one of
respect, however, and in return the mother's brother seldom indulges
in teasing his sister's children.

Grandparents-grandchildren. — To one's grandparents one is re-
spectful and attentive, while on their part the grandparents are
apt to spoil their grandchildren a little. Also, a grandmother plays
a considerable role in keeping a camp together, for her interest in
her daughter's children strengthens the matrilineal lineage which so
often is the core of the camp organization. In one camp I know,
it is the grandmother who is the most important person in ironing
out quarrels and conflicts.

To all old people one is supposed to show an attitude of respect.
Most older persons know some magic, a fact which helps maintain
the respect accorded them. This is particularly true of the more
influential of the older men, all of whom are practitioners of magic
and medicine. With a few old individuals whose only claim to
respect is their age, younger men and women may be outwardly
respectful, though holding the former in low regard.

Parents-in-law-children-in-law. — Regardless of sex differences,
this is a strong reciprocal respect relation. However, there is no
attempt at avoidance and one is free to communicate directly to a
parent-in-law of opposite sex. Also, it should be pointed out again
that the father-in-law is very likely to belong to ego's clan. A man's
father-in-law is thus also his classificatory uncle. When a man
marries into a camp he is supposed to be helpful to his parents-in-law

Camp, Clan, and Kin 23

and to be ready to share in the responsibilities devolving on the
men of the camp.

In the extension of behavior to relatives falling outside the
circle of the immediate family, behavior patterns seem to be based
primarily on differences of age and sex. The situation can be
summarized as follows: Familiarity is stronger between persons of
the same sex and approximately the same age than it is between
persons of opposite sex and disparate ages. Conversely, respect is
most marked in intersexual relations and between persons of different
ages. This fact involves a lack of correlation in certain relation-
ships between the more overt forms of respect-familiarity behavior
and kinship terminology (particularly in regard to the relations
between ego and members of the father's clan), though the essential
features of the terminological system remain intact.

Levirate and Sororate

At times of remarriage after the death of the spouse there seems
to be no compulsion to enforce either the sororate or the levirate.
It is true that some persons have remarried into the same clan,
but I know of no one living today who has married a blood sibling
of the deceased spouse. In the six cases I recorded where living
persons have remarried, three persons married second spouses who
belonged to the same clan as the first, while the other three took
spouses from clans different than that to which the first spouse
belonged.

The absence of a formally sanctioned sororate and levirate may
account for the classing terminologically of the mother's brother's
wife with the mother's sister rather than with the sister-in-law.
One informant did say that the mother's brother's wife could be
called either "little mother" or "sister-in-law." Actually, however,
the mother's brother's wife very often belongs to the father's clan
and is thus called a "grandmother." Among the Oklahoma Seminole
the sororate formerly prevailed, and the wife's sister, brother's
wife, and mother's brother's wife were all classed together as poten-
tial spouses. The institution of sororate and levirate has apparently
sunk into oblivion among the Cow Creek Seminole. I am inclined
to believe that the reason for this is to be found in the small size
of the band and the consequent lack of choice left to the society in
regulating the remarriages of its members.

III. CONCLUSION

The preceding remarks are offered as a brief sketch of certain
outstanding features of Cow Creek social organization. The Semi-
nole data are important with respect to the following points:

(1) The Cow Creek band has preserved aspects of social organiza-
tion which have not survived among the Oklahoma Seminole and
the Creeks. The examination of these institutions helps clarify the
picture of aboriginal, or near-aboriginal, conditions. The principal
example is the extended family, which continues to exist as a type
of social grouping in Florida, though it has long since disappeared
among the Oklahoma groups.

(2) The Florida data have reference to certain problems raised
in the comparative study of culture change among the Southeastern
tribes. Thus the available information on Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Cherokee, and Creek kinship systems has been analyzed by Eggan,
who concluded that formerly they all conformed to a Crow type,
that the variations from this type which they displayed in the
pattern of descent from the father's sister represented a shift from
a matrilineal toward a patrilineal emphasis, and that these variations
were directly related to different degrees of the same type of accul-
turation (Eggan, 1937). The Cow Creek data support Eggan's
conclusions. Inasmuch as the Florida Seminole are the least accul-
turated of the Southeastern groups, one should, according to Eggan's
hypothesis, find that the Cow Creek descent pattern from the
father's sister is closer to a "pure" Crow type than are the systems
recorded from the other Southeastern tribes. This is exactly the
case. Also, as most of the Seminole were originally Creeks, the
Seminole terminology with respect to the father's sister's descend-
ants is presumably representative of a condition of Creek social
organization earlier than that reported by Swanton (1925, pp.
80-88).

(3) Although the Cow Creek Seminole preserve a number of
features of social organization which have not survived among the
other Southeastern tribes, the Florida group has by no means
remained static and untouched by contact with whites. The
changes in social organization which can be traced to contact have
been of two main types. The first of these was dominant in Florida
until recently. It followed directly from the Indians being greatly
reduced in number after the Seminole wars and being forced to
scatter through the more remote parts of the interior. The results

24

Conclusion 25

were a changed relation to the environment and a modification of
the social relations among themselves, with a decreased population,
a break-up of the town organization, a decline in the number of
clans, and a distinct simplification of ceremonial life. In addition,
the necessary prevalence of marriage into the father's clan gave
rise to a set of kinship usages involving modification of the former
kinship structure. These changes were initiated by white contact,
but they rose in an indirect manner ff^om it. The second type of
social change is the consequence of direct and intimate contact
with whites and is particularly characteristic of changes in social
organization among those Southeastern tribes which were moved
to Oklahoma. This form of acculturation is now beginning to be
of predominant importance among the Cow Creek band. As a
small Indian group whose history is relatively well known, the
Cow Creek Seminole afford an opportunity to examine the effect
of this recent type of contact on aspects of social organization such
as the extended family, the clan, and the kinship system. A study
of this sort should throw light on the changes in similar institutions
in other Indian tribes; it is also a means of testing those hypotheses
which have been offered as explanations of the social changes which
have already taken place among the other major tribes of the
Southeast.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eggan, Frederick

1937. Historical changes in the Choctaw kinship system. American Anthro-
pologist, n.s., vol. 39, pp. 34-52.

Haas, Mary

1939. Natchez and Chitimacha clans and kinship terminology. American
Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 41, pp. 597-610.

1940. Creek inter-town relations. American Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 42,
pp. 479-489.

MacCauley, Clay

1884. The Seminole Indians of Florida. Bureau of American Ethnology, 5th
Annual Report. Washington, D.C.

Nash, Roy

1931. Seminole Indians: A survey of the Seminole Indians of Florida. Senate,
71st Congress, 3rd Session, Document 314. Washington, D.C.

Skinner, Alanson

1913. Notes on the Florida Seminole. American Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 15,
pp. 63-77.

Speck, F. G.

1935. Siouan tribes of the Carolinas as known from Catawba, Tutelo, and
documentary sources. American Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 37, pp. 201-225.

1938a. The question of matrilineal descent in the Southeastern Siouan area.

American Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 40, pp. 1-12.
1938b. The cane blowgun in Catawba and Southeastern ethnology. American

Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 40, pp. 198-204.

Stirling, Gene

1936. Report on the Seminole Indians of Florida. Office of Indian Affairs,
Department of Interior. 9 pp. (mimeographed). Washington, D.C.

Swanton, J. R.

1925. Social organization and social usages of the Indians of the Creek Con-
federacy. Bureau of American Ethnology, 42nd Annual Report. Washington,
D.C.

26

Acculturation, 7, 24-25
Avunculate, 21-22

Band, 9, 10

INDEX

Joking, 20

Camp, appearance, 10, 12; economic
basis, 13; membership, 12-13; scatter-
ing of in past century, 22

Ceremonies, organization, 10; Green
Corn Dance, 10, 15; simplification, 25

Cherokee, 7, 24

Chickasaw, 7, 24

Choctaw, 7, 24

Clan, 12, 13; ceremonial function, 15,
16; names, 14, 15; political function,
16; Mikasuki clans at Cow Creek, 15;
Talahasee clan, 14, 15

Costume, 9, 21

Creeks, 7, 15, 16, 24

Divorce, 12

Eggan, Frederick, 7, 8, 24

Family, elementary, 13; extended, 12-

14; behavior, 20-23
Food, 13
Fort Pierce, 9, 13

Haas, Mary, 7, 8

Houses, 10, 12; maternity, 12

Kinship, behavior of relatives, 20-23;
terminology, 16-20

Levirate, 23

Lineage, matrilineal, 12

Linguistic division, 9

MacCauley, Clay, 9, 14

Marriage, cross-cousin, 18-20; residence

after, 12
Mikasuki, 9, 10, 15

Names, ceremonial, 15
Natchez clans, 7

Oklahoma Seminole, 8, 15, 23, 24

Phratry, 15
Population, 9, 10, 25

Seminole wars, 9

Settlements, 9

Siouans, 7

Sororate, 23

Southeast, acculturation, 8; problems

in ethnology, 7, 24-25
Speck, F. G., 7
Swanton, J. R., 7, 16, 24

Tribal organization, 9 _

27