The Seminole Indians of Florida: Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 469-532MacCauley, Clay
History
The Seminole Indians of Florida: Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 469-532
MacCauley, Clay
Seminole Indians -- History; Seminole Indians -- Social life and customs
In this table it will be noticed that the total population consists of
112 males and 96 females, an excess of males over females of 16. This
excess appears in each of the settlements, excepting that of Fish Eating
Creek, a fact the more noteworthy, from its relation to the future of
the tribe, since polygamous, or certainly duogamous, marriage generally
prevails as a tribal custom, at least at the Miami River and the Cat
Fish Lake settlements. It will also be observed that between twenty and
sixty years of age, or the ordinary range of married life, there are 38
men and 46 women; or, if the women above fifteen years of age are
included as wives for the men over twenty years of age, there are 38 men
and 56 women. Now, almost all these 56 women are the wives of the 38
men. Notice, however, the manner in which the children of these people
are separated in sex. At present there are, under twenty years of age,
66 boys, and, under fifteen years of age, but 31 girls; or, setting
aside the 12 boys who are under five years of age, there are, as future
possible husbands and wives, 54 boys between five and twenty years of
age and 31 girls under fifteen years of age--an excess of 23 boys. For a
polygamous society, this excess in the number of the male sex certainly
presents a puzzling problem. The statement I had from some cattlemen in
mid-Florida I have thus found true, namely, that the Seminole are
producing more men than women. What bearing this peculiarity will have
upon the future of these Indians can only be guessed at. It is beyond
question, however, that the tribe is increasing in numbers, and
increasing in the manner above described.
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