James Owen Dorsey (October 31, 1848 – February 4, 1895) was an American

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, and Episcopalian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

in the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...

, who contributed to the description of the

Ponca The Ponca ( Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced ) are a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca ...

, Omaha, and other southern

Siouan languages Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who call the entire ...

. He worked for the

Bureau of American Ethnology The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior D ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

from 1880 to 1895, when he died young of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

. He became known as the expert on languages and culture of southern Siouan peoples, although he also studied tribes of the Southwest and Northwest. Dorsey also collected much material on beliefs and institutions, although most of his manuscripts have not been published. Some of the many stories he collected from the Ponca and Osage have been published, and are being used in an Omaha-language curriculum project at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Early life and education

James Owen Dorsey was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1848. He attended the

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, and was ordained as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

of the Episcopal Church in 1871. He was a descendant of

Edward Dorsey Col. Edward Dorsey (before 1646 – 1705) was a colonial settler of Maryland and Anne Arundel County. His house at 211 Prince George St. is a historic Annapolis home, once occupied by Francis Nicholson from 1694 to 1709. Early life On 25 ...

Career

That year he became a missionary to the

Indians in the

. He had a remarkable aptitude for languages, and a sympathetic and helpful personality which won the confidence of the Indians.James Owen Dorsey, "Siouan Sociology"
published posthumously, ''Omaha Indian Heritage Project'', at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, accessed 18 Apr 2011 He lived 27 months as a missionary in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, learning the difficult (for English speakers)

Siouan language Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who call the entire ...

of the Ponca and Omaha Indians. Ill health forced Dorsey to leave the West and to become a pastor in Maryland. He continued to study linguistics and to work on linguistic analysis of Ponca and Omaha. In the early years, he tried to link those languages with

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, in the mistaken theory, shared by many scholars at the time, that Native Americans were among the

Lost Tribes of Israel The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, As ...

. These efforts were considered "crude and immature." But, he developed into a linguist and anthropologist who presented Indian cultures with "unsurpassed fidelity."Hinsely, Jr., Curtis M. ''Savages and Scientists: The Smithsonian and the Development of American Anthropology, 1846-1910.'' Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, pp. 172-177 In 1878, in the formative period of the

(BAE) as part of the

, the director

John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...

engaged Dorsey to return to Nebraska to compile dictionaries of the Omaha and Ponca languages. In 1880, Dorsey returned to Washington to work with the BAE at the Smithsonian as a specialist in Siouan languages, a position he held for the rest of his life. Dorsey later did field work with the Siouan-speaking

Tutelo The Tutelo (also Totero, Totteroy, Tutera; Yesan in Tutelo) were Native American people living above the Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia. They spoke a Siouan dialect of the Tutelo language thought to be similar to that of thei ...

in Canada, the

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and the

Quapaw The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Ohi ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. In addition, he studied several tribes along the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

coast, where he compiled materials on the Athabaskan (also called Dene),

Coosan Coosan () is a townland and suburb just north of Athlone, County Westmeath in Ireland. The suburb is surrounded on three sides by Lough Ree and on one side by Athlone. Coosan attracts tourists over the summer months due to its location on the ...

, Takilman, and Yakonan

language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...

or "stocks", some of which were spoken by small groups of people. In 1884 he was the last to record the Yakona (Yaquina) language, which is now extinct. Dorsey also compiled word lists and dictionaries of the Kansa and Osage languages. He became the foremost expert on the languages and culture of southern Siouan peoples. Many of his extensive compilations of vocabulary, grammar, myths, oral histories, and cultural practices are still unpublished. Dorsey died of

in 1895 in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

at age 47.

References

Publications

* ''A Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo languages,'' accompanied with thirty-one Biloxi tests and numerous Biloxi phrases, 1912 * ''A Dakota-English dictionary,'' Edited by James Owen Dorsey, 1968 * "Omaha and Ponca Letters" (1890), (Contributions to ''North American Ethnography VI''), supplement, 1891 * ''Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements,'' 1892-1893 * ''Osage Traditions,'' 1888 *
Omaha Sociology
'' 1884 * ''The Cehiga Language,'' 1890

External links

* *

E-Museum, Minnesota State University Mankato

1890, Omaha (Degiha) Language, OMAHA LANGUAGE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (includes link to audio version of one story)

University of Colorado {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsey, James Owen American anthropologists 1848 births 1895 deaths Linguists of Siouan languages 19th-century anthropologists Linguists from the United States 19th-century linguists 19th-century American Episcopalians People from Baltimore Episcopalians from Maryland Virginia Theological Seminary alumni Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in Washington, D.C. American Anglican missionaries Missionary linguists Dorsey family of Maryland