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[[preprinted]] 
United States Indian Service
^[[Winnebago]] Agency,
^[[Neb. Dec. 20]], 1988^[[8]]. 
[[/preprinted]]

Hon. Commis. of Indian Afairs

Sir:

I have encountered an obstacle which will prevent the completion of my work here until I can hear your decision upon the following question concerning the giving of certificates and patents to the wife in her own name, and not under the cover of her husband as the head of the family.

Remmitances and petitions have come to me, from the larger part of the tribe against the embodying of the law given to the wife, in the 160 acres given to the husband and wife as the head of the family. The reasons stated are that in the base of separation or death the woman is unprovided for, she can not hold her property independently and be her own mistress. And on the man's side, when his wife leaves hime she still has a claim upon the land, to his detriment. The children also have not as direct an heirship as through the father held eighty acres, and the mother eighty, in their respective right and name.