The Story of Chief Big Buffalo Who Died in Akron, Ohio

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Hello! I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 3-28-2021

Chief Big Buffalo ~

BIRTH 1861, USA

DEATH 1956 (aged 94–95), Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA

BURIAL Glendale Cemetery, Akron, Summit County, Ohio, USA

PLOT Sec. 27 next to road

Greetings ~

This is the story of an old west Indian Chief who died old and is buried in an Akron, Ohio cemetery. How does that happen? Well, it's a long story that has a cloudy beginning.

Chief Big Buffalo was born in 1861 but no one seemed to know where. His younger years and childhood is a mystery. He was a Native American from the Cherokee tribe. In his middle years he met William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody and became a performer in Cody's Wild West Show around 1900. The Chief also worked in the Bob Ripley Show. In that show the Chief played a one-string violin and a couple of saws.

A faded New York Times clipping found among his effects told how he had appeared before three presidents in his day, Wilson, Taft and Coolidge and had played his saws and home-made violin for each. He had also appeared in Broadway shows. So, the Chief had made a name for himself, albeit short-lived. He had also appeared before U.S. presidents, Woodrow Wilson, William Taft and Calvin Coolidge. He had played his saws and violin for all of them. The Chief also had been in Broadway shows. It was Taft who had arranged for the Chief to come to Akron, Ohio to put on a show. Big Buffalo was elderly at the time he arrived in Akron and not in the best of health. He liked the city so well that he decided to settle down there. With no employment options now, the Chief was befriended by Edgar Warren, superintendent of Glendale Cemetery. Warren hired the Chief to be their janitor in the office building at the cemetery. But as Warren would say later, "but he was then too old to do much." The Chief also did groundskeeping work there like cutting grass and raking leaves.

One day, the Chief did not show up to work. Warren knew something was wrong. When he and Warren along with Henry King, who owned the rooming house on North Howard Street pushed their way into his room and found that the Chief had passed away during the night.

The room was sparse, the Chief had owned next to nothing but his old one-string violin and his saws and a few clothes. Edgar Warren donated a grave at Glendale Cemetery for Chief Big Buffalo and his body was buried. Weeks passed and the Chief's room had not been touched. Finally, Henry King began to clean it out. Among the tattered accumulation of the Chief's belongings, King found an old Savings Bond in the amount of $100. King had no idea what to do with it so he turned the bond over to Clarence Blosser, court appointed administrator of the Chief's estate. Since there were no relatives that could be found, Blosser decided to use the bond to buy a gravestone for the Chief's unmarked grave. He cut a deal with a local stonecutter and the monument was erected. Present was Leonard Hiebel, vice president of the Summit County Historical Society, Clarence Blosser, administrator of the Indian's estate, and Edgar Warren, Glendale Superintendent.

The story didn't end there. The Chief's old violin and saws were donated to the Summit County Historical Society. They were given to City planning engineer, Leonard Hiebel, vice president of the society in charge of acquisitions, who accepted the violin for preservation.

Chief Big Buffalo was 95 years old when he died. The stories he could have told would be priceless today. I talked to a lady who was a young girl of eight when her father worked at the cemetery. She told me that she knew the Chief and he was so nice to her. She and the Chief got to be good friends before he died.

UPDATE: FROM A STORY ABOUT GLENDALE CEMETERY IN THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL:

Chief Big Buffalo was a Cherokee chief who actually entertained with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show at the turn of the century. He died destitute but received a gravestone because a $100.00 bond was found in his boarding room. How did he end up broke in Akron, Ohio?

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show comes to town.

Bill Cody, here with Chief Sitting Bull, was friendly with the Indians and employed many of them in his show.

UPDATE: 2008:

Big Buffalo entertained with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show up until Cody's death. Afterward, he worked for other shows to scrape out a meager living. He was working with a carnival when it came to Akron, Ohio. Big Buffalo was elderly and his health was failing and when the show left Akron, he stayed here. He worked odd jobs, one of them being groundskeeping and leaf raking at Glendale Cemetery. When Big Buffalo got sick and died one night in his room, the administrator at Glendale felt so bad that he gave a grave freely for his burial. I've heard two explanations on how he got his gravestone. One is from the $100.00 savings bond found in his room. Another is that a local stone cutter donated the stone for Big Buffalo's grave.

He lived to be 95-years old. Think of the stories he had to tell.

TRIBUTE TO CHIEF - A stone is set at the grave of 95-year-old Chief Big Buffalo by (from left) leonard Hiebel, vice president of the Summit County Historical Society; Clarence Blosser, administrator of the Indian's estate, and Edgar Warren, Glendale Superintendent.

Final Tribute To A Proud Cherokee:

FROM THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, Sept. 13, 1956; Page 37

Granite Stone Now Marks Chief Big Buffalo's Grave

By Helen Waterhouse

A granite gravestone fitting tribute to a proud Indian Chief stands today over the last resting place of Chief Big Buffalo who died here almost friendless and alone April 26.

The stone was purchased with the savings of the 95-year-old Cherokee.

Weeks after his death in an obscure S. Howard st. rooming house, the landlord of the place found a $100 postal savings bond among the tattered accumulation of belongings in the Chief's room.

Henry King, who owns the rooming house, turned the bond over to Clarence Blosser, court appointed administrator of the Indian's estate. Since the Chief left no heirs, it was decided to get a marker for his grave.

"Chief of his tribe, Chief Big Buffalo, 1861-1956, Gone to His Happy Hunting Grounds" the stone is inscribed.

Edgar Warren, superintendent of Glendale Cemetery, long a personal friend of the Chief, supervised the setting of the gravestone Wednesday.

Warren had befriended the Indian, who earlier made name and fame for himself, traveling about the country in the Bob Ripley shows, playing a one-string violin and a couple of saws.

The chief also was with Col. William Cody - Buffalo Bill - in Cody's famous show many years ago.

A faded New York Times clipping found among his effects told how he had appeared before three presidents in his day, Wilson, Taft and Coolidge and had played his saws and home-made violin for each. He had also appeared in Broadway shows.

"In fact, it was the late Sen. Taft who arranged for him to come to Akron in the first place to put on a show." Warren relates. "He liked the city so well he decided to settle here. I employed him as a janitor at the office building here in the cemetery but he was then too old to do much."

On Wednesday, Chief Big Buffalo's famous violin also reached a last resting place. Following a brief dedication ceremony at the grave, where Blosser presented the $100 postal bond to Warren for the gravestone, a member of the Summit County Historical Society accepted the violin for preservation.

City planning engineer, Leonard Hiebel, vice president of the society in charge of acquisitions, took the quaint looking maple wood instrument to which a big horn is attached to the John Brown Museum.

My wife at the grave of Chief Big Buffalo.

The inscription on his gravestone says he was the Chief of his tribe and that he has gone to his "Happy Hunting Ground".

FROM THE AKRON CITY DIRECTORIES:

1950

Chief Big Buffalo, works - Glendale Cemetery, room - 62 1/2 S. Howard St.

1955

Chief Big Buffalo, room - 62 1/2 S. Howard St.

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