User:Reppop/Chee

Henry Chee Dodge
Dodge in 1946
1st and 6th Chairman of the Navajo Nation
In office August 18, 1923 – November 28, 1928
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Deshna Cheschillige
In office November 28, 1942 – November 27, 1946
Preceded by	Jacob C. Morgan
Succeeded by	Sam Ahkeah
Personal details
Born	(1860-02-22)February 22, 1860 Fort Defiance, Arizona, U.S.
Died	January 7, 1947(1947-01-07) (aged 86) Ganado, Arizona
Resting place	Navajo Veterans Cemetery, Fort Defiance, Arizona, U.S.
Spouse	Nanabah Margaret ​ (?)​ Estsan Nez ​ ​ (m. 1897, divorced)​ Mary Shirley Begaye ​ (?)​
Children	6, including Thomas and Annie

Henry Chee Dodge (February 22, 1860 – January 7, 1947), also known by the names Hastiin Adiitsʼaʼii and Kiiłchííʼ, was a Navajo leader who served as the last official Head Chief of the Navajo Tribe from 1884 to 1910. He was the first Tribal Chairman of the Navajo Business Council from 1922 to 1928 and later served as chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council from 1942 until 1946.

Henry Chee Dodge was born on February 22, 1860, at Fort Defiance, Arizona. His parentage remains uncertain; some scholars believe that he was the son of Juan Anaya (–1862), a Mexican who had been captured by the Navajo during a raid and raised among them, and Bisnayanchi, a full-blooded Navajo woman.^[1] He was was named after Henry Lafayette Dodge (1810–1856), a captain who served as a resident agent among the Navajo people. Anaya worked with and for Henry Lafayette Dodge, who was the son of U.S. Senator Henry Dodge and was killed by Apache warriors.

Some scholars speculate that Dodge may have been born earlier, in 1857, and was the son of Henry Lafayette Dodge himself. This claim was based on a letter written in 1875 by U.S. Senator Augustus C. Dodge, who stated that he had an eighteen-year-old nephew, the son of a Navajo woman and his brother, residing at Fort Defiance. However, a DNA test conducted through Dodge's grandson, Benjamin, confirmed that he was not biologically related to Henry Lafayette Dodge.^[2]

His son, Thomas Dodge (1899–1987), became a lawyer and served as the third Chairman of the Navajo Nation from 1932 to 1936. His daughter, Annie Dodge Wauneka (1910–1997), became an activist dedicated to improving health conditions on the Navajo Nation.

• Borgman, Francis (April 1, 1948). Henry Chee Dodge, The Last Chief of the Navaho Indians. Vol. 23. New Mexico Historical Review. pp. 81–93.
• Golden, Gertrude (1954). Dryden, Cecil P. (ed.). Red Moon Called Me: Memoirs of a Schoolteacher in the Government Indian Service. The Naylor Company. pp. 151–153.
• Bulow, Ernie (July 30, 2013). "History is a Restless Beast – Chee Dodge Revisited". Gallup Journey. pp. 26–27.

• https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KHDY-KJ6/adiits%27ai-or-henry-chee-dodge-1860-1947
• https://archive.org/details/Desert-Magazine-1938-07/page/n19/mode/2up