Red Thundercloud

In 1996 a man I knew as Tez passed away. This man was a friend of my fathers and would come to visit us often. He claimed to be a Catawaba Indian and dressed in a like fashion. He made his living by dancing with a traveling troupe going from school to school. The troupe also sold trinkets like tomahawks made of rubber and baby dolls dressed like Indians.
For a short time he lived right up the street from me. He had a dog that supposedly would only respond to the Catawaba language but I can't speak to that. I know that he would go into the woods behind his house and dye his hair black. He had an old medicine cabinet nailed to a tree and used the mirror on that. He showed me what sassafras was and how to use the roots to make tea. He would bag up those roots and sell them as well.
Now my dad told me Tez,professional name Chief Red Thundercloud,lived down to Three Mile Harbor when they were both young men. Three Mile Harbor is a section of town were the working class people lived. My father always claimed to have given Tez his first frying pan. It was about this time when Tez went to New York City and met a man there interested in recording the Catawaba language. This language was never written down and Tez was one of the last to speak it. He said he learned it from his mother. He did speak this language for this gentleman and it was recorded. Later in life he made other recordings with various people.
You can Google Red Thundercloud and read of his many accomplishments. He traveled extensively and was a fluent speaker. His life and story however are not without controversy. His claims to being a Catawaba Indian are in question. There are some,most notably an anthropologist,that doubt the authenticity of this claim.
That he was a brilliant man and fluent speaker of some language,be it Catawaba or not,is not in question.
.Chief Red Thundercloud was born in Rhode Island. I know for a fact he lived in Ct. for a while and in New York as well. He was laid to rest in Mass.
Having known the man if only for a few years I naturally was sad to hear of his passing. He gave me some toys when I was a little guy and had eaten at our table. I can remember him telling stories about doing shows and being in a movie as an extra. He was usually dressed as you would expect an Indian to dress. He wore buckskins,moccasins and a fringed shirt a lot. I always thought it was pretty neat to have a real Indian for a friend. I occasionally think of him and smile. Not too many boys from East Hampton can say they knew an Indian. Maybe up to Bridgehampton cause they had the Shinnecock Indians there. I was fortunate to have known him.
PS: somewhere I have a snapshot of him in my front yard. When I find it I will share.