Hiram Chase

Hiram Chase (Hiram John Hatu Mi Chase) was one of the first Native American Lawyers to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, and with his partner Thomas L. Sloan, formed the first Native American law firm in the United States. Chase was a leader of the Society of American Indians, the first national American Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians. The Society pioneered twentieth-century Pan-Indianism, the philosophy and movement promoting unity among American Indians regardless of tribal affiliation.

Hiram Chase born on the Omaha Reservation on September 9, 1861, in Macy, Thurston County, Nebraska. Chase was the great grandson of Omaha Chief Mohwoorgga. His father, Hiram Chase, Sr., was an interpreter and a post trader among the Omaha Indians, having come to Nebraska in 1854. Hiram attended mission schools on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska until he was 15, then St. Stephen's Lutheran Academy in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska. Chase studied law at the Cincinnati Law School graduating with a Bachelor of Law degree, and in 1889 was the first Native American admitted to the bar in Nebraska. In 1892, Chase and fellow Omaha, Thomas L. Sloan, formed "Sloan & Chase, Attorneys-At-Law", the first Native American law firm in the United States. In 1893, Chase was elected County Judge of Thurston County, Nebraska, and served one term. In 1898, he was elected County Attorney and re-elected in 1901. Chase was the first to record the Omaha language on paper. In 1897. Chase wrote "O MU HU W B GRa Za: The Chase System of Reading and Recording the Omaha and Other Indian Languages." In 1884, Chase married Miss Cynthia Snyder and together they had seven children. Chase was involved in local community projects and a lifelong Freemason.

Hiram Chase died in Chadron, Nebraska, on December 3, 1928, while visiting his daughter. Preceded in death by his wife of 33 years, he was survived by seven children. Burial was in Rose Hill Cemetery at Pender, Nebraska.