Description
The Deadose were a Native American tribe in present-day Texas closely associated with the Jumano, Yojuane, Bidai and other groups living in the Rancheria Grande of the Brazos River in eastern Texas in the early 18th century. The Deadose were along with the Yojuane, Mayeye and Bidai those who requested the Franciscan missionaries to come and set up missions for them. However many of the Deadose as well as the Bidai and Akokisa only went to the vicinity of the missions to trade with the soldiers. They also had set up trade networks that extended to the French in Louisiana. In 1750 the Deadose and their Bidai and Akokisa associates at Mission San Ildefonso left in an alliance with Ais, Hasinai, Kadohadachos, Nabedaches, Yojuanes, Tawakonis, Yatasis, Kichais, Naconis and Tonkawas to attack the Apache. The Deadose did not come back to the mission until 1752.
Language
They were closely related to the Bidais and spoke an Atakapan language.
Culture
They ate shellfish and fish. The women gathered bird eggs, the American lotus for its roots and seeds, as well as other wild plants. The men hunted deer, bear, and bison, which provided meat, fat, and hides. The women cultivated varieties of maize. They processed the meats, bones and skins to prepare food for storage, as well as to make clothing, tent covers, tools, sewing materials, arrow cases, bridles and rigging for horses, and other necessary items for their survival. The men made their tools for hunting and fishing: bows and arrows, fish spears with bone-tipped points, and flint-tipped spears. They used dugout canoes to navigate the bayous and close to shore, but did not venture far into the ocean. In the summer, families moved to the coast. In winters, they moved inland and lived in villages of houses made of pole and thatch.