John Homer Seger

John Homer Seger (February 23, 1846 – February 6, 1928) was an American educator best known for his work with the Arapaho tribe in Oklahoma. Seger was born in Geauga County, Ohio, and grew up in Illinois. He joined the Union Army in 1864; after the war, he worked in Wisconsin and Kansas. In 1872, Seger took a position as a mason and carpenter for a new school at the Darlington Agency on the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian Reservation in what was then the Indian Territory. When the school opened in 1875, Seger became its first superintendent, a position he held until 1882.^[1]

By 1885, the Cheyenne and Arapaho faced the land allotment process that was being considered in Congress. So at the request of Indian agent Jesse Lee, in 1886, Seger led 120 Arapaho westward to establish the 'Seger Colony', an agricultural community on Cobb Creek in the western part of the territory. He was the only white man in his party, and he is estimated to be the only white man within a 50-mile (80 km) radius at the time.^[2] Seger became instrumental in both building the colony's infrastructure and leading the Arapaho in developing the community. He also served as an agent appointed to help allot the reservation lands to individual tribe members in 1890-1891.^[1]

In 1893, Seger founded the Seger Industrial Training School in the colony and served as its superintendent for 12 years. Seger retired from the school in 1905 and lived in the colony until his death in February 1928. Seger's colony eventually developed into the town of Colony.^[1]

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