Earliest so far...

“Before she died, which was not till her years were more than the years of a tortoise, she called her eldest daughter to the side of her couch and gave her the balls*, telling her to bestow them upon her eldest daughter, with such directions as would ensure their remaining among the Ottawas as long as grass shall grow and water run. They have been handed down from daughter to daughter, and son to son, till the present time.”
[Tales of an Indian Camp, Vol. III, Jones, The New British Novelist, Vol. XLV, 1829]
[Republished as Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. III, Jones, 1830]

*Medicine pills: Black mushrooms, pemine berries, squaw maple leaves and dogwood flowers moistened with the spittle of the Great Elk.