Honoring Native Ancestors

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Letters to Santa 1908

The letters below were written by students at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School

14 Dec 1908

15 Dec 1908

Letters to Santa - 1930

The letters below were written by students at the Mount Pleasant Industrial Boarding School.

13 Dec 1930

16 Dec 1930

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Ogemawkeketo

Ogemakeketo was said to be born in Aug 1794.

Ogemakeketo was described by Louis Campau as being at the treaty council in September 1819. "He was not yet 25, handsome, and about five feet, ten inches tall. His band lived at the place where the Pine River joined the Chippewa and Tittabawassee rivers, Ephraim Williams later claimed near present-day Midland." [The Daring Trader by Kim Crawford, page 147]

Ogemawkeketo's rebuttal to speech by Lewis Cass. "Your young men have invited us to come and light the Council fire. We are here to smoke the pipe of peace, but not to sell our lands. Our American Father wants them. Our English Father treats us better. He has never asked for them.Your people trepass upon our hunting grounds. You flock to our shores. Our waters grow warm; our land melts like a cake of ice; our possessions grow smaller and smaller; the warm wave of the white man rolls in upon us and melts us away. Our women reproach us. Our children want homes: shall we sell from under them the spot where they spread their blankets? We have not called you here. We smoke with you the pipe of peace." [Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder in North America by Michael John Witgen, 2022]

" Late in the afternoon of September 24 [1819] 114 chiefs and head men signed, or more properly, affixed to the treaty their signature-clan symbols, or totems, or made an X by their names as written out by the governor's men." "Ogemawkeketo and Kawgagezhic...appeared as signatories, their names spelled slightly differently from those given here." [The Daring Trader by Kim Crawford, page 163]

"One of the chiefs present at the council was Ogemawkeketo, who had been a young and powerful speaker for the Saginaw tribe back in 1819. Ogemawkeketo had reportedly become an alcoholic and his health was poor by 1835, but he understood that that treaty language required the individual Flint River reservations were for people of Indian descent. Since no such person had claimed these sections, Ogemakeketo argued, the land should revert to the Chippewa. If the U.S. government or any white individuals wanted this land, they could buy it from the Indians, the chief maintained." [The Daring Trader by Kim Crawford, page 227]

Treaty of 1819

From "Chieftanship Among Michigan Indians, by Emerson Greenman, Michigan History Magazine, vol. 24, 1940, page 373.

From "Chieftanship Among Michigan Indians, by Emerson Greenman, Michigan History Magazine, vol. 24, 1940, page 375.

[PDF link]

Ogemawkeketo died in 1840.

From his memorial page on Find-a-grave:

"Born under the name Little Elk, O-ge-ma Ke-ga-to (or Ogemaw Keketo) did not become chief by lineage. He was a well respected warrior and highly regarded because of his oratorical skills. Because President Madison was demanding to have more council with the Ojibwa clans, Little Elk was elected to be chief speaker at the age of 21 by tribal council. In doing so, he became Ogemaw Keketo, which means 'chief speaker'."

Inscription:

THIS BOLDER IS ERECTED

TO THE MEMORY OF

O-GE-MA KE-GA-TO

CHIEF SPEAKER OF THE CHIPPEWAS

BORN ABOUT 1794; ELECTED CHIEF 1815;

SPOKE AT TREATY 1819; SPOKE BEFORE

CONGRESS 1837; DIED 1840

FIRST BURIED ON PROPERTY NOW KNOWN

AS TWENTY SECOND AND WATER STREETS

IN COLONEL'S UNIFORM OF THE AMERICAN

REVOLUTIONS - A GIFT FROM PRESIDENT

JEFFERSON WHO WAS IMPRESSED WITH

HIS GREAT ELOQUENCE AND INTELLIGENCE.

REBURIED IN 1877 ON PROPERTY OF

WILLIAM R. McCORMIK. HIS REMAINS NOW

REST BENEATH THIS STONE IN THE

LOCALITY WHERE HE HELD HIS COUNCILS

PLACED BY

ANNE FRISBY FITZHUGH CHAPTER

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

JULY 4 1923.

Friday, October 11, 2024

Bear River students - 1860

Report of Indian Mission School of Bear River as taught by Mr & Mrs Porter, teachers of the Chippewa & Ottawa Indians. Qr [quarter] ending Sep 30, 1860

Names of Boys days

1 Ignatius Petosige 46

2 Bazile " 54

3 Thomas " 56

4 John B. " 32

5 Mathew Shabwasing 17

6 Pineep " 28

7 Isaac " 37

8 Williams " 42

9 Joseph " 13

10 John B. Trotosho 38

11 Louis " 31

12 Paul __ Gibson 43

13 Joseph __one 23

14 Simon Comfort 33

15 Isaac Dayspring 26

16 Peter South 18

17 Peter Edward 2

18 Peter Wells 52

19 Michael Poter 2

20 Payson Shegwagesh_y 52

21 Bazile Blackbird 15

22 Paul L. Gibson 20

23 William Comfort 28

1 Jane Shabwasing 8

2 Angelique Trotosho 58

3 Agatha Barega 28

4 Theresa Comfort 27

5 Theresa Dayspring 13

6 Mary Michell 6

7 Agnes Michell 4

8 Mary __mkwabe 4

9 Martha __mkwabe 31

10 Margaret Grape 7

11 Anna " 12

12 Agnes Blackbird 6

13 Eliza " 13

14 Mary Wells 26

15 Theresa Gibson 55

16 Nancy Christe 4

17 Lizzie _ Porter 62

364

brought forward 678

total 1042

school was kept 62 days

_________ as for former _______

A. Porter

From 1860 Federal Census

Ignatius Petosegay, age 14, son of Ignatius

Bazile Petosegay, age 12, son of Ignatius

Thomas Petosegay, age 6, son of Francis

John B. Petosegay, age 6, son of Michael

John B. Trotosho, age 16, son of John B.

Louis Trotosho, age 10, son of John B.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Students - Treaty with the Potawatomi of 1826

TREATY WITH THE POTAWATOMI, 1826.
Oct. 16, 1826. | 7 Stat., 295. | Proclamation, Feb. | 7, 1827.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. II (Treaties). Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904.

ARTICLE 6.
The United States agree to grant to each of the persons named in the schedule hereunto annexed, the quantity of land therein stipulated to be granted; but the land, so granted, shall never be conveyed by either of the said persons, or their heirs, without the consent of the Pres ident of the United States; and it is also understood, that any of these grants may be expung ed from the schedule, by the President or Senate of the United States, without affecting an y other part of the treaty.
Schedule of grants referred to in the foregoing Treaty:
To each of the following persons, Indians by birth, and who are now, or have been, scholars in the Carey Mission School, on the St. Joseph’s, under the direction of the Rev. Isaac McCoy, one quarter section of land, to be located under the direction of the President of the Unit ed States; that is to say:

1. Joseph Bourissa - son of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis Oisange Arnwaske,
male, b. 1808 - student from 1820

2. Noaquett - or Luther Rice, half-blood Ottawa, b. 1800, male - original Carey
Mission scholar, graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY; and an educator

3. John Jones - or Tuay, half-blood Chippewa, male, b. 1800 - an original student of the Carey Baptist Mission, graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, NY; and an educator . Founded Ottawa University in Kansas.

4. Nuko - or Andrew Fuller, male, b. 1811

5. Soswa -

6. Manotuk - b. 1816 - student from 1824

7. Betsey Ash - female, b. 1808 - student from 1820

8. Charles Dick -

9. Susanna Isaacs - female, b. 1819 - student from 1825

10. Harriet Isaacs -

11. Betsey Plummer - orphan, female, b. 1807 - student from 1819

12. Angelina Isaacs - female, b. 1811 - student since 1819

13. Jemima Isaacs -

14. Jacob Corbly, or Jacob Corbly Konkapot - a Stockbridge Indian and exceptionally gifted student

15. Konkapot - same as No. 14

16. Celicia Nimham - female, b. 1812 - student from 1821

17. Mark Bourissa - son of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis Oisange Arnwaske,
male, b. 1810 - student from 1820

18. Jude Bourissa - son of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis Oisange Arnwaske,
male, b. 1812 - student from 1820

19. Annowussau -

20. Topenibe - son of principal Potawatomi chief Topinbee and Nowegi, male, b. 1807

21. Terrez - daughter of Tou-se-qua, adopted by Joseph Bailly; female, b. 1808; aka Therese Bailly, Theresa LaVigne

22. Sheshko -

23. Louis Wilmett - son of Antoine Ouilmette and Archange Chevalier,
male, b. 1808 - student from 1821

24. Mitchel Wilmett - or Michel Ouilmette, son of Antoine Ouilmette and Archange
Chevalier, male, b. 1811 - student from 1823

25. Lezett Wilmett - or Elizabeth Wilmette, daughter of Antoine Ouilmette and
Archange Chevalier, female, b. 1814 - student from 1823

26. Esther Baily - daughter of Joseph Bailly and Tou-se-qua, female, b. 1811

27. Roseann Baily - daughter of Joseph Bailly and Tou-se-qua, female, b. 1813

28. Eleanor Baily - daughter of Joseph Bailly and Tou-se-qua, female, b. 1815

29. Quehkna - b. 1807 - student from 1824

30. William Turner - male, b. 1821 - student from 1823

31. Chaukenozwoh - or Joel Wallingford, male. b. 1820 - student from 1823

32. Lazarus Bourissa - son of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis Pisange Arnwaske,
male, b. 1816 - student from 1823

33. Achan Bourissa - or Archange Bourassa, daughter of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis

Pisange Arnwaske, female, b. 1817 - student from 1823

34. Achemukquee -

35. Wesauwau -

36. Peter Moose - male, b. 1816 - student from 1824 - a Potawatomi chief who signed the treaty of 1846 in Missouri

37. Ann Sharp - female, b. 1815 - student from 1824

38. Joseph Wolf - male, b. 1819 - student from 1825

39. Misnoqua -

40. Pomoqua -

41. Wymego - son of Miami Chief Wymego who was with the Potawatomi of the Tippecanoe River region

42. Cheekeh -

43. Wauwossemoqua - b. (year unknown) - student from 1824

44. Meeksumau -

45. Kakautmo -

46. Richard Clements - orphan from Chicago, male, b. 1815 student from 1825

47. Louis McNeff -

48. Shoshqua -

49. Nscotenama - b. 1819 - student from 1825

50. Chikawketeh -

51. Mnsheewoh -

52. Saugana - b. 1818 - student from 1825 -son of Potawatomi chief Saugana

53. Msonkqua -

54. Mnitoqua - son of Potawatomi chief Men-o-quet, b. 1816 - student from 1824

55. Okutcheek -

56. Naomi G. Browning -

57. Antoine - or Antoine Rollo, male, b. 1804 - student from 1824. Died while employed by Carey Mission after graduation.

58. St. Antoine - a Potawatomi chief who signed the treaty of 1846 in Missouri

59. Mary -

Notes: Names are stated exactly as they appeared in the text. The more common version of the name is stated second, when known. All students received titles to their land grants from the General Land Office at LaPorte, Indiana.

Title: Treaty With The Potowatomi, 1826
Author: Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, Commissioners and Sixty-Three Chiefs of the Potwatomi
Publication: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pot0273.htm
Text: To each of the following persons, Indians by birth, and who are now, or have been, scholars i n the Carey Mission School, on the St. Joseph’s, under the direction of the Rev. Isaac McCoy , one quarter section of land, to be located under the direction of the President of the Unit ed States; that is to say: Joseph Bourissa, Noaquett, John Jones, Nuko, Soswa, Manotuk, Betsey Ash, Charles Dick, Susanna Isaacs, Harriet Isaacs, Betsey Plummer, Angelina Isaacs, Jemima Isaacs, Jacob Corbly, Konkapot, Celicia Nimham, Mark Bourissa, Jude Bourissa, Annowussau, Topenibe, Terrez, Sheshko, Louis Wilmett, Mitchel Wilmett, Lezett Wilmett, Esther Baily, Roseann Baily, Eleanor Baily, Quehkna, William Turner, Chaukenozwoh, Lazarus Bourissa, Achan Bouri ssa, Achemukquee, Wesauwau, Peter Moose, Ann Sharp, Joseph Wolf, Misnoqua, Pomoqua, Wymego, Cheekeh, Wauwossemoqua, Meeksumau, Kakautmo, Richard Clements, Louis McNeff, Shoshqua, Nscoten ama, Chikawketeh, Mnsheewoh, Saugana, Msonkqua, Mnitoqua, Okutcheek, Naomi G. Browning, Antoine, St. Antoine, Mary; being in all fifty-eight.

Monday, September 9, 2024

Oskaboose / Oshkahboos

Peter Oskaboose/Oshhahboos was born c1869 in Ontario. It is unclear if he had one or several wives named Mary.

In her 2015 dissertation,"News From School, Language, Time, and Place in the 1890s Indian Boarding Schools in Canada", Jane Griffith tells of children lodged with different families while on tour

"Another form of past coupled with present found in newspapers included Shingwauk Home’s tableau performances, which displayed students past and then present. Tableaux typically exhibit actors frozen in action, sometimes imitating a famous painting or scene. In the nineteenth century, tableaux (often historical, allegorical, or patriotic) were sometimes featured at the end of a play and also served as a popular parlour game (Durham, 1998, p. 76; Glassberg, 1990, pp. 16–20; Pavis, 1998, p. 377). Normally in a tableau, actors delivered a presentation and then remained frozen at the end, attempting to embody the stillness of a painting. In Shingwauk Home’s renditions students moved silently and sometimes spoke and sang. Wilson toured tableaux of students on several occasions and wrote about them in Our Forest Children."

"One tableau routine Wilson described in the school newspaper toured in late 1887 through Western Ontario, with stops in Sarnia, Walpole Island, St. Thomas, Kingston, London, and Montreal. The show at Carleton Place (near Ottawa) attracted an audience of 500 and required an unexpected second show (Our Forest Children 1.9:4)."

"Each [billeter] take one Indian to their homes for the night. One could have great tall Snayamani from North West, another can have Charlie Baker from St. Joe’s, another little Gracie from Walpole Island for the other. Peter Oshkahboos, the boy who draws so well from Serpent River. The other, Smart, the bootmaker, and little Negaunewenah . . . another, Jane Samproon, the clever tailoress"

Peter Oshkahboos would have been about 18 in 1887.

Daughter Florance was born in 1892

Son Frank was born in 1894

In 1894 Peter signed the following treaty

Son Johnson was born 1 Mar 1896 in Cutler, Ontario

1901 Census

Oshkahboos, Peter, head, born 13 Sep 1868, age 32, fisherman, the family is Roman Catholic

Mary, wife, born 30 May 1876, age 24

Flosey, daughter, born 2 Nov 1891, age 9

Frank, son, born 18 Nov 1893, age 7

Johnson, son, born 1 Mar 1896, age 5

Sylvester, son, 1 Aug 1897, age 3

Daughter Sarah was said to be born about Jun 1899 (died 1916 age 7 years 4 months), but is not in the 1901 census.

Daughter Seraphine was born 20 Jul 1903 in Sault Sainte Marie, Algoma, Ontario. Her mother's name is given as Mary Pagmakwosin.

Daughter Sarah died 14 Oct 1916. Her mother's name was given as Mary Seaman.

Son Johnson married Anne Shigawaga, year currently unknown

Son Sylvester married Hazel McFadden, year currently unknown

1921 Census - Spragge Township, Algoma, Ontario

Oskobose, Johnson age 25, born Ontario, tribe Chippeway

Annie, age 21, born Ontario, tribe Chippeway

Louis, age 4 months, born Ontario, tribe Chippeway

Son Russell was born 23 Dec 1922.

The Sault Star, 27 Dec 1922.

Johnson died 12 Feb 1928 in Spragge, Algoma, Ontario. Mother's name given as Mary Fineday.

======

The Sault Star 16 Jul 1943

Russell worked on the vessel Emperor, arriving at Superior [Wisconsin] on 17 Aug 1943, having left the port of S.S. Marie, Ontario. He worked on the fire crew, was hired on 8 Jul 1943. His age was given as 19, race as Indian. He was 5 foot 7 inches tall, 145 pounds.