Future wife, Mary Ann Allen, was the daughter of Moses Allen Naish-Ka-Ze and Anna. Mary Ann Allen had been baptized June 1846 by Reverand Peter Dougherty at Old Mission Church. Rev. Dougherty and Chief Ahgosa's band moved to Leelanau county in the 1852, building a church and school there. Mary Ann entered the Grove Hill School in 1853 and was received as a member of the church 6 Jan 1861.
Nah-we-ke-zhick is a grown man by 1864 when his first child, Mary, is born. She is baptized 18 Jun 1865 by Rev. Peter Dougherty of the New Mission church of Omena.
Nah-we-ke-zhick and Mary Ann's second child, son Moses, was said to be born 15 Dec 1865. However he was not enumerated on the 1866 annuity roll, so his birth was actually later.
On 20 May 1866 Nahwagezhik was baptized by Rev. Peter Dougherty of the Mission church receiving the name Peter Mark.
The 1866 annuity roll shows Naw we ke zho go #17, 1 man, 1 woman, 1 child, receiving $11.22 under Chief Aish quay go nay be.
While only Peter and Martin inherit the this land, there was a brother, Joseph Payshawnawquam, also called Joe Marks who inherited their father's land in Leelanau county. They also had a sister Mary/May-yaw-waw-che-won (later wife of Jacob Sogod).
On 10 Oct 1868 a third child, a boy, was born in Milton township. Unfortunately Mary Ann died the same day.
The baby is still living when the annuity 1868 roll is paid. Peter shows as #13 (Tay Baw Se Ke Zhick's band) Naw-we-ge-zhe-go - one male, zero females, 3 children, receiving $63.40.
On 1 Nov 1868 the baby died, at the age of 21 days. Mary and Moses are taken into their maternal grandparents' household.
Peter is alone on the 1870 Annuity Roll - #10 Naw-we-go-zhe-go - one male, no females, no children, receiving $15.30.
He is not found on the 1870 Federal Census.
Peter meets Anna Shaw-wa-da-se, daughter of Chief Isaac Shaw-wa-da-se, and the birth of their first child, Alfred, was recorded at Antrim county as occurring 2 Aug 1871.
Newspaper article
Elk Rapids Progress - Oct. 15, 1873
Daughter Jane was said to be born in 1873 (from census records).
Peter is next found in the land records when on 9 Sep 1878 Peter Mark-nah-we-ke-zhick purchased W 1/2 of NW 1/4, section 1, T29N R9W (Milton township, Antrim, MI)
Smallpox
Murder
Elk Rapids Progress - 10-27-82
"Last Saturday night word was brought to this village that a murder had been committed beyond Indian town. The Prosecuting Attorney, who was then at Traverse City, was informed of the fact arrived about 1 o'clock; Sunday morning. In the meantime Joseph P. Mullery, Christopher Hughes and Perry Stocking started for the scene and arrested Joseph Nah-sho-ga-she, better known as Joseph Wah-be-sa, and George Ge-wa-je-wan, son of Gabriel O-ge-ta-na-quet; more commonly called Pe-ton-ne-quet, as the ones supposed to have murdered Peter Pe-dwa-we-dam, commonly called Peter Ke-wa-din and nearly murdered Peter Mark Nah-we-ge-shig, usually called P.M. From one who saw them that night we glean the following facts: It seems that the four mentioned left this place late in the afternoon of said day, considerably under the influence of liquor, and when they arrived at Banninger's they filled with three pitchers of wine. Just before leaving the house, one of the accused called some one a vile name and Ke-wa-din remonstrated with him, and this is where the quarrel of the night commenced, although we learn that there had been previous ill feeling. When they arrived just this side of Hi Robinson's place some harsh words were interchanged when the two accused took heavy clubs from the fence and knocked the two others down and commenced beating them about the heads with their clubs. Conrad Bachi, who lives near where the crime was committed, said that the Indians would pound them and then run around and whoop. Hi Robinson informs us that on Saturday night about 8 o'clock, Mary Ke-wa-din came to his house and told him that the Indians were killing her husband. Hurrying to the spot he met Wah-be-ska and Geo. Pe-ton-ne-quet, each carrying clubs, and upon going down the road some distance, found Peter Ke-wa-din and P.M. lying on the ground. Throwing the light of his lantern upon them he says he never saw such a sight. Ke-wa-din was lying in a pool of blood, and his face all covered with blood. Mr. Robinson says he went immediately for water and bathed Pe-ton-ne-quet's [sic, should be Ke-wa-din's] face, and found a fearful wound just above his right eye, the skull completely crushed in. After bathing his face he says that he lived about twenty minutes. The next morning on going to the spot he found a piece of the skull, which is now in Dr. Bailey's possession. P.M.'s wounds were of such a serious nature that he was thought to be dying several times. His skull was crushed in above his right eye, in almost the same place that Pe-ton-ne-quet's [sic, should say Ke-wa-din's] was, and it is said he cannot live. The prisoners waved examination Monday, and on Tuesday they were taken to Bellaire, where their trial will come off before the Circuit Court next December."
(Source: Neumann, Glenn. Bay Breezes, Local History Unfolding, volume II. Elk Rapids, MI. Elk Rapids Historical Society, 1997.) [Last Saturday would be 21 Oct 1882]
The 1900 federal census of Clearwater Township, Kalkaska county gives the family as:
Mark, Peter, born Apr 1830, age 70, married 35 years, born Michigan, occupation - hunt and fish, owns not mortgaged house
Anna, wife, born Jun 1854, age 45, married 35 years, 11 children born, 10 children living, occupation - housework
Daughter Rosie was born 27 Jun 1900
Son Moses Allen died 21 Mar 1901 in Leelanau County. It is not known what became of Moses' sister, Mary.
Prior to 1905 (the date on the postcard) the following picture was taken of Peter and Anna.
Anna dies in Clearwater township on 25 Aug 1906.
The Durant Roll Field Notes, #10 page 46
The 1910 census of Clearwater Township finds P.M. living with daughter Lily, 29 and son-in-law Moses King, 32 and their children Lucius, 7, George, 5, Joshua, 3 and Amelia, 0.
The Traverse City Police Records 1911-1916, page 116, states that on August 8 (year unknown) "arrested Peter Mark for DD [drunk and disordery]. Put him in coop to sober up and let him out to leave town."
1912 Tax Records of Clearwater township show Peter owning land in the south 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of the NW 1/4 of Section 8.
The Philadelphia Inquirer of 10 Apr 1913 tells of Robert Piper and Josephine Mark's marriage license.
1917 Tax Records
1920 Federal Census - Clearwater township, Kalkaska county - P.M. is living alone.
P.M. died in Solon township, Leelanau county (visiting?) on 14 Jun 1926. While his age is given as 106 he was most likely in his mid 80s. He is buried at the Kewadin Indian Mission cemetery.
His obituary appeared in the The Kalkaska Leader and the Kalkaskian, June 17, 1926.
The Traverse City Record Eagle published on 27 Jun 1927 and 27 Jun 1928 the story of gold having been buried by Native Americans on the farm land now owned by John Steiner. While this is after Peter's death below are excerpts that mention not only Peter but his sister Mary Sogod.
The following was said about Mary:
Traverse City Record Eagle 27 Jun 1927 page 10. Part was reprinted 27 Jun 1928 page 26
SPIRIT OF OLD TORCH ON GUARD
BURIED INDIAN GOLD FOR WHICH WHOLE TRIBE DIED DEFIES ALL SEARCH
Descendants Of Warriors Rebuke White Men With Silence—Torch Lake Region Rich In Legend
The colorful Torch Lake region is the setting for many Indian legends left by the tribes whose descendants now have all but vanished. Most of the Indian tales are legends. Some are not. Some are trace back to a gleam of tact. One such is the weird tale of buried gold on an Antrim count farm whose soil has already yielded many Indian relics and skeletons, and its probability is strongly suggested by the reluctance of the last surviving Indians to talk about it.
For more than 20 years John Steiner, living back from the east shore of Torch lake, has been cognizant of the legend that on his farm was fought a battle between three Indian tribes for a huge sum in gold paid them for their lands by United States government. He has heard from the descendants of these Indians of the quarrel over the distribution of the cash—of how the tribe which held the money buried it on his place and then died to the last man rather than divulge the secret.
Certainly no piece of land in Antrim county has been turned over quite as much as John Steiner’s even before the story had got abroad that when the timer was first cut on it, Indians in the vicinity showed an odd interest in the proceedings. When John Steiner’s father, who bought the place 33 years ago, started to pull the stumps the nearby Indians squatted about him and watched the operations with the closet attention.
After the son came into the ownership of the place two decades ago a very old Indian, one Jacob Solomon, said: “No sell this land—ever. No sell him! Dig! Plow! Bimeby, when sweat run down face from hot summer sun, plow go bump. You find something. Then no more you sweat to plant the corn and potatoes. Other white men sweat for you. You have gold to pay ‘em for sweating!”
Solomon, sober, would say no more. But Solomon, in his cups, hinted enough at what the plow might bump into to cause Bud White and Maurice Corey—the latter a printer and antiquarian living in Bellaire—to seek and get Mr. Steiner’s permission to dig on his land. A skeleton was unearthed in a ridge. Scores of arrow-heads, broken tomahawks, metal ornaments and such have been found in the ground. But so far no treasure has been uncovered.
Although the story is out and is stirring the curiosity of the countryside. John Steiner and his friends are reluctant to talk. The Indians at nearby Kewadin, who are descendants of the two tribes that exterminated the tribe supposed to have buried the gold before making the division to which the others felt themselves entitled, are not any more communicative.
But two of the principal bankers of the county—William H. Richards of the Bellaire State Bank, and Charles B. Carver, president of the Elk Rapids State Bank, have heard the story. In fact, it was in the Elk Rapids State Bank recently that old John Wa-be-quah, Peter Wa-be-squah, his younger brother: Jacob Sa-got and several other Chippewas, were questioned through Peter Anse, a French-Indian interpreted.
“He say,” said the interpreter pointing to Peter Wa-be-squah, “that tribe tradition tell of brass kettles of gold buried long ago somewhere around here.”
“Ask him where?” commanded Mr. Carver
Chippewa talk intervened, with Peter shaking his head vigorously.
“He say he don’t know where,” was the English result of a heated coloquy.
While this was going on the older brother, John Wa-be-squah, reported to have been present with Jacob Solomon and later to have made similar remarks to John Steiner about holding the land in question for the sake of the gold, grunted loudly and shook his head at his younger brother in what seemed deep disgust at the white man’s attempts to wrest a secret from an Indian.
The Rev. J. C. Mathews, Elk Rapids Methodist pastor and also in charge of the Indian mission at the nearby village of Kewadin, was unable to induce the elder Indian to do more than grunt general denials that he knew anything about the hidden treasure.
“P. M. once told me,” said the clergyman refering to Peter Mark, a widely known Chippewa who died in 1925 at the age c.106 years, “that he remembered an Indian came who came from the Sacs, in Wisconsin, by way of the Straits at Mackinac, with news of great import to the Michigan Indians. He said it was common for the southern Indians to go the Straits and back for Government money and salt pork. They took the money and threw the pork away. ‘Stomach no like him’ P.M. said in reference to the discarded pork.”
“P. M. dead,” was old John Wa-be-squah’s only comment on the clergyman’s contribution to the inquiry.
P. M.’s sister is alive at the reputed age of 110 years. She is the wife of Jacob Sa-got, one of the Indians question at the bank.
Peter Wa-be-squah, another of the Chippewas at the cross-examination, was married many years ago to a daughter of the famous Chief Petoskey. She had been raised as his own by a preached (sic) named Doherty, who ministered to the Indians at Old Mission. One day, when the family was absent, the chief came to see her and told the young woman (who had always believed she was white) that she was his daughter. She immediately went to live among her own people and ultimately was married to Peter Wa-be-squah by the rite of the Methodist church.
Many years later Peter appeared before Roswell Leavitt, now 84 years old, but then the young and vigorous prosecuting attorney of Antrim county. His wife accompanied his as interpreter, and through her he explained that he wished a younger squaw and, in accord with the laws of his ancestors, was putting aside the older woman—the one, of course, who was doing the interpreting, without interpolating the slightest protest on her own behalf.
Peter, she explained, was making a preliminary inquiry as to his status before the with man’s law in case he carried out his informal divorce.
“Were you married by the white man’s or by the Indian law?” inquired the prosecutor.
“By the white man’s”
Peter, when he was told that he must abide by the under which the marriage was contracted, lived with the chief’s daughter until she died.
When the inquiry into the treasure trove supposed to be lying below the John Steiner acres adjourned from the bank to Peter’s cabin in Kewadin the investigators found there a second wife—white, well mannered and winsome. It is said that once she was married to a white man. She was being beaten by her husband when Petr, (sic) their neighbor, intervened, and won the lady’s admiration by punishing her mate with his fists. After the resulting divorce Peter, by that time a widower, married her, He is today a canoe maker and both he and his wife are highly respected in the county.
P. M.’s sister, who also was visited, looked and acted as old as her reputed 110 years and consequently was useless as a witness.
The Indian gold on John Steiner’s farm is not the only treasure trove which Antrim County holds. Somewhere in the east arm of Traverse Bay lies a schooner Icaded with a cargo of old-fashioned rum that antedates the advent of prohibition by more than half a century.
She was scutted by her smuggler captain when government boats were uncomfortably close in his wake. The spot was marked by a buoy. But a storm rose and unloosened the buoy’s mooring so that all trace of the schooner was lost. Tradition says that she lies in 750 feet of water some three miles north of Elk Rapids.
1928 version ends here.
Indian relics by the score have been found on the Steiner farm. That it was used for a considerable time as a camping ground is indicated by the numerous fire holes, plainly apparent even with snow on the ground. Excavation of almost any of these fire holes brings to the surface broken kettles, pottery and other utensils of aboriginal origin. The knoll near the Steiner farmhouse revealed the skeleton. In addition, arrowheads and metal ornaments of all kinds are abundant there. Successive plowing downhill for many years has reduced the knoll to a height of about 20 feet.
“My father,” admits John Steiner, “was told the story the first year he occupied that land. That was 33 years ago. It was common talk among the homesteaders in the vicinity.”
The fact that Steiner, who is a carpenter and has no practical use for the farm, has refused several proposed purchases, causes many to feel that he believes the treasure legend and will not part with the land until he has unearthed it.
Campers at Chippewa Trail Camp for Girls in Rapid City, which opened in 1927, were told a story about P.M. It was said he showed the first owner which land to buy, built a fireplace, and showed Lena Morgan (who was the camp director) how to do Native dances. His picture was said to hang in the lodge for years after.
The Leader and the Kalkaskian, 24 Oct 1957
Notice to Peter Mark and/or heirs of the sale of 1 acre, section 8, T28N R8W for $2.80 tax owed for 1953. Sold to Gerald L. and Juanita Urick.
Peter was photographed many times.
Additional photos of PM and family
FAMILY LINKS
Children:Mary Allen
Moses Allen
baby boy
Alfred Mark
Jane Mark
David Mark
Eugene Mark
Josephine Mark
Marian Mark
Susan Mark
Eliza Mark
Francis Mark
Rosie Mark
Father:
Pashawnaquong
Siblings:
Martin Noonday
Joe Marks
Mary Sogod
Copyright (c) 2016 Vicki Wilson
The news article mentioned " His skull was crushed in above his right eye, in almost the same place that Pe-ton-ne-quet's [sic, should be Ke-wa-din's] was, and it is said he cannot live. " and the scar / depression in his skull is visible in P.M.'s photos late in his life.
ReplyDeleteThis is my grandfather and his kin. Hey papa!
ReplyDelete