Susan Campbell's
Potawatomi Genealogy
Michikan Gishawata
Cathy Couch wrote:
I have been helping my Mother-in-law trace some of her family tree. We started with very, very little - her mother's maiden name, death certificate and the knowledge she was a woman of the First Nations, possibly near Parry Sound. I wrote, and wrote and wrote with no answer to various native organizations here in Canada. Frustrated I joined the Ontario Archives and began searching there. At the Archives were census records which gave me her parent's names and I found their parent's from that and also Band records from the area and I received permission to view a certain selection of them. They contained letters and documents that led back through history to Michikan Gishawata. From the letters I pieced together the following history (99.9% was in the documents - the emotional aspects I added).
My biggest gold mine was the Archives of Ontario and the Band records I was allowed to view. There I got actual letters written by Francis Pegamabow for James Nanabush Sr. According to Francis, James was also somewhat of a Shamman and made him a protection bundle that Francis carried into the World War with him (and his unit had no casualties even though they were in some VERY danagerous situations). Francis also wrote, for James, to some lawyers in the U.S. about a settlement with the U.S. government and had to relate some of James' family history - which is where I got most of my information.
I understand they were full Potawatomi, though some of the names may have been inadvertently changed as the stories I have were written by Francis who is Ojibwa.
I have been attempting to find translations for some of the names that I have. Most of the documents and histories that I have found contain only english translations of native names.
Susan, I am trying to locate paperwork or something tangible for my Mother-in-law to have. Additional information is that Michigan signed some treaty at some point but I'm not sure of the date to check. As one geneology site calls it, I seem to have run into a "roadblock". Perhaps someone you know might be able to point me in the right direction.
Thank you kindly for your time and patience.
Sincerely,
Cathy Couch
ccouch@idirect.com
Michikan Gishawata, whose wife was named Nowqudinocqua, lived at the largest native settlement near Fort Dearborn (later named Chicago but also known to the People as Chicagon) Their son and his wife also lived there along with their grandchildren. It was a good community and the People were gathering as it was Strawberrie Ripe Time. A time when families came together to harvest the bounty and enjoy each other's company.
The 'Long Knives' arrived on a day that was either Sunday or a prayer meeting and ordered the People away. They had no time to gather anything. One record even recalls that "the soldiers wanted all our nice clothes and homes for themselves."
At this point it is unclear what happened but the results were that some People revolted and Michikan Gishawata(a 2nd Chief) was murdered by the soldiers and his wife fled with the family that she could gather together.
At Goshigance Dibancing (Cat's Head Point) Nowqudinocqua's family now consisted of her son, daughter-in-law, grandsons Gagezhekekwong, Nanabush (either 5 or 8 years old at the time making his birth date around 1825-1829), Woonnahquot and Kegeoh. After waiting the year for the big canoes to be built they journeyed to Canada in 1833 with the "Mhecn" indians.
Manitoulin Island and then south. Gagezhedkekwong may have remained at the Island while Wonnahquot appears to have remained at Shawanaga. Kegegoh is thought to have returned to the U.S. and Nanabush finally settled at Parry Island.
The story of the family is a little sketchy for a long period. Nanabush (aka. James Jock and Kewedeen) gained an English first name of James. Additionally, at some point he also traveled to the U.S. for a period of time where he discovered that two of his sisters remained alive after the relocation but the reservation that they were living was not mentioned.
We also know that James found his wife, Shehahgozhequa - the sister of someone named Gimawage, during the "unknown" period. James and Lucy (as she was christianized) had a number of children . The oldest boy was James Jr. (believed to have been born in the U.S.) who grew up, moved to Shawanaga where he met and married Lucy Sky (his family has full-status rights). David, another son, is thought to have moved to the U.S. Where their other children, John, Joe, Abram and Jane went is completely unknown. Mary, Lucy and Sarah all remained at Parry Island.
Shehahgozhequa (Lucy) became a member of the Band Council at Parry Island. When she was unable to attend meetings her husband, James, went in her place (even though he was classified as a "non-status" indian - this puzzles me as he was a resident in Canada before the country was born).
Their daughter, Sarah, married an Abram Bigman who was originally rumoured to be from Moose Deer Point. Since the name of "Bigman" appears to be unknown there, I am inclined to suspect his family may have originated a little more westerly. In a 1901 Canadian Census he was listed as a Chippewa, though he really may have been Potawatomi.
Sarah and Abram had seven known children: Noah (b. May 21, 1866), Sophia (b. Aug. 20, 1890), Mary (b. Apr. 13, 1893), Hannah, (b. unknown), David (b. unknown) and Emma (b. May 3, 1896), Susan (b. unknown) all born at Parry Island.
Emma grew up and decided her name was nicer as Emily. She married a lumberjack named Ernest Johnson (also spelled Johnston) from Finland via Denmark. At this point in history, the Canadian government had a law that stripped Emma of her rights as a person of the First Nations since she married a white man. According to this law, Emma was somehow magically no longer native and her family was no longer permitted to be her family (via the agent of the reserve at the time). Emma and Ernest had to move.
They did. They moved to Toronto were they were blessed with a son named Roy and two daughters, Beatrice and Margaret.
These three children grew up hearing the cold hearts of other children taunting them about their "half-breed" state. It was certainly a hard life for them and their parents. With their mother dying while they were all still quite young, their father raised them with strict principles and they knew very, very little of the heritage of their mother.
If you are able to help Cathy either with the translation of family names or her quest for paperwork, won't you contact her? Her email address is: ccouch@idirect.com .
Susan
