TREATIES
By the ordinance of 1787 the civil authority of the United States was extended over the Northwest Territory. In 1805 Michigan was set aside as a separate territory. After the war of 1812 there was a great demand for land for speculative purposes. There was much intriguing and lobbying and great pressure was brought to bear upon the General Government to secure Indian lands in Michigan. In 1821 Governor Cass and Solomon Sibley were commissioned by the General Government to negotiate a treaty with the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawatomies and secure certain lands in Western Michigan. During the summer the commissioners met the Indians at Chicago, and on August 29 a treaty was completed and signed. By its terms the Indians ceded to the United States the lands south of the main stream of the Grand River, with certain small reservations for individual Indians and half-breeds and a few small tracts for the use of the tribe. In consideration of the cession the United States engaged to pay the Ottawas one thousand dollars in specie annually forever, and for a term of ten years to appropriate annually to the Ottawas the sum of fifteen hundred dollars to be expended in the support of a blacksmith, of a teacher, and of a person to give instructions in agriculture, and to purchase cattle and farming utensils. One mile square was to be selected on the north side of Grand River, within the Indian lands not ceded, upon which the teacher and blacksmith were to reside. The treaty was signed by Lewis Cass and Solomon Sibley on behalf of the United States, and on behalf of the Ottawa Indians, by Ke-wa-goush-cum, No-kaw-ji-guan, Kee-o-to-aw-be, Ket-wa-goush-com, Ket-che-me-chi-ma-waw, Ep-pe-sau-se, Kay-nee-wee, Mo-a-put-to, and Mat-che-pee-na-che-wish.MISSIONS
Soon after the treaty was negotiated Rev. Issac McCoy, an Indian missionary acting under the auspices of the Board of Managers of the Baptist Missionary Convention of the United States, visited Governor Cass at Detroit in behalf of the Indians, and to secure the management of the teacher and blacksmith who, according to the treaty, were to be sent to the Ottawas at Grand Rapids. Subsequently he was appointed to superintend the United States officers sent to carry out the provisions of the treaty. Governor Cass gave elaborate instructions, dated July 16, 1822, to McCoy, and directed that ardent spirits should, so far as possible, be kept from the Indians. John Sears, of New York City, was appointed teacher for the Ottawas, and Charles C. Trowbridge was commisssioner to make definite arrangements with the Indians for the site of a missionary station on Grand River. Sears and Trowbridge visited the Grand River Valley in the fall of 1822, and selected a site, after which they returned to Fort Wayne. McCoy visited the Valley the next spring, and on May 30, 1823, crossed Grand River near the Rapids. He found the Indians dissatisfied with the treaty and was received with anything but a hospitable welcome. The Chief was not in the village and nearly all the inhabitants were in a state of intoxication by liquor obtained from some traders. McCoy at once abandoned the expedition and returned to a mission which had been established on the St. Joseph River and which was called Carey. The next year McCoy visited some Ottawas on the Kalamazoo River and induced them to let him establish a blacksmith shop on the border between the Ottawa and Potawatomie territories. This modified the temper of the Ottawas for a time and opened the way for further negotiations. In November, 1824, McCoy, with several companions, left the St. Joseph River for a second visit to the Rapids of the Grand River.On reaching the border of the Ottawa country they found that the blacksmith shop built the preceding year had been burned by the Indians, who still felt unfriendly to the whites because of the Chicago treaty. On November 27, they reached Bun Lake, and camped upon its banks. The next day they were visited by Noonday, the Ottawa Chief of the Indian village at the Rapids, who, with some followers, was camping on the opposite side of the lake. McCoy found that Noonday was desirous of having a mission established at the Rapids, and the next day both the whites and the Indians raised camp and proceeded together towards Grand Rapids. On December 1 the river was reached and crossed. The same day McCoy selected a site for a mission, which was located just south of what is now the corner of West Bridge and Front Streets. The selection was afterwards approved by Governor Cass and confirmed by the Secretary of War. The site selected two years before by Sears and Trowbridge is supposed to have been several miles up the river, but the exact spot chosen is now unknown. The next day McCoy started on his return to the St. Joseph River, and was accompanied a portion of the way by Noonday. The next spring Mr. Polke, teacher, a blacksmith, and two or three others were sent to the Rapids by McCoy to open the mission, but they found a great majority of the Indians still hostile to the project and were obliged to depart without accomplishing their object. Soon afterward Polke returned to the Rapids and found a great change in the sentiment of the Indians. They expressed regret for their former action and wished to have the mission at once established. In September, 1825, farming utensils, mechanical tools and provisions were sent by boat down the St. Joseph River, along the Lake shore and up the Grand River to the Rapids, while McCoy, with several assistants, traveled overland to the same place. Permanent log buildings were at once erected on the site chosen the year before and the mission was fully established.
INDIAN VILLAGES AND CHIEFS
When the mission was founded there were two Indian villages at the Rapids. One was situated along the west side of the river, from West Bridge Street north; the other was in the neighborhood of what is now West Fulton Street, with its center near the corner of Watson Street and West Broad way. The South village was the larger and numbered three hundred inhabitants or more. It was presided over by a chief named Mex-ci-ne-ne, or the Wampum-man. He was an eloquent speaker and a man of influence among his people. The Indian Commissioners found him wary in negotiations and slow to accept their overtures. He was of an aristocratic, haughty disposition and was something of a dandy in the matter of dress. While at Washington to negotiate the treaty of 1836 he was presented by President Jackson with a suit of new clothes, of which he was very proud, and with it insisted upon having a high hat with a mourning badge. He was among the foremost of his people to adopt the white man's ways. His habits were good and he lived and died in the Catholic faith. In the year 1843 his existence was terminated by a sudden illness and his funeral was attended by nearly every citizen of Grand Rapids, white as well as red. Another Indian Chief living at the lower village was Muck-i-ta-o-ska, or Black-skin, who in his early years was an active foe of the Americans. He fought with the British in the War of 1812, and is said to have been the leader of the band who set fire to the village of Bufffalo during that war. He lived to a great age and died in 1868.
The Chief of the upper village at the Rapids was Noonday (Indian name Qua-ke-zik), a friendly, industrious Indian who always worked for the good of his people and was one of the first to obtain the favor of the whites. He was happy in his domestic relations and a man of excellent habits. Old settlers often speak of his fine physique. Fully six feet tall, well-proportioned and a noble looking man, he was well advanced in years when the Grand Valley was first visited by American settlers. He died at Gull Prairie in 1840, and a plain stone slab marks his grave. He also fought with the British in the War of 1812.
The Chief of the Flat River Indians was Cobmusa, or the Walker. He was the husband of three wives, and treated each with the respect and consideration due the consort of a mighty Chief. He had a family of twenty-two children. Aside fron the number of his wives, his morals were good. In personal appearance he was not the equal of his neighbors. He was a little below medium height and inclined to corpulency. In his last days he became a vagrant and a drunkard. His village was first near the junction of Flat and Grand Rivers and was one of the largest in the valley. It numbered three hundred inhabitants and upwards. In later days it was moved up Flat River to the upper part of the present village of Lowell.
At the Thornapple River, or Ada, there was a small band of Indians, of whom Ma-ob-bin-na-kiz-hick, or Henry Cloud was the Chief. Although of small Stature, he was a man of commanding influence with his tribe. He was on the most friendly terms with the whites, visited Washington, and was one of the leading spirits in the treaty of 1836. Up the Thornapple near what is now Whitneyville, there was the Caswon band of Indians, numbering about forty. Between the Thornapple River and the Rapids there were a few families who were under the authority of Canote, a chief who stood high in the estimation of the early settlers. Below the Rapids, at the mouth of Crockery Creek, was a small Indian village, of which Sag-e-nish or the Englishman, was Chief. As his name implied he was a great friend of the white man. At Battle Point, a few miles above Grand Haven, was another Indian Village, whose Chief was O-na-mon-ta-pe, or Old Rock. At Grand Haven and Spring Lake there was generally an Indian village. In Ionia county there were two Indian villages of importance on the Grand River. One was at Lyons, where the prairie was used as a corn-field for ages, and the other was near the mouth of the Lookingglass river. The latter was called Mis-she-min-o-kon, or the Apple Field. It was abandoned by the Indians at an early day. Among the Indians of the valley there were other chiefs than those already mentioned. There was Pa-mos-ka. a leading Chief whose home was many times changed, but who generally lived in the villages down the river, at Crockery Creek and Battle Point. There were Ke-way-coosh-cum, or Long Nose, and Wa-ba-sis, both of whom fell victims to Indian vengeance for the part they took in the treaties with the Whites. The former was killed in a drunken brawl by an Indian named Was-o-ge-naw. Each had come to Grand Rapids to receive his annual stipend on payment day and, having been paid, became intoxicated. They were sitting on the bank of the river, near the mouth of Coldbrook creek, when a dispute arose relative to the treaty, and Was-o-ge-naw seized a club and felled his victim to the earth with a blow that killed him on the spot. The matter was not investigated by the officers of the law because it was considered that he was executed in accordance with the Indian customs and ideas of justice. Because of the prominent part he took in the treaties Wa-ba-sis was exiled from his tribe. For many years he lived on the banks of a small lake in the northern part of Kent County. In an unguarded moment he was induced by his enemies to partake in a corn feast at Plainfield, where he was made drunk and then murdered. He was buried near where now is the Plainfield Bridge. The head of the body was left above the ground, and food and tobacco for many weeks were daily placed on the grave for nourishment of his spirit on its journey to the happy hunting ground. There is a tradition that Wa-ba-sis buried on the banks of the lake which bears his name a large amount of gold received by him from the whites for aiding them in the treaty of 1836, but it has never been found, although constant search has been made for it by the farmer lads of the neighborhood.
INDIAN NAMES
That the Indians were a poetical people is shown by their names of the rivers of Western Michigan. The St. Joseph river was o-sang-e-wong-se-be, or the Sauk Indian River. It was so named because, according to tradition, the spirit of a sauk Indian wandered along its banks. New Buffalo River was Kosh-kish-ko-mong, or the diving-kitten. The Paw Paw was Nim-me-keg-sink, which means the Paw Paw River. Kalamazoo is an English corruption of the Indian name of the river, which was Kik-ken-a-ma-zoo, or the Boiling Kettle, so named from its eddying waters. Black river was called Muck-i-ta-wog-go-me, or the Black Water. Macatawa is an English corruption of the same name. Grand River was called O-wash-ta-nong, or the-far-away-water, so named because it was the longest river in the territory. Thornapple river was called Me-nos-sogos-o-she-kink or the Forks. Flat River was called Coh-boh-gwosh-she, meaning the shallow river. The Indian name of Maple River was Shick-a-me-o-she-kink, which means Maple River. Muskegon is one of the Indian names of the country which has not been changed by the whites. It means the Tamarack River and was so called because of the number of tamarack trees along the banks. White River was called Wan-be-gun-gwesh-cup-a-go, or the-river-with-white-clay-in-its banks. Manistee means the-river-with-white-bushes-on-the-banks, and referred to the white poplar trees on its borders.
Source of this information: Historical Collections Michigan Poneers and Historical Society Vol.XXX Pages 178-183 1906.
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