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Snow Blind!

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Snow Blind!
Transcription and commentary by Mark Smith, OHS secretary

The following letter was written by Reverend Peter Dougherty in March of 1852 to Walter Lowrie, former U.S. Senator and (starting in 1838) the corresponding secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Lowrie was Reverend Dougherty’s supervisor and Dougherty depended on the organization for funding for his mission. This letter records details of a trip to Little Traverse by Dougherty, made in the dead of winter. At this time the “Old” Mission on Old Mission Peninsula was slowly being moved to the “New” Mission in Omena, where a school would be built for local Anishinaabe children. (See here for the story of Grove Hill School) At the same time, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was also attempting to establish a mission in Little Traverse, which would be run by Andrew Porter, uncle of John Porter (see here for the story of John Porter). The site of the Little Traverse mission was on present day Spring Street in Petoskey.
It seems that Andrew Porter’s mother and sister would be staying with a Mr. Whiteside in Old Mission until such time as there was proper accommodation for them in Little Traverse. Mr. Whiteside was a teacher at Old Mission up until the summer of 1852. Interestingly, on Aug. 8th, 1851, Whiteside sold his melodeon to Mr. Joseph Dame of Northport for $60, who then either sold or gave it to Rev. Smith. This is the melodeon Mrs. Smith (Arvilla) would play at church services in the old log cabin/church/meeting house at The Bight, north of present day Northport.
Of particular interest here, as in all winter letters from the early settlers, is the extreme hardship and isolation of Michigan winters. Nothing was easy, everything was difficult, and yet they persevered, largely due to the wide range of practical skills each and every one had to possess to survive.

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Walter Lowrie, Esq.
Grand Traverse March 9th 1852

Dear Sir,
I started on the first day of March for the Little Traverse. We were three days going. It is quite a formidable job after a tiresome day’s walk to dig away the snow, some two and a half feet deep, and get a camp made and wood cut to keep comfortable when the thermometer is from 6 to 8 degrees below zero. What was the worst we had one cold bright day and having no protection for my face it was very badly burned & my eyes were very painful. I was affected with what they call snow blind. I suffered on my way back very much with my face and eyes. The worst is past and today I am quite comfortable. Today is the first I can see to read or write.

I found the lot they had reserved for the school a very good location and will send a draft to the land office by our next mail to make the purchase [Dougherty is referring here to the Bear Creek Mission, in present day Petoskey]. There is but 40 acres in the lot. This I would judge is enough at the present. If more is needed it can be purchased again. There is land adjoining South unsold which can be examined hereafter if desired. I will draw on three days for fifty one dollars and have it entered in your name as the other was.

The plan and estimated times of expense for the building here [in Omena] I sent by the last mail. As to the nails and glass, I am inclined to think both are produced west of New York cheaper than they can be purchased and shipped from there. Of this you can judge when I state the price at which they are offered here. Mr. Cowles [of Northport] offers nails at $5 per 100 lb. The freight from New York is about [smudge] /hundred, the expense of cartage there, the charges for wharfage & storage at Mackinac is some thing. The risk of breakage or loss is considerable and the freight from Mackinac here is three shillings barrel bulk. These have to be added to the cost price in the city. Knowing these facts you can judge from the prices at which the board can [be] purchased there which will be most economical.
Ten by twelve glass good quality (50ft) can be delivered here for 18 or 20 cents per box.

I find by the duplicate of a young man here [it is not clear to where Dougherty is referring, but it is probably Little Traverse/Bear Creek] who was supposed to have bought the lot adjoining the school lot. He has notify mistake [sic]. He has bought on the other side of the section line. I will therefore buy the 80 acres and if he desires to have the lot it can be transferred on his paying the money for it. I will probably have to draw before long to purchase a yoke of oxen. Mr. Porter’s mother and sister can find accommodation in the house with Mr. Whiteside or some other house here.

The following is a bill of lumber for the school house [in Omena]: Clipping below.  The entire letter can be downloaded here.https://digital.history.pcusa.org/

The Plot Thickens

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Iaweshowewekesik (Crossing the Sky), 1863. Iaweshowewekesik was a leader of the Gull and Rabbit Lake Ojibwe.

A few weeks ago fellow researcher Eliot Singer decided to collect and transcribe many relevant documents relating to the Grand Traverse region prior to the Civil War.   Amongst the treasures he found is a recently digitized slew of documents from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.  Eliot has put forth a Hurculean effort with these transcriptions, bringing together many previously separate threads of stories, and the result is that we have a new perspective on a number of things, hence the title “The Plot Thickens”.

Most of you know that my major interest recently has been uncovering the history of Grove Hill School, and there is much here from Eliot to expand and enrich that story line.  There are references to official policies regarding instruction of Indian students in their native language which deserve to be investigated. Eliot also believes that there may be a connection between the publication of the 1856 Ojibwe Bible and the subsequent falling out between Dougherty and Peter Greensky, an observation which deserves more analysis.

So here is the opening salvo of observations from Eliot, which may serve as an introduction and guide to his Mission Period, Grand Traverse, Epistolary documents. Comments will be left open on this post, in the hope that we may generate a few ideas and discussions.
Mark Smith

cover photo: Iaweshowewekesik (Crossing the Sky), 1863. Iaweshowewekesik was a leader of the Gull and Rabbit Lake Ojibwe.

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Some observations by Eliot Singer

A few months ago, I discovered the National Archive had finally digitalized many of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs microfilms of Agencies most relevant to Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Odaawaa. In the past, I have used the physical microfilms at the MSU library and found it too difficult to do more than copy short excerpts, except for a few items essential to my research. Now, with the luxury of sitting at my computer, enlarging, etc., I was able to browse, try to decipher, and transcribe. Around the same time, the Presbyterian Archive letters from Reverend Peter Dougherty became easily available.

            The result is that I became addicted to seeing how a number of story lines, some of which I was previously unaware, played out. So, I ended up transcribing and compiling extensively, mostly letters, hence the title Mission Period, Grand Traverse, Epistolary. My hope is people will first read it as a whole, like you would an epistolary novel, noticing all the intrigue, intertwining narratives, and character complexities.

            But of course, this is also a resource for further research and analysis. I have incorporated some of this material to cover the Mission period for an update to my analytical Oral and Witten Histories of Odaawaa and Chippewa Settlement of Northwest Michigan. There is also much that has me wondering, and I am sure there is more others will notice that I’ve missed. Just a few examples:

1) The published 1836 Treaty contains only the version amended by the Senate. Having access to the original, plus the “assent,” signed at Mackinac a few months later, is illuminating in many ways. I was intrigued to see one “Chieftainess” among the assent signatories. There are also some things that don’t make sense. I have doubts that the Oshawun Epenaysee who signed the treaty in Washington was really the minor chief, Shawun Epenaysee, probably within Akosa’s band, of Grand Traverse, rather than the major chief of Grand Island, otherwise missing. I believe the handwriting for the signatures is that of Augustin Hamlin, who would have known those from L’Arbre Croche well, but not necessarily others. This also raises the question of who gave the names (for this and other treaties). There was great reluctance to state personal names: “If a name has to be given, say to be put to some document, and the man is asked his name, he will not give it; but, after a long period of hesitation and embarrassment, he will indicate some other man who will tell his name” (Rev. Joseph Gilfillan, “The Ojibways of Minnesota,” Collections of the Historical Society of Minnesota, ix, 1901, pp. 111-112). If Hamlin (or Schoolcraft or Hulbert), only knew names second or third hand, mistakes would have been easy to make. There is also a very difficult to decipher signature for Grand Traverse, on the assent, beneath Aish Kwaygwonabee—“Nanens Ugomo [?]”—with Akosa missing. I wonder if this was alterative name for him, perhaps Ininiins Ogimaa (current orthography), Little-man Chief—he was referred to as “the young chief.”

2) Mark Smith and I have been trying to figure out more about Nagonabe, who was Chief of the Cat Head band when Reverend Smith visited in 1848 and became associated with Wakazooville. But there was no Cat Head band in 1839, and the only person with that name on that annuity list was a member of the Manistee band, of which Kewaygooscum was chief. Nagonabe had signed the 1836 assent, identified as from Grand Traverse. Reverend Smith noted for May 7, 1851: “Went to Nagonabes to see about the difficulty between him and Kewaguiskum—he said he did not know that Kewaquiskum struck him—perhaps he said he fell into the fire, he said he had no hard feelings toward him—he was not badly hurt…report says he is going to kill Kewaquiskum then he & his Band flee to Canada but he denies any evil intention.” In 1854 Nagonabe’s departure for Canada was one of the death blows to Wakazooville. Kewaquiskum must also have gone to Canada, because Smith’s entry for October 21, 1857, reads: “entered the selection of Kewaquiscum Chief of Manistee Band & 2 or 3 of his people   they have lately returned from Canada.” So, this is where historians sometimes need to speculate (speculations are not facts!). My speculation is that Nagonabe was the leader of a splinter faction of the Manistee Band and there was bad blood between him and the chief. Splits within bands, leading to the formation of new bands, were commonplace.

3) Enjoy the spat between the Johnstons and Dougherty (and his Presbyterian allies). Spoiler alert! William later sends his daughter (paying tuition) to Grove Hill. In the late 1850s, William, in need of a job, goes after his buddy Augustin Hamlin and his white wife, who did not speak “Indian,” was hired as a teacher.

4) Dougherty (virulently antagonistic to Papists) was moved from Old to New Mission in the Eagle, which I believe must be the schooner belonging to ardent Catholic, Peshabe. Despite chiefs and many others of Grand Traverse bands having signed a petition complaining of how, with their money, priests and ministers had bought land in their own names, apparently the first annuity funded purchase at New Mission (not just of mission property) was registered as by Walter Lowrie.

5) In 1856, a translation into Ojibwe of the entire New Testament was published. One impact seems to have been that Dougherty lost control of the message.

6) A. J. Blackbird took to using that as his official name. Folks at Grand Traverse knew him as Jackson Makaté-binési (modern orthography). He seems to have been the instigator behind petitions in the aftermath of the 1855 treaty seeking changes to education and was in need of a job.