Michigan Indian Tribes

Chippewa

At a very early period, Chippewa lived about the Sault St. Marie and on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. (See Minnesota.)

Foxes

Since the Sauk are known to have lived in Michigan at an early period, it is probable that the Foxes did also, but this is still uncertain. (See Wisconsin.)

Hurons

See Wyandot.

Kickapoo

The same probability of an early residence in Michigan applies to the Kickapoo as to the Foxes and for a similar reason. (See Wisconsin.)

Menominee

This tribe ceded its claim to a portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan in 1836. (See Wisconsin.)

Miami

The Miami, or a portion of them, at one time occupied the valley of St. Joseph River and other parts of the southern Michigan border. (See Indiana.)

Neutrals

Bands of the Neutral Nation extended, in the seventeenth century, into what is now southeastern Michigan. (See New York.)

Noquet

Meaning probably "bear foot," another name for the Bear gens in Chippewa. The Bear gens may have been prominent in this tribe.

Connections. The Noquet are thought to have been related to the Menominee of the Algonquian linguistic family.

Location. About Big Bay de Noquet and Little Bay de Noquet and extending across the northern peninsula of Michigan to Lake Superior. (See also Wisconsin.)

History. In 1659 the Noquet was one of the tribes attached the St. Michel. They were never ever prominent and were probably absorbed at a very early date by Menominee or Chippewa.

Population. Unknown. noted.

Connection in which they have become noted. The name Noqute is perpetuated in the two bays above mentioned.

Ottawa

The Ottawa belonged to the Algonquian linguistic stock and were related most closely with the Chippewa and Potawatomi. See Ottawa Location.

Potawatomi

Meaning "people of the place of the fire," and hence sometimes known as the Fire Nation.

Also called:

Atsistarhonon, Huron name.
Kúnu-háyanu, Caddo name, meaning "watermelon people." Ndaton8atendi, Undatomdtendi, Huron name.
Peki'neni, Fox name, meaning "grouse people."
Tcåshtalálgi, Creek name, meaning "watermelon people."
Wah-hō'-nā-hah, Miami name, meaning "fire makers."
Wáhiú¢axá, Omaha name.
Wáhiúyaha, Kansa name.
Woraxa, Iowa, Oto, and Missouri name.
Woráxě, Winnebago name.

Connections. The Potawatomi belonged to the Algonquian linguistic family, being most closely affiliated with the Chippewa and Ottawa.

Location. The ancient home of this tribe was evidently in the lower peninsula of Michigan. (See also Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin.)

Subdivisions and Villages

In the course of their later history, the Potawatomi became separated into several distinct bands but these do not seem to have corresponded to any old, well-determined classification.

Villages:
Abercronk, not certainly Potawatomi, in northeastern Porter County, Ind.
Ashkum's Village, on the north side of Eel River, about Denver, Miami County, Ind.
Assiminehkon, probably Potawatomi, In Lee County, Ill.
Aubbeenaubbee's Village, in Aubbeenaubbee Township in Fulton County, Ind.
Checkawkose's Village, on the south side of Tippecanoe River, about Harrison Township, Kosciusko County, Ind.
Chekase's Village, on the west side of Tippecanoe River between Warsaw and Monoquet, Kosciusko, Ind.
Chichipe Outipe, near South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind. Chippoy, on Big Shawnee Creek, in Fountain County, Ind. Comoza's Village, on Tippecanoe River in Fulton County, Ind. Kinkash's Village, on Tippecanoe River, Kosciusko County, Ind.
Little Rock Village, on the north bank of Kankakee River about the boundary of Kankakee and Will Counties, Ill.
Macon, location unknown.
Macousin, on the west bank of St. Joseph River, Berrien County, Mich. Mangachqua, on Peble River in southern Michigan.
Maquanago, probably Potawatomi, near Waukesha, in southeastern Wisconsin. Masac's Village, on the west bank of Tippecanoe River in the northeastern part of Fulton County, Ind.
Matchebenashshewish's Village, on Kalamazoo River probably In Jackson County, Mich.
Maukekose's Village, near the head of Wolf Creek in Marshall County, Ind.
Menominee's Village, on the north side of Twin Lakes near the site of Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.
Menoquet's Village, on Cass River, lower Michigan.
Mesheketeno's Village, on Kankakee River, a short distance above the present Kankakee in northeastern Illinois.
Mesquawbuck's Village, near Oswego, Kosciusko County, Ind.
Mickkesawbee, at the site of the present Coldwater, Mich.
Milwaukee, with Foxes and Mascouten, at or near the present Milwaukee, Wis. Minemaung's Village, near Grantpark, Kankakee County, Ill.
Mote's Village, just north of Tippecanoe River near Atwood, Kosciusko County,
Ind. Ind.
Muskwawasepeotan, near Cedarville, Allen Count , In
Natowasepe, on St. Joseph River about the present Mendon, St. Joseph County, Mich.
Nayonsay's Village, probably Potawatomi, in the northeastern part of Kendall County, Ill.
Pierrish's Village, on the north bank of Eel River, just above Laketon, Wabash County, Ind.
Pokagon, in Berrien County, near the west bank of St. Joseph River just north of the Indiana line.
Prairie Ronde, about the boundary of Cass and Van Buren Counties, Mich.
Rock Village in northeastern Illinois. Ind.
Rum's Village, about 4 miles south of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Ind.
Saint Joseph, a mission on St. Joseph River near the south end of Lake Michigan.
Saint Michael, a mission in southern Wisconsin.
Sawmehnaug, on Fox River, Ill.
Seginsavin's Village, on Rouge River near Detroit, Mich.
Shaytee's Village, probably Potawatomi on Fox River, Ill.
Shobonier's Village, near the present Shabbona, De Kalb County, Ill.
Soldier's Village, in northern Illinois.
Tassinong, probably Potawatomi, in Porter County, Ind.
Toisa's Village, on the west bank of Tippecanoe River, nearly opposite Bloomingsburg, Fulton County, Ind.
Tonguish's Village, near Rouge River in the southern part of Oakland County, or the northern part of Wayne County, Mich. Mich.
Topenebee's Village, on St. Joseph River opposite Niles, Berrien County,
Waisuskuck's Village, in northeastern, Ill
Wanatah, in La Porte County, Ind., a short distance east of the present Wanatah. Wimego's Village, on the north bank of Indian Creek, in the northern part of Case County, Ind.
Winamac's Village, near the present Winamac, Pulaski County, Ind.
Wonongoseak, probably Potawatomi, between the northern and southern branches of Elkhart River, apparently in Noble County, Ind.

Population. Mooney's (1928) estimate for the Potawatomi, as of the year 1650, is 4,000. Estimates made between 1765 and 1843 vary from 1,200 to 3,400,but it would seem that they must have averaged 2,000 to 2,500. In 1908, 2,522 Potawatomi were reported in the United States, distributed as follows: Citizen Potawatomi in Oklahoma, 1,768; Prairie band in Kansas, 676; and Potawatomi of Huron, in Calhoun County, Mich., 78. A few besides these were scattered through their ancient territory and at various other points. Those in Canada are all in the Province of Ontario and number about 220, of whom 176 are living with Chippewa and Ottawa on Walpole Island and the remainder, no longer officially reported, are divided between Caradoc and Riviére aux Sables, where they reside by permission of the Chippewa and Munsee. The United States Census of 1910 returned 2,440, of whom 866 were living in Oklahoma, 619 in Kansas, 461 in Michigan, and 245 in Wisconsin, while the remainder were scattered in 11 other States. The United States and Canadian Indian Office Reports of 1923-24 give 2,227 in Oklahoma, 803 in Kansas, and 170 on Walpole Island, Ontario, but those in Michigan are not separately entered. The United States Census of 1930 returned 1,854, of whom 654 were in Kansas, 636 in Oklahoma, 425 in Wisconsin, and 89 in Michigan. In 1937 there were 142 in Michigan, 311 in Wisconsin, 1,013 in Kansas, and 2,667 in Oklahoma: total 4,133.

Connection in which they have become noted. In the form Pottawatomie the name of this tribe is used as a designation of counties in Kansas and Oklahoma and a post township of Coffey County, Kans., and in the form Pottawattamie as the designation of a county in Iowa.

Sauk

At some time shortly before European contact the Sauk lived about Saginaw Bay and the present name of the bay is derived from them. They were probably driven beyond Lake Michigan by the Ottawa allied with the Neutral Nation. (See Wisconsin.)

Wyandot

After the disruption of their nation by the Iroquois these people lived for limited periods at several different points in the territory now included in the State of Michigan. They were temporarily at Michilimackinac, Detroit, and other places. (See Ohio.)

Additional Resources

• History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan

• The Indian Tribes of North America

• Potawatomi Indian History

• Henry Schoolcraft, Thirty Years with Indians

• Indians Who Served in the War, World War II

Notes About the Book:

Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.

Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.

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