History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

135

to desist from his purpose of opposing the Government. He died
in Isabella county early in 1859, and was buried with all the ceremony attendant on the Indian funeral.
MACOSE.
Macose was an English half-breed. Notwithstanding his savage
associations, he retained that habit, peculiar to his parent on the
one side, of sounding the H where it should not be heard, and
of dropping it where it should be heard. On this account his language was amusing to the American pioneers, even as it resulted
unprofitably to himself. The people whom he met told him he
was an Englishman; he became convinced of the fact, and as soon
as he did, he determined to take unto himself the dusky Indian
girl, the daughter of the great chief Oge mawkeketo. the halfbreed and his full-blpod better half proceeded to England, where
the poor girl died after the fashion of the sympathetic Pocahontas.
What the end of the great Macose was is uncertain. If it were
no better than his life among the wilderness of the Peninsula, it
must be poor indeed.
MIZ-CO-BE-NA-SA,
or Red Bird, was the hereditary chief of the Indians of the Chippewas. Owing to his quiet disposition and his age, he permitted
the duties of his position to devolve on Okemawkeketo, even as
the latter invested the grotesque Tonadogamaw with similar
powers subsequently. Old Miz-co was a lazy Indian for many
years previous to his death, the heroic achievements of his earlier
years were forgotten, and he sank to a most degraded position
among the people who once called him " chief."
SINNENCE, THE WAR CHIEF.
This warrior lived at the Indian Mills on the Chippewa river in
Isabella county. He was very popular among the Chippewas, and
was always received with honors by the Indians of the Ottawa and
Pottawatomie tribes. The village now known as Sinnence was
named after him.
TO-NA-DOG-A-NAW
was the head chief of the Chippewa nation. This honor belonged
to him on account of his great powers of debate, acute understanding and great prowess in the hunt. He was ugly in every sense.
He wore only a hunting shirt from April to September, and this
hung loosely from a hunch-back, which won for him the name
"Richard III."
0 KE-MAW-XE-KE-TO.
Oke-maw-ke-ke-to was not chief by hereditary title; but aware of
the high order of his accomplishments, his brother Indians con