History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of their prominent men and pioneers.

INDIAN HISTORY OF THE TWO COUNTIES.

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so greatly reduced in numbers, and so much scattered and
demoralized by the ravages of a fatal pestilence among
them, that their trade was no longer of any value. The
owners of the trading-station then removed to Owosso,
where Mr. B. O. Williams yet resides. He still speaks the
Chippewa language almost as fluently as English. He unquestionably knows more of the Indian history of this
region than any other person, and it is principally on information furnished by him that this account of the Indians
of these two counties is based.
In 1830 the Indian villages or settlements on the Shiawassee River were those of Kechewondaugoning, on the
reservation of the same name, and Shigemasking (meaning
"soft-maple place"), near Shiawasseetown. The former
was the summer residence of Wasso, the principal chief of
the Shiawassee bands. These were the only villages on
the river within the boundaries of Shiawassee County.
Below, on the same stream, but a few miles north of the
county line, was the Chippewa village of Che-as-sin-ning or
" Big Rock," at the site of the present village of Chesaning.
This was a much larger village than either of those previously mentioned. Its people were under the chief Shermanito, who died in 1836 and was succeeded in the chiefship by Nokchikaming.
On the south branch of the Shiawassee, in Livingston
County, near its northern border, was a very small settlement of Indians at Assineboinaing (" Rocky Place").
This had in earlier years borne the name of Nabobish,
which was then also the name of its chief. His successor
was old Portabeek, who is yet recollected by residents of
that part of Livingston County. This settlement or village
was entirely abandoned by the Indians about 1830. Away
to the eastward, and nearly on the boundary between Genesee and Oakland Counties, was the village of Kopenicorning, situated by a small lake, which is yet known by the
same name. This was a village of the " Fisher tribe" of
Saginaws, of whom a few are still living in Genesee
County.
On the Looking-Glass River, in what is now the township of Antrim, there had been an Indian village of considerable size, but this had been abandoned prior to 1831.
Farther down the stream, on its northern bank, just above
the place which is now the village of De Witt in Clinton
County, there was still in existence at that time the Chippewa village of Wabwahnahseepee, of which the chiefs
were Wahbaskonoquay, or "Whitelocks," and his son,
Canorbway. This village was broken up soon afterwards,
and there are now few, if any, of even the oldest settlers
in Clinton County who have any recollection of the existence of an Indian village at this place, though the place
continued to be for many years a favorite ground for the
temporary camps of wandering parties of the Chippewa
bands. This was a well-known place to the early white

settlers, who called it the " Indian Green." Some four
miles above this, but on the opposite side of the river, at
Lowry Plains, there was another large and much frequented
camp-ground, and still others were found at different places
up the stream, in both Clinton and Shiawassee Counties.
On the south bank of the stream which the early French

traders called La Riviere du Plain, but which the Englishspeaking settlers named Maple River, was the village of the
chief Makitoquet, located on what is now to be described
as the northwest part of section 3, township of Essex.
This settlement remained and prospered (as much as any
Indian village can ever be said to prosper) for a considerable time after the coming of the first white settlers. There
were also villages of Makitoquet's people farther down the
river, in the present township of Lebanon (on section 14
and at one or two other points), but these were not as ancient as the one first mentioned; and they were, in fact,
more like camps than permanent villages, but were always
fully occupied during the sugaring season. The sub-chief,
Wintagowish, was a kind of lieutenant to Makitoquet.
The latter became a land-owner (having purchased land
from government) in Lebanon in 1837.
Passing from Makitoquet's village down the Maple River
to a point at or very near where the present village of Muir
stands, there would have been found at that time a settlement of Chippewas, mixed with Ottawas, all under the
authority of a chief named Cocoose. The name of this
chief was also the name of the village. West of this, on
the Grand River, at the place which is now Lowell, Kent
Co., was the chief Kewagooshcum's village, also composed
of Ottawas and Chippewas. Many miles farther up the
Grand River, on its west bank, in the present township of
Danby, Ionia Co., and near the west border of Clinton
County, was the village of Pe-shimnecon (Apple Place),
which was under the authority of the chiefs Dayomek and
Kekonosoway, the latter of whom was stabbed to death by
one of his own braves in a drunken brawl. This village,
unlike most of the others named, continued to be held by
the Indians as a place of residence until within recent
years.
A few miles south of the southern boundary of Clinton
County were settlements of the people known as Red Cedar
Indians, though they belonged to the Shiawassee bands of
the Saginaws. Their principal chief was the veteran
Okemos, and next to him in authority were Manitocorbway and Shingwauk, of the first two of whom further mention will be made.
"The various bands," says Mr. Williams, " all belonged
to the Chippewa or Saginaw tribe. We found them scattered over this vast primitive forest, each band known by
its locality or chief. They subsisted principally by hunting,
though all had summer residences, where they raised mindor-min (corn), potatoes, turnips, beans, and sometimes
squashes, pumpkins, and melons."
At or near all their villages, on the Maple, the LookingGlass, and the Shiawassee, there were corn-fields, which they
planted year after year with the same crops. The largest
of the corn-fields in all this region were those in the vicinity of Shermanito's village on the Shiawassee, now Chesaning, Saginaw Co., a little north of the Shiawassee County
line. Fields of considerable extent were situated midway
between Vernon and Shiawassee Town. Smaller ones were
found near the villages and camping-grounds on the Look

ing-Glass, the Grand, and Maple Rivers, as also at Kechewondaugoning, on the Shiawassee. At the latter place
there was a small Indian orchard of stunted and uncared