Wabiwindego facts for kids
Wabiwindego (also known as Wobwindego, Wobiwidigo, or Wabaningo) was an important leader of the Grand River Band of the Odawa people. His name means "White Wendigo" or "White Giant." The Ojibwe people called him Waabishkindip, which means "White-Headed." Wabiwindego lived in the area that is now the U.S. State of Michigan. He helped negotiate a major agreement, the 1836 Treaty of Washington, with the United States government. This treaty was important for Michigan becoming a state. Many modern towns in Michigan, like Lowell, Whitehall, and Montague, grew from villages he led.
Wabiwindego shared leadership of his band with another leader named Keewaycooshcum until 1821. That year, Keewaycooshcum was sent away to Manistee because he sold Odawa land without the tribe's permission in the 1821 Treaty of Chicago. Later, Wabiwindego shared leadership with his son-in-law, Cobmoosa.
Contents
The 1836 Treaty of Washington
The Erie Canal was completed in 1825. This made it much easier and cheaper to travel by ship from the east coast to the Great Lakes. Before this, there were about as many Odawa people as settlers in Michigan. Most settlers lived near Detroit. But after the canal opened, many more settlers moved to western Michigan. Within ten years, the Odawa were greatly outnumbered, with 25 settlers for every one Odawa person.
By 1836, there was a worry that another Odawa group, the L'Arbre Croche band, might sell the Grand River Odawa's land to the United States. To prevent this, Wabiwindego and other Grand River Odawa leaders wrote a letter to President Andrew Jackson. They said they would not give up any land or move their people west of the Mississippi River.
However, after a very hard winter and a year-long outbreak of smallpox, the Grand River Odawa were in a weak position. In March 1836, Wabiwindego led about 24 young Odawa men to Washington, D.C.. They wanted to stop a possible treaty between the L'Arbre Croche band and the United States. Wabiwindego went instead of the tribe's main leader, Noahquageshik, to show they were not too eager to sell land.
Why the Odawa Agreed to the Treaty
During the talks in Washington, Wabiwindego and the Odawa agreed to sell their lands along the Grand River and the eastern coast of Lake Michigan to the United States. They agreed because the government offered them several things. These included:
- Permanent reservations (special lands set aside for them) in western and northwestern Michigan.
- Regular payments called annuities.
- Rights to hunt on the land.
- Access to a blacksmith.
- Western farming tools.
- Other benefits to help them adjust.
Wabiwindego was named a "first class" leader in the treaty. He was set to receive a $500 payment each year for his tribe.
The Treaty Changes
What Wabiwindego and the Odawa did not know was that President Jackson and the United States Senate would not approve the permanent reservation part of the treaty. Both Jackson and the Senate wanted all Native American tribes to move west of the Mississippi River.
After the Odawa left Washington, the Senate added a five-year limit to the Michigan reservations. This meant the reservations would not be permanent. When the Odawa met later that summer on Mackinac Island to discuss and reluctantly sign the changed treaty, Wabiwindego refused to sign it. Within a year of this treaty, Michigan became a state.
How Wabiwindego's Villages Became Towns
Wabiwindego's largest village was located where the Grand River and the Flat River meet.
The Founding of Lowell
In 1828, Wabiwindego welcomed a young settler named Daniel Marsac into his village. Marsac built a trading post there. A small community of settlers grew around this post. In 1847, Marsac bought the land where the village was and planned it out as a town called "Dansville." In 1851, a post office was set up there and named "Lowell." The community was replanned in 1854 and renamed after the post office. It officially became a village in 1861.
Today, the Lowell Area Historical Museum often recreates the Odawa village. They also show the meeting of Wabiwindego and Marsac in a special event called “The River of Time.”
The Founding of Whitehall and Montague
Wabiwindego also had a small farming village on Lake Michigan. It was near the mouth of the White River. This place was called Waabgankiishkbogong, which means "The Place of White Clay." In 1837, Wabiwindego invited two lumbermen, Charles Mears and his brother Albert, to stay at the village. Charles Mears set up a lumber camp there. This camp grew into the towns of Whitehall and Montague by the 1860s.
In 1861, Albert Mears returned to Whitehall and Montague. He told stories about his meeting with Wabiwindego. An article in the Montague Lumberman newspaper in 1876 shared Albert Mears' story, using the spelling "Wabaningo." Over the rest of the 1800s, Wabaningo became a well-known figure in the local stories of White Lake. People started calling the land near the old Odawa village the Wabaningo Flats. In 1897, a hotel called "The Wabaningo" was built nearby. In 1906, a local women's club built a recreation center called the Wabaningo Club. This club started a variety show in August 1909 called the "Wabaningo Jinks." A local post office branch also opened around that time, called the Wabaningo Post Office. A Boy Scout camp nearby, called Camp Wabaningo, was open during the 20th Century.
Death and Legacy
Wabiwindego died in the winter of 1837. This was during a very bad smallpox outbreak. The disease was so deadly that "almost without exception, every house [on the Grand River] has been literally a hospital, both among the natives and white inhabitants." After Wabiwindego's death, his son Shagwabeno became the new leader of the band.
In 1855, Shagwabeno and another of Wabiwindego's sons, Aishkibegosh, negotiated a new treaty with the United States in Detroit. This treaty created permanent reservations for the Grand River Odawa in Michigan. Today, the Odawa bands are organized as the federally-recognized Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians, which is currently seeking federal recognition.
