The following is the 15th of a series of book excerpts the LCO News will feature from local author, John Dettloff. The excerpts will be from his new book.
Detloff has lived on the Chippewa Flowage, near New Post, for over 50 years. His family has had a small resort just east of New Post for 56 seasons and for 40 years he has been writing historical articles about the flowage, tribal history (especially Old Post), old guides, old resorts, and fishing.
His new book called Whispers of the Past, A History of the Chippewa Flowage, released on November 1st, gives a comprehensive history of the flowage going back to the fur trade era.
According to Detloff, the book profiles in great detail the people of the "Chippewa Basin" (the area that became flooded by the flowage) and talks about the 300 plus people who were affected by and displaced by the flowage. There were probably 250 plus tribal members and nearly 100 non-tribal members that were affected.
From the Book:
With more than two hundred and fifty people listed as residents of Pahquahwong during the turn of the century, deciphering who they all were and having enough pages in which to talk about them all is clearly an impossible task. However, there are enough available records, photographs, and remembered tales echoing from the elders who have departed into the spirit world to present a most telling portrait of a people that, hopefully, will never be forgotten.
About two miles southwest of the Thayer Hotel, within the wooded hills of the sugarbush at the headwaters of Blueberry Creek, were the allotments of several Pahquahwong chiefs and headman, whom were among the first to receive their allotted lands in 1881. This is where Chief Blueksy, Chief O-ga-be-bin-ens, Chief Shaw-bo-ge-zhig, and Be-bo-ko-way all had their lands. There is no way of knowing if they all lived on their allotments but, because most people selected their own allotments on lands that they were already living on, there is a good chance that this was where they lived.
Chief Bluesky (O-ja-wash-kog-i-jig)
Perhaps the most noteworthy of all the Pahquahwong leaders was Chief Bluesky, whose father and grandfather before him served as chiefs in Pahquahwong. Bluesky’s grandfather, Chief Bebamikawe (which means “tracking animals”) was one of the village chiefs when the explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft made his way through the area back in 1831. And Bluesky’s father was Chief Gwiwizensish (which means “Bad Boy”), who was listed as Chief on the 1843 annuity rolls. By 1854, Chief Bluesky had taken on the mantle of Chief, as evidenced by the fact that he was one of the Chiefs who signed the Treaty of 1854.
Chief Bluesky’s Ojibwe name is O-zhaw-waw-sco-ge-zhick or O-ja-wash-kog-i-jig. Indian names are spelled phonetically, so their spelling often varies. There are no records indicating when he was born, but it was likely sometime between 1800 and 1820. O-ja-wash-kog-i-jig had two brothers, Soze and Baddis, and two sisters, Mashabakwe and Bemosadum. He was married twice and had sired a total of eighteen known children. Many of the key families of Pahquahwong are either descended from or have married into his family.
Chief Bluesky’s first wife was Ni-gani-gi-ji-go-kwe – the daughter of Chingwanakodam and Sagimakwe – with whom he fathered nine children: Oginiwigijig in 1842, Bimwewegijigokwe in 1846, Ni-gani-gi-ji-go-kwe in 1848, Anakwad in 1850, Baptiste in 1852, Dadjiga (Annie) in 1856, Gijigokwe (Emma) in 1858, and a daughter named Gwetabikwe and son named Bineshi, who both died young.
In reviewing Chief Bluesky’s children from his first marriage: Ge-ne-wa-ge-zhig (or Oginiwigijig), his eldest son and next in line as the hereditary chief, had married three times. Bluesky’s eldest daughter, Bimwewegijigokwe, married Bimosegijig (Dick Potack), with whom she had a daughter named Ni-tami-gi-ji-do-kwe, also known as Elizabeth Potack. Bluesky’s daughter Ni-gani-gi-ji-go-kwe (Josephine Bluesky) married Sege-ne-gay, the son of Eniwisse and Opinikwe, and they had a family of eight children together. Bluesky’s son Anakwad married Nakajiwe and they had eight children together; however, some of his family members met with a very tragic end. Another of Chief Bluesky’s sons, Baptiste, married a woman named Sagimakwe (Julia Martel) and they had six children together. Chief Bluesky’s daughter Annie married Joe Potack, Dick’s half-brother. Another daughter of Chief Bluesky’s, Emma, married Antoine Denomie and together, they had nine children. Emma and Antoine’s daughter Annie married Thad Thayer’s oldest son, Charles Thayer. Chief Bluesky’s first wife died around 1894.
Chief Bluesky’s second wife was Sagigwanebi – the daughter of Bapiio and Eshpaio – with whom he had nine children: Gwekabikwe, a daughter; Sasidjiwan (Frank Bluesky); Wa-bish-ki-bi-nes (Charlie Bluesky); and six other children, all of whom died before the age of twenty. Their names were Bimosekwe, Mindimoie, Bemosadum, Ogabeadokwe, Charlotte, and Louis Bluesky.
Regarding Chief Bluesky’s children from his second marriage: his daughter Gwekabikwe married George Barber, with whom she had a daughter named Annie around 1883. At about the time she was born, her father, George, was found frozen to death at Butternut Lake. Bluesky’s son, Sasidjiwan (Frank Bluesky) married twice. After separating from his first wife, he wed Wabanakamigokwe (Maggie Kadook) and they had a girl named Annie. Annie married Alex James – the son of Joe James and Maggie Headflier – and they had four children together, one of whom was Elizabeth James Barber… the mother of Gaiashkibos, the well-respected Lac Courte Oreilles tribal chairman during the 1990s.
Another of Chief Bluesky’s sons from his second marriage, Wa-bish-ki-bi-nes (Charlie Bluesky), married Ni-go-be-min-se-kwe (Mary Moustache), the daughter of Charlie Mustache and O-ba-ba. They had three children while living in Pahquahwong: Louis Bluesky in 1898; Mary Libbie Bluesky on August 22, 1900; and Florence Bluesky on August 12, 1902. Charlie Bluesky, who worked as a laborer, died in about 1904 at the age of thirty-three. Libbie Bluesky later married Thad Thayer’s son Frank “Connie” Thayer, who later built a resort on the Chippewa Flowage, known as Bow and Arrow Resort.
Chief Oga-be-bin-ens
Chief Oga-be-bin-ens was another Pahquahwong Chief who owned an allotment in the hills near the headwaters of Blueberry Creek. Oga-be-bin-ens was born around 1826, the son of Chief Ginojens. Oga-be-bin-ens’ younger brother was Dedakoki. On September 21, 1883, Oga-be-bin-ens contracted with the firm of Dobie & Stratton to have timber cut on his allotment, during which time 1,872 logs were cut and banked totaling 427,070 board feet, earning him $2135.33 before expenses. Oga-be-bin-ens married Sha-gi-na-si-kwe, with whom he fathered four daughters named Giweiashikwe, Wasajibikokwe, Adjidjakons, and Banaja. Their family all resided in Pahquahwong.
Chief Shaw-bo-ge-zhig
Another Chief whose allotment was near the allotments of Chiefs Bluesky and O-ga-be-bin-ens, was Chief Shaw-bo-ge-zhig. With his father (Omadagami) and grandfather (Netesagido) before him both serving as Lac Courte Oreilles Chiefs, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig was listed as a Chief as early as 1861 on the tribal annuity rolls. Born around 1836, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig married Wa-si-kwa, with whom – between 1855 and 1886 – he had ten children: five daughters named Anogijigokwe, Gonabaien, Bimweweshkamokwe (Mrs. Bill Miller), Ni- ba-wi-gi-ji-go-kwe (Mrs. Alex Slater), No-no-gi-ji-go- kwe, and five sons named Man-ji-go-pa, Mis-kwa-des (George Sky), Ka-ge-ga-be, Wa-gi-now-gi-wang, and an unnamed boy.
During the winter of 1887-88, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig contracted to have 337,590 board feet of timber cut on his allotment for $6.50 per 1000. After earning $2194.33 and paying the labors costs of hiring a crew to cut and haul the timber, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig ended up making $1097.17 profit for himself. That is equivalent to more than $31,000 today! In November of 1889, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig’s wife (Wa-si-kwa) became very ill, with him dutifully keeping a constant vigil over her… knowing that she wasn’t long for this world. She died on November 27, 1889.
One of Pahquahwong’s most memorable characters, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig was remembered for his skills as an exuberant ceremonial dancer and for the colorful costumes that he wore when he performed during the 1890s. Regarding his everyday apparel, if the weather was not frigid, he was known to wear only a breechcloth, long shirt, and no moccasins… dressing in the old traditional Indian fashion.
In 1897, one of Shaw-bo-ge-zhig’s daughters, No-no-gi-ji-go-kwe, died at the age of twenty-two. Although he inherited her 80-acre allotment along the south edge of Pokegama Lake, it is not known if he ever used it. Around 1904, Shaw-bo-ge-zhig died and went off to the spirit world to reunite with his wife who had passed away fifteen years earlier. After he died, his three surviving children – Bim-we-wesh-kam-o-kwe (Mrs. Bill Miller), Ni-ba-wi-gi-ji-go-kwe (Mrs. Alex Slater), and Mis-kwa-des (George Sky) – inherited their sister’s allotment from their father. Shaw-bo-ge-zhig’s son Mis-kwa-des (George Sky) married Emma Isham on December 15, 1913. Perhaps they made their home on that property.
Shaw-bo-ge-zhig’s daughter Bim-we-wesh-kam-o-kwe (also known as Nosh-ka-chi-na-gon or Pim-wa-wis-con-o-kwa) was born around 1858 and married a white man from New York named William Miller. Going by the Christian name of Mary Miller, she was listed on the 1880 census with her husband as having three young children: a girl named Jennie and two boys, Samuel and Michael. That census also indicated that they may have been living in the southeastern part of the area, possibly in the vicinity of Bishop’s Bridge.
In 1881, Mary Miller received a 51.52-acre allotment on the southeast corner of the bend of the West Fork of the Chippewa River, in the heart of the village of Pahquahwong… on the same property which Thad Thayer’s trading post had been occupying for the previous fifteen years. During the winter of 1882-83, Mary Miller contracted for some of the timber on her property to be logged off, where she had 153,350 board feet cut and banked and earned a top dollar at a rate of $7 per 1000 for her timber. Because Mary’s property was right on the West Fork, there were minimal hauling costs, so the profits that she earned were enough to build the Millers a fine home, buy herself a yoke of cattle, make her free from debt, and give her the balance of her earnings of $409.50 in gold.
That coming summer, the Millers made plans to plant potatoes, corn, and put in 6 acres of grass. A new home was just what Mary and Bill Miller needed, because over the next eighteen years they had seven more children: Emma, in 1881; Je-na-da, a girl, in 1882; Abi-no-ji, a son, in 1884; Hattie, in 1887; Minnie, in 1889; Clyde, in 1897; and Jeanette, in 1899.
On April 15, 1903, after Mary and Bill Miller’s daughter Hattie married Ollie DeBrot, she and her new husband built a house a short distance from her parent’s place, on a high ridge overlooking Pokegama Creek. This is where they started their family. Hattie and Ollie had three children: George DeBrot (in 1904), Ethel DeBrot (in 1911), and Earl “Chick” DeBrot (in 1914). They also adopted a girl named Mary Germain. Ollie worked both as a logger at the lumber camps and as a fishing guide on the river, taking out anglers who were guests at his brother DeBrot’s Pahquahwong Camp.
Once DeBrot’s sons, George and Earl, were old enough, they both became fishing guides like their father. Earl was given the nickname of “Chick” after Willie “Chicken” Martell, a World War I veteran who was a bugler in the army. Martell lived in The Post and it was not unusual, on a quiet evening, to hear him playing taps or reveille on his bugle. “Chick” DeBrot later married Phyllis LeMieux, and they had six children together. Hattie divorced Ollie by 1920, at which time she was working as a teacher for the Hayward Indian School. During the mid-1920s, Hattie was living with World War I veteran Archie LaRush, with whom she had two children named Evelyn and Riley. Hattie later married George James after he and his wife Mary DeBrot divorced.
One of the neighbors that Hattie and Ollie DeBrot had while they were living together near Pokegama Creek was Charles Thayer and his wife Delia (Isham). Charles and Delia had a nice little farm on a small rise to the west of Pokegama Creek, halfway between Hattie’s place and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. Besides working on the farm, Charles also worked doing common labor and logging. Charles and Delia had four girls during the 1890s, Ida, Lucy, Minnie, and Hattie. Charles later separated from Delia and, in March of 1909, married Chief Bluesky’s granddaughter, Annie Demonie. They had no children together. Charles, born in 1870, was Thad and Mary Thayer’s oldest son, and he died on July 30, 1930.
