The following is the 16th 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.
Be-bo-ko-way Potack
An important headman who was awarded his allotment in 1881 near the other Pahquahwong Chief’s lands, in the vicinity of the Blueberry Creek headwaters, was Be-bo-ko-way Potack. Be-bo-ko-way was born around 1826, the son of Wawiepin. Be-bo-ko-way was the half-brother of Joe and John Potack.
Early census records indicate that Be-bo-ko-way’s wife, Oga-ba-au-a-kwa-do-kwe, was twenty years his junior and was born around 1846. Because annuity records show that Be-bo-ko-way had two children by 1857, three by 1861, five by 1870, and four by 1877, either his wife was much older than the census records indicated or Be-bo-ko-way had his older children as a result on an earlier marriage. Be-bo-ko-way’s oldest daughter, Bi-son-i-ga-bow-i-kwe, was born around 1846; Hattie (also known as Annie) in 1863; Emma (also known as Mary) in 1870; Maggie in 1878, and another girl in 1887.
Be-bo-ko-way and Oga-ba-au-a-kwa-do-kwe’s children married several of Pahquahwong’s noteworthy residents. Their daughter Bi-son-i-ga-bow-i-kwe was married to Chiz-ui-aw. Their other daughter Hattie – who came to be known as Annie Be-bo-ko-way or Bo- do 2nd – was married to Antoine Denasha by 1886. They had a daughter named Mary who died around 1899 at the age of twelve. Be-bo-ko-way’s other daughter Emma – who came to be known as Mary Be-bo-ko- way – married Antoine’s younger brother Ben Denasha around 1888. Mary Be-bo-ko-way Denasha’s Indian name was Ni-ga-in-gi-zhi-go-kwe (or Gi-zhi-go-kwe, for short).
On October 15, 1883, Annie (Bodo 2nd) Be-bo-ko-way acquired her 86-acre allotment between the north end of Pokegama Lake and Desire Lake. It was a fine piece of property of rolling terrain that had three high ridges of land that were parallel to each other. The Chippewa Road went through her property, along the south edge of Desire Lake. On this property, Annie and Antoine Denasha built a large home and a barn on the highest of these three ridges, just off the north shore of Pokegama Lake.
Directly across the lake from Annie’s home was her sister Bi-son-i-ga-bow-i-kwe and brother-in-law Chiz-ui-aw’s home. There was another house on Annie’s allotment; perhaps her sister Mary and brother-in-law Ben Denasha were living there with their family. After Annie’s husband, Antoine, died on December 18, 1920, she remarried in about 1924 to a man named Prosper Guibord.
Even though the majority of Annie Denasha’s allotted land was flooded following the creation of the Chippewa Flowage, she chose to keep her property and not sell it to the power company. Annie was paid $1500 by the power company for the loss of her buildings and the portion of her land that had gotten flooded, later passing the remaining thirty-two acres of her allotment to her heirs. They kept possession of it until 1957, at which time they sold it for $5600… a land sale which gave them a good measure of security.
Be-bo-ko-way’s younger daughter, Mary, and her husband, Ben Denasha, had six children between 1889 and 1906: Esther (1889), Julia (1890), Alex (1894), Antoine (1896), Mary (1900), and Frank (1906). Mary DeNasha’s mother, Oga- ba-au-a-kwa-do-kwe, died around 1894, and her father, Be-bo-ko-way, passed away at the age of about eighty-two on November 26, 1908.
Mary Be-bo-ko-way Denasha’s husband, Ben, worked as a logger for many years, dying of pneumonia on January 5, 1907. After Ben died, Annie Denasha adopted her sister’s youngest daughter, Mary, so that she could help care for her. In December of 1917, young Mary moved to Chicago, where she secured a job as a house maid for a teacher named Anna Solner, who was caring for her elderly Norwegian father. On June 19, 1922, Mary Denasha married a man named Milo Meyer in Chicago, with whom she had two daughters (Milo and Merrel) and eventually moved out West. Mary Denasha Meyer passed away in October of 1976 in Wilmington, California.
In 1912, Mary and Ben Denasha’s daughter Julia had a child named John Hollen, whom Julia’s mother took into the household to help raise. Mary’s son Alex Denasha died in a car accident on July 15, 1926. Her other son Antoine, a WWI veteran who served with the U.S. Army, married Margaret Mustache, and they had five daughters and two sons.
Mary’s youngest son, Frank Denasha, married Frances Naviosh on November 12, 1929. Frances Navioch Denasha, the daughter of Thomas Naviosh and Julia Boyd, was born in Pahquahwong on September 16, 1913, and had many great memories of growing up in the village of Post. As a young girl, Frances often played in the big, grassy field by her grandmother Esther James Navoish’s house, located just downhill from the old church. Esther, who had married a man named James Naviosh, was Indian Jim’s daughter and John James’ sister.
Growing up at The Post, Frances knew all of the neighbors by name and where they lived, having recalled:
“There used to be a hill that was covered with blueberries. Jim Bennett had a farm, where he raised cows and chickens… just enough for milk and butter. John James had a log house and a big garden. He had a big family. Indian Jim, had a big frame house. Pat Baker Sr. built frame houses in the village.”
Regarding the times when her family would make camp on the Chief River to harvest the wild rice, Frances had said,
“The rice beds were on one side of the river from where Herman’s Landing is now located. The river was narrow then. We used to camp near the pine trees there. My brother shot the rice birds, and my mother cooked. I went fishing for breakfast. Oh, that was good. Everything was handy right there. All the people came from Post and camped there to harvest wild rice.”
In 1920, Ben Denasha’s widow, Mary Denasha, began working as a housekeeper for Frank H. Thayer at his home in Winter, Wisconsin, where she boarded with her two youngest sons, Frank and Antoine. Frank H. Thayer’s wife Julia DeNasha had recently died (on March 7, 1920), so he needed the help. Apparently, Mary did a great job, because by 1924, she and Frank H. Thayer were married. Mary passed away on April 4, 1928, and her husband Frank Thayer died on November 24, 1953.
(To order a copy of John Dettloff's new book, send a check or money order for $29.95, plus $6 shipping and 5 1/2% sales tax, made out to Trails End Publishing and send it to: Trails End Publishing, 7431 N Flowage Rd., Couderay, Wi 54828.)
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