Cheboigan Band aka Burt Lake Band of Indians

The Cheboigan Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians were a northern lower Michigan historic Band of Native Americans living on Lake Cheboigan until 1900
Cheboigan aka Burt Lake Band of Indians
Background
Noted historian Dr. Helen H. Tanner (PhD-history, University of Michigan) placed the historic Cheboigan Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians at their ancestral homeland on Lake Cheboigan (now Burt Lake) as early as 1768. Dr. Tanner's authoritative work titled, The Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History (1986), also had the Mackinac Band of Indians village located on the north side of the Straits of Mackinac (near today's St. Ignace)in that same time period. Southwest of the Mackinac Straits in 1768 she placed another Ottawa (Odawa) Band village at L'Arbre Croche along Lake Michigan. The Cheboigan Band's settlement was known as Indian Village and was located southeast of Fort Michilimackinac along the Inland Water Route from Little Traverse Bay northeast to Cheboygan's Duncan Bay in Lake Huron. By 1768 it was quite common that Native Americans and French fur traders had intermingled to produce a Metis Culture of mixed blooded people in the Upper Great Lakes region. Mackinac Island was the center of the fur trading industry from 1750 through 1840's. It was also common for Ottawa and Chippewa Native people to intermarry. Their cultures were quite similar.(1)
Dr. Dennis Albert (PhD-horticulture, University of Michigan) conducted a 1986 study of Indian Point where the Cheboigan Band's historic homeland settlement called Indian Village was located. He titled his work, “The Natural Ecology and Cultural History of the Colonial Point Red Oak Stand." Dr. Albert found evidence of Native American existence on the peninsula now referred to as Colonial Point dating back to the 1300's. He found that beginning in the 1830's the residents of Indian Village began a pattern of girdling and burning trees in order to create open fields where planting of corn, potatoes, and squash could take place. From the 1830's through 1900 the Indian Village residents were farmers, fishermen, hunters, gatherers, and makers of maple syrup. Their horticultural methods also helped to create a favorable environment for the growth of a large stand of valuable red oak. This oak was ready for harvest by the 1940's.(2)
Federal Recognition
The Territory of Michigan grew quickly after the completion of the Erie Canal linking the Great Lakes with the port of New York City. By 1836 the United States federal government knew it was time to negotiate a treaty with the Ottawa and Ojibwa (Chippewa) of northern lower and the upper part of Michigan. Local Indian Agent Henry Schoolcraft, of Mackinac Island, brought to Washington D.C. a hand selected group of Native village leaders, one or more from each of the Bands. Along with them came French-Indian interpreters to make sure that both sides understood what they were about to negotiate. It was the policy of President Andrew Jackson at that time,(elected in 1828 and 1832) to remove Native Americans from their eastern homeland to west of the Mississippi River. The Ottawa and Chippewa of Michigan did not want this to happen, and the knew by 1836 that European settlers were quickly invading their homeland and there was no way to stop them. Many of the separate Ottawa and Chippewa villagers were in debt to the fur trading companies who had given then credit for supplies (in turn for furs). The 1836 Treaty of Washington was signed by the Cheboigan Band's Chief Joseph Chingassimo in Washington. He negotiated for 1000 acres of land on Lake Cheboigan where his Indian Village was located. It was his understanding and that of federal negotiator Henry Schoolcraft that this 1000 acres was to be "preserved Indian land" for perpetuity. (3)
Besides the 1000 acres for the Cheboigan Band of Ottawa & Chippewa, the 1836 treaty negotiations included federal payment for the lands ceded to the government by means of yearly annuity payments to each separate Band (village). Also, school houses and school teachers were to be provided, as well as agricultural equipment, and instructions on good farming skills. Government blacksmiths and shops were to be located in the ceded land areas (13,600,000 acres total),and medical services were to be provided. Federal Indian Agents were to be assigned to make sure that the treaty provisions were carried out by both sides.(4)
The 1836 Treaty of Washington was ratified by the Senate of the United States and proclaimed in place on May 27, 1836. That meant federal recognition for the Cheboigan Band of Indians and their Chief Chingassimo. The Constitution of the United States stated that all Indian Treaties were to be treated as the "Supreme Law of the Land." It also stated that only Congress and not the states could make treaties and deal with individual Indian tribes or bands. Only the President, or members of his executive branch negotiated treaties, and only the Senate could then ratify or reject them. Once a treaty was ratified, only Congress could terminate the legal contract (treaty). In a 1831 Supreme Court ruling, Justice John Marshall stated that the federal government was to be a guardian of treaty signing Native American bands or tribes and that made such political units "domestic dependent nations." Marshall also ruled that there was a guaranteed "trust" relationship between a treaty Band or Tribe and the federal government. That first, any uncertainties in Indian treaties should be resolved in favor of the Indians. Second, Indian treaties should be interpreted as the Indians signing the treaty would have understood them. Finally, Indian treaties are to be liberally construed in favor of the Indians involved. (5)
When the 1836 Treaty of Washington was finally ratified by the Senate, it did so only after a change in the language took place by the Senate. This change was not favorable to the Cheboigan Band or other Ottawa and Chippewas Bands of the Michigan Territory. Certain Jackson supporters added an Article 2 to the wording which basically stated Michigan Bands of Indians could only remain on their land for the next five years (until May 1841) unless at that time the United States would grant them the right to stay. Chief Chingassimo and other Ottawa and Chippewa leaders had no say in the language change. They had signed the document prior to the Senate changes and had no recourse. Not trusting the United States and the treaty's wording, Chingassimo and others left Indian Village to take up residence in Canada on Manitoulin Island. By 1841, Chief Joseph Kie-She-go-we was the village leader of the Cheboigan Band. (6)
Cheboigan Band Status after 1836
Indian Village, on Indian Point, in the Maple Bay area of Lake Cheboigan was listed in Tanner's Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History as in place in 1768, 1810, and following the War of 1812 in 1830. Though many other northern Michigan Bands of Indians fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812, the Cheboigan Band remained neutral. The May 1841 deadline of five years came but there was no federal government action to remove or to officially declare the Cheboigan Band's land status at Indian Village. It was clear from the notes of Henry Schoolcraft, the Mackinac Indian Agency Superintendent and federal official in Michigan for the Office of Indian Affairs, that when he negotiated the 1836 treaty he meant for the 1000 acres on Lake Cheboigan to be the Indian Reservation of the Cheboigan Band in perpetuity. That is how he interpreted the wording that Chief Chingassimo signed, and that is how Chief Chingassimo and his French -Indian interpreter August Hamlin Jr. believed the intent of the wording to mean. After Jackson left office in March 1837 the administration of Martin Van Buren no longer pursued the previous Indian Removal policy. The Bands of Indians in the new state of Michigan were basically forgotten. Then other provisions of the 1836 Treaty of Washington were also forgotten. By 1855, the Michigan Bands were asking for a new treaty to be negotiated. Mackinac Indian Agency Indian agents did serve the Cheboigan Band located iland on Lake Cheboigan but not on a regular basis. It was too hard to travel inland at that time. Most Band's villages were located on the shore of one of the Great Lakes.(7)
Cheboigan Band Buys Their Homeland
After the May 1841 deadline for removal or official notification for permission to stay (provided in Article 2 of the 1836 treaty) had passed, local Catholic priest Father Frances Pierz urges Chief Joseph Kie-She-go-we to use the annuity money that his Band members had been receiving to buy outright their ancestral homeland from the federal government. This would ensure that they would be able to stay on their treaty land as rightful owners of the land parcels. Mackinac Indian Agency Superintendent William Richmond agreed with the idea and offered to take the $355.00 offered to the Ionia, Michigan General Land Office to purchase the six parcels of land on Indian Point where the farm fields and cabins of the Cheboigan Band were located. Following the precedent established earlier by Michigan Governor John Barry, Superintendent Richmond (the Office of Indian Affairs federal official) wrote the language himself on six land patents issued to Chief Kie-She-go-we of the Cheboigan Band of Indians. Richmond had written land patents in 1848 for the Calhoun County (Michigan) Band of Pottawatomie with Governor Barry's approval. Richmond in that instance wrote, 'In trust to Governor John Barry and his successors in office for Chief Mogwago of the Calhoun County Band of Pottawatomie.' From 1848-1850 the six land patents for the Cheboigan Band were written with Governor John Barry's approval simply as,'In Trust to the Governor of Michigan and his successors in Office for Chief Kie-She-go-way of the Sheboygan Band of Indians.' The intent in both cases was to preserve the ancestral homeland of the two Bands in perpetuity.(8)
1855 Treaty of Detroit
Following John Barry's and William Richmond's departure from their respective official offices, the various Ottawa and Chippewa Bands of northern Michigan decided to remedy some of the problems created by the 1836 Treaty of Washington. While each year, beginning in 1837, the annuity payments were being made (20 years in length), the other provisions of the negotiated treaty were not being met. One major source of irritation for both the Chippewa Band of the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan area, and the Grand River Ottawa Band was the wording
used by Henry Schoolcraft in the title of the old treaty. He had stated the treaty was between Henry R. Schoolcraft, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the Ottawa and Chippewa nations of Indians, by their chiefs and delegates. There were no Ottawa and Chippewa Nations of Indians in Michigan. There had never been such a political unit. Every Ottawa and every Chippewa Native American was and had been a member of a Band living in a separate village with n o one central Chief of leader. That was the number one change the 1855 leaders wanted to make in the 1855 Treaty. It was done so in Article 5 of the 1855 Treaty of Detroit. Treaty journal notes reveal that federal treaty negotiator George Manypenny, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, had it written that 'the tribal organization of said Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, except so far as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this agreement, is hereby dissolved.' The intent was to remove the earlier 1836 mistake in language of one Ottawa and one Chippewa Nation.
The 1855 Treaty of Detroit agreed to by Joseph Assagon, Cheboigan Band villager and chosen spokesman for the Band, in Section 7 of Article 1 set aside 'For the Cheboygan band, townships 35 and 36 north, range 3 west.' This was exactly were the ancestral homeland of the Cheboigan Band on Lake Cheboigan had been located since 1768. Treaty journal notes indicate that federal negotiator George Manypenny (the Commissioner of Indian Affairs) negotiated the land parcels with the intent that they were to be an Indian Reservation and to be tax and debt free for perpetuity. On July 2, 1856, Joseph Assagon, on behalf of his fellow Indian Village residents (21 log cabins) on Indian Point, signed the legal document at the Ottawa (Odawa) village of Little Traverse Bay in the presence of Michigan's Mackinac Indian Agency Superintendent Henry Gilbert (who negotiated the treaty along with George Manypenny, French-Indian interpreter August Hamlin Jr., and Andrew Blackbird. Blackbird was a well respected Native American who was educated in English speaking and writing.(9)
After the Treaty of Detroit
From 1855 through the 1880's, and on into the 1890's, the Cheboigan Band of Indians led lives as farmers, gatherers, fishermen, hunters, community laborers, and were staunch backers of the United States government. During the Civil War, Indian Village residents Joseph Webwetum, Moses Hamlin, Antoine Demean, Simon Kie-She-go-we, Simon Sanequaby, and Joseph Assagon fought for the Union Army. Assagon, the signer of the 1855 Treaty, died while in that Army. Kie-She-go-we and Saneqauy were members of the famous Michigan Company K Sharpshooters. Indian Village was self-sufficient during this time period with the small Band totaling 24 families and less than 100 individuals. With full knowledge of the true intent of the 1836 Treaty, and 1855 Treaty language, as well as, the true intent of the language used by Mackinac Indian Agency Superintendent William Richmond when writing up the six land patents, no taxes were due on the reservation property. And, those six parcels could not be taken for debt. However, local land speculators tried various methods to have the Cheboigan Band vacate their increasingly valuable waterfront property on Lake Cheboigan that was then referred to as Burt Lake.
Summer tourism in northern Michigan was developing rapidly and the Indian Village Reservation occupied land on Burt Lake that could be developed for high profits.(10)
The Burt Lake Burn-Out of 1900
By the mid 1890's land speculator and Cheboygan banker John McGinn had purchased tax titles to the six parcels of land at Indian Village. He did this after both Burt Township and Cheboygan County officials failed to heed the tax exempt status of the land by both treaty and by being 'In trust to the Governor of Michigan.' Federal and state officials failed to actively check the Treaty journals, notes, and personal papers of those officials who had negotiated the 1836 and 1855 Treaties, as well as the notes and official papers of William Richmond and Governor John Barry. Cheboigan Band members and their leaders knew the factual truth regarding the status of their lands but to no avail. Circuit Court Judge Oscar Adams issued a writ of assistance based on no factual knowledge of the land's status and that write was executed by Cheboygan Sheriff Fredrick Ming on Monday afternoon, October 15, 1900. The log cabin belongings of 19 Cheboigan Band families were placed along the side of the road and their cabins were illegally set afire with the help of kerosene. John McGinn had come to claim his sought after prize, the Indian Point peninsula on Burt Lake. He did it in both an illegal and an immoral way and was never brought to justice for his act.(11)
Result of the Burn-Out
With no where to go, the 19 Cheboigan Band families dispersed to various locations with what belongings they had left. Some families went west to Brutus, Michigan, Pellston, Michigan and on to Cross Village and Middle Village. They took up residence with friends or family. Other Burned-Out families walked northwest to a spot now referred to as Indianville where a small number of former Cheboigan Band members had farms and cabins. Some families stayed in tents, while others moved into the Indianville homes with relatives or close friends. Immediately following the Burn-Out measures were taken by Cheboigan Band leaders to obtain legal restitution for their cabin and land seizures. These actions were of no avail until June 1911 when the United States Justice Department under Attorney General George Wickersham initiated legal civil action against John McGinn. The title of the lawsuit read-The United States of America as Guardian of the Cheboygan Indians (complainant)vs John W. McGinn (defendant)and was in litigation until May 1917. At that time, using non-factual information as the base for his opinion, federal district Judge Clarence Sessions ruled in favor of Mcginn's right to take the land via tax title. The Justice Department failed to appeal the case. The Office of Indian Affairs forgot about the Cheboigan Band of Indians until they petitioned the federal government in 1935 to be allowed to re-organize themselves under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The Cheboigan Band petition was never recognized by the Office of Indian Affairs and on May 29, 1940 Indian Affairs Commissioner John Collier officially stated 'there will be no further extension for Organization under the Indian Reorganization Act in Lower Michigan.' None of the Michigan Indian Bands who had signed the 1836 or the 1855 treaty were to be recognized as officially existing in Michigan as a Congress affirmed Indian political unit. From 1934 until 1972 only four non-treaty signing Indian Bands existed in Michigan, only one of them in the lower peninsula. In 1972, 1980, and 1994 four northern Michigan Bands of Indians who had signed the 1836 and 1855 treaties were federally recognized by either Congressional action or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, the Burned-Out Cheboigan Band of Indians who lost their ancestral homeland specified in two treaties, and by six 'In Trust' land patents, have yet to be re-affirmed as a federally recognized Michigan Indian political unit. The state of Michigan initiated state recognition in 1985.(12)

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