Shabbily Treated: The Pottawatomie of Kewaunee County

Lands west of the bay of Green Bay that were owned by the Indians are noted on this pre-1851 map of Northeast Wisconsin. Kewaunee appears as Kewahne, Gibraltar is located in today's Kewaunee County rather than Door, and Wolf River, today the Ahnapee, is written as Wools River. A look at place names reveals both Indian and French heritages though the Pottawatomie seem only to be reflected in Pottawatomie Island, now known as Washington Island at the tip of Door County.

Long before the white men arrived in what is now Algoma, it was the site of a small Pottawatomie village called An-An-api-sebe, an Ojibwa word meaning "Where is the river?" Since the Pottawatomie who inhabited most of the western shore of Lake Michigan belonged to the Three Fires Tribes, which included the Ottawa and Ojibwa, words and culture blended somewhat as they intermarried. The name was descriptive. Just as today's lake shore residents coming home in fogs look for their driveways, the Pottawatomie looked for the river over 160 years ago.

Pottawatomie Indians were the inhabitants of what is now Algoma when the three first white families took up residence in the summer of 1851. It didn't take long before the white man outnumbered the Indians who lived on the bluff above the river's north side. Early Wolf River housewives such as Jane Warner, Elizabeth Hughes or Mary Jane Tweedale would often be surprised to see Pottawatomie such as Chenaub, Pawco-waupee or Quetetke at their doors with hands extended looking for a "big eat." Orrin and Jane Warner's children played with the Indian children and, from all accounts, the two cultures got along well. At least in Wolf River.

It isn't only today's tourists that enjoy Crescent Beach. It was a Pottawatomie stop too. Historian George Wing wrote about the dog feasts where as many as 200 men and their families gathered in the area to celebrate, just as families and friends host reunions and picnics generations later.

Approximately 200 acres on the west bank of the East Twin River in the south part of Section 29 in the Town of Carlton was a common planting ground used by the Pottawatomie of Door, Kewaunee and Manitowoc Counties.  Each spring people from various camps met to plant corn, squash, beans and other vegetables. The site was so vital that the chiefs appointed a sub-chief to supervise those who stayed during the growing season to care for the fields, working with wooden tools. In the fall, they again met to carry the produce back to their individual camps.

Wing also writes that with the coming of the white man, the Indians feared the loss of their land. It was a fear well founded. Kewaunee County was not the scene of atrocities Indian people experienced in other places, but they were shabbily treated.

Andrew Vieau, son of trader Jacques Vieau and a brother-in-law of Solomon Juneau, patented the Indians' acreage in 1847 in order to hold it in trust for them. The following year Vieau gave the land to the chiefs. In 1853, Vieau gave the Indians another piece of land and as late as August 3, 1859, he wrote to County Treasurer Luther Hammond asking about taxes due in Township 22. There were questions.

The Indians continued to cultivate the land on which they lived, believing the deed from the white man's government protected them. Whether they didn't understand or just didn't know they were required to pay taxes was something that does not appear to have been investigated. Settlers determined to get the rich Indian land allowed the Indians to neglect their taxes. Land sharks took out tax deeds and told the Indians to get out.

An early Ahnapee Record indicates Edward Decker eventually bought land from the Indians after a portion of it was sold for taxes. When Decker sold land to other whites, the Indians did not readily leave. After John Axtell was given the deed to the planting grounds in 1858, the Indians were evicted.They had cultivated the land for so many years and threatened violence. In response, Sheriff Woyta Stransky led a posse to drive the Indians off. Some moved into Montpelier for a year before moving to lands along the Wisconsin River. Others moved into northern Wisconsin. Kewaunee County lost a rich heritage.

U.S. Indian Agent A.D. Bonsteel of Fond du Lac had one of his letters reprinted in an 1859 Enterprize* after Governor Alexander Randall had called his attention to complaints against the Indians of Kewaunee County. Bonsteel passed off Randall's complaints saying the Indians in question were Pottawatomie who were "roving and strolling about" and not under his jurisdiction. But, Bonsteel said, he would forward complaints to the Indian Department in Washington, D.C. What happened then is anyone's guess.

The Pottawatomie have been gone from Kewaunee County for most of its 161 years of existence. There are places in the woods of Carlton where some say there is a feeling of reverence. There are places where pointing trees are still maintained. Burial grounds are remembered. The Pottawatomie are gone, they are not forgotten.


Note: *Spelling until 1865.
Map is in the author's collection.