General 4 — https://ottawatribe.gov/

Notable Moments in Ottawa Tribal History

The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma has a long and storied history. Ours is a legacy of resilience and strength.

A full page image of the Treaty of Greenville signatory page

Treaty of Greenville

On July 28, 1795, Ottawa tribal leaders were in the midst of negotiations for the Treaty of Greenville that formally ended the Northwest Indian War.

Facing the invasion of their lands by settlers and military forces of the newly formed United States, Natives of the Great Lakes region united, and they resoundingly defeated the campaign of Josiah Harmar in 1790 and army of Arthur St. Clair in 1791. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, however, the Native alliance faced defeat, and the Ottawas and other tribes ceded claims to southern Ohio in the Treaty of Greenville.

The head Ottawa signatory was Au-goosh-away (or Egushawa)—a remarkable individual regarded as the successor to Pontiac, one of the most influential Native leaders of the late eighteenth century, and a powerful war leader. Although in his sixties, Au-goosh-away actively participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers and suffered severe injuries.

Tribal leaders often signed treaties with a symbol of their doodem or clan, and the Ottawa bands who resided near the Maumee River were generally of the Otter clan. Pontiac signed documents with an image of an Otter on its back, and it appears that Au-goosh-away did the same. This is a close-up of the Ottawa signature symbols from the Treaty of Greenville. This image shows Pontiac’s symbol used to sign a 1766 agreement.

You can read more about Au-goosh-away here.

Full images of the Treaty of Greenville can be found here.

Image courtesy of Ottawa Tribal member Dr. David Dry, PhD.

Removal

A painful piece of Ottawa history.

Removal from Ohio in the 1830s took place in three separate journeys—one by land and two others mostly by boat. Only a small handful died on the trips, but large numbers died in the years that followed. After each move, Ottawas had to struggle to adjust to new environments and lifeways, and many died of illness, malnutrition, exposure, or homesickness as a result.

The 1832 journey from Ohio was by land, and those Ottawas were under the leadership of Chief O-que-nox-cey. This first group also appears to have included Commechaw, who would later become chief in Kansas. Here, here, and here are images of muster rolls from the Past-Present-Future book. This trip was a harrowing winter journey the Ottawas made alongside a group of Shawnees and Senecas also being removed from Ohio. Mary Stockwell has a book that details tribal removals from Ohio.

The 1837 journey was under the leadership of Wau-soin-oquette, a son of Otusa and grandson of Pontiac. This group also appears to have included Lewis King (Be-mat-sa-win) and his children, including future chief Joseph Badger King. Also in this group was Thomas Wolfe (Waa-msh-quan), an ancestor of the Walter King family, and James Wind (Shau-bin-dah), also later a chief and a preacher at the Ottawa Indian Baptist Church. Joseph Badger King records his remembrances of this journey in an account many tribal members have likely seen.

Finally, the 1839 journey was under the leadership of Au-to-kee, a grandson of Pontiac, and his half-brother Notino (listed as No-tan-o) also seems to have made the journey at this time. As Indian names are often written with different phonetic spellings, it can sometimes make identification difficult. For example, John Wilson could be Pahtee on the 1832 roll, Pa-kee on the 1837 roll, or Pau-tie on the 1839 roll.

Removal from Kansas to Indian Territory took place mostly between 1867-1870 and featured small family groupings who made their way south after they sold their allotments and closed out their affairs in Kansas.

A few other sites of note are included on the map. Those who tried to escape removal to Kansas often took up residence on Walpole Island, now in Canada, and some Ottawas kept ties of kinship and communication with their kin there until well into the twentieth century. Finally, John Wilson, who led the effort to secure a new reservation in Indian Territory following the theft of Ottawa lands and trust funds in Kansas, died at the Osage Mission, what is now Saint Paul, Kansas, on his way south. His companions carried his body the rest of the way, and he is buried in the Ottawa Indian Cemetery.

Termination

A dark day--termination.

In the 1950s, the federal government decided it was time to “get out of the Indian business,” and as most Ottawas were economically and socially well-integrated into American society, the Bureau of Indian Affairs targeted the tribe.

Legislation was passed in 1956, and on August 3, 1959, termination of federal recognition became official. This 1958 image features Chief Guy Jennison (seated) surrounded by BIA employees—an accurate representation of the overbearing and paternalistic BIA of that era.

Dan Clay standing in front of the house of Ti-Wah (sometimes spelled Ta-wa). This house was the only structure within the confines of Miami when the town was laid out in 1891. Ti-Wah sold the place before taking an allotment closer to the town of Ottawa, and this log structure became the very first store in the new town. Ti-Wah is the father of Edward Keah.

A tragic murder and injustice

A dark episode in Ottawa history—the murder of Dan Clay.

Dan Clay was the son of Henry Clay (1834-1884; Ottawa Chief c. 1880), and Dan was unjustly gunned down in August of 1897 when he was around 23 years old.

In 1937-1938, a series of interviews were conducted with Ottawa tribal members by the WPA, and the interviewer asked about the incident. Their memories are included here, here, here, here, and here. The way they frame the murder tells us a lot. The narrators speak to how Dan fled compulsory attendance at Indian boarding schools, the injustice of the legal system for Indians, and how the lawmen who murdered him never faced punishment. Dan was killed only five years after allotment, so for whites streaming into the Ottawa reserve, Dan's murder served as a violent statement of their new authority over the territory.

Of those interviewed, Wilbert and Matilda are cousins, both children of white brothers who married Ottawas, Jane Edwards is a granddaughter of Chief John Earley and mother of artist Bronson Edwards, Annie King is wife of Chief Joseph Badger King, and John Bland is a Wyandotte Indian but familiar with what occurred.

Reinstatement

On May 15, 1978 the Ottawa tribe was restored as a federally recognized tribe. The Wyandotte, Peoria, and Modoc tribes were restored as well, and the image is from the celebration on May 21st.