HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



picture of him and his two sisters, taken at Flambeau. Young Chicog, as the
writer was informed, died at Battle Creek, Mich., while serving in the army
during the late war. His sisters are probably still living at Flambeau.
   The writer has been able to obtain some very interesting material and
pic-
tures of old Potawatomi Indians and chiefs as well as a collection, at present
exhibited at Madison, of most interesting Potawatomi relics. He is much in-
debted to Dr. A. S. Pflum of Milladore for kind assistance in this work.
   Before leaving this subject the writer would call attention to a jut of
rock
standing out prominently from the crest on top of the hill. This rock is
known
as "Spirit's Chair" according to a legend woven about it. The cemetery
on the
hill is quite large. The graves are covered with "roofs" constructed
of slabs,
boulders or small logs thickly covered with moss. Some well-known chiefs
are
buried here. Many a noted hunter, warrior, or chief, many an Indian whose
name is appended to some important treaty, lies buried in one or another
of the
many Indian cemeteries of Wood County and this vicinity. Simon Kahquados,
a chief of the Forest County Potawatomi, states that Che-chaw-kose is buried
at Skunk Hill. Che-chaw-kose is mentioned in the treaty of Oct. 27, 1832,
made at Tippecanoe River. According to Simon Kahquados he was a brother
of the chief, Ah-quee-we, of Sheboygan, a signer of the Chicago Treaty of
1833.
The writer has a British medal and other relics of Chief Ah-quee-wee, as
well
as a British medal (George III) and an old United States flag, and other
relics,
formerly belonging to Cbhief Wampum of Manitowoc, another signer of various
treaties. A Potawatomi Indian, who ten years ago still lived near Wisconsin
Rapids, but who moved with his family to Stone Lake, Forest County, is the
proud owner of a Washington medal. This was given to his grandfather, who
was a chief at or near Chicago.
   At present John Nouwe, Mrs. Rose Dekorah, and Eagle Pigeon, the oldest
son of White Pigeon, with his family, are the only permanent residents on
the
hill. Albert Thunder, White Pigeon's son-in-law, lives towards the south
at
the base of the hill.
   John Nouwe, also known as John Louis, is over 80 years of age. He was
born, according to his statement, on the Lake Michigan shore between Mil-
waukee and Chicago. He still remembers all the various Potawatomi villages
near Milwaukee, Waukesha, Horicon Marsh, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and Wau-
paca counties. He mentions a certain river by the Indian name Men-neu-keh
Sebe. This the writer has not yet been able to locate. When asked the mean-
ing of the term Sheboygan in Indian, "Shab-wa-wa-gon," John Nouwe
without
much thought gave the meaning as: "A noise that goes through you which
was
heard at the mouth of the Sheboygan River." John Nouwee's mother died
in
Kansas and his father about one mile east of Steven's Point. He is a widower
and has one daughter living in Kansas. White Pigeon, probably the best known
of these Indians at present living in Wood County, is not a Potawatomi but
a
Winnebago; his mother was a half Potawatomi. White Pigeon married a Prairie
Band Potawatomi woman and lived with the Potawatomi so long that he was
cancelled from the Winnebago roll and enrolled as a Prairie Band Potawatomi.
His parents went from La Crosse to Kansas, where he was born. He came to
Arpin in 1907. The Indian name for White Pigeon is Wab-me-me. White



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