Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe
The Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe were an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people situated in the Home District of Upper Canada, now central Ontario, Canada, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were the historical antecedents of several of the present-day First Nations of Ontario, including the Beausoleil First Nation, the Chippewas of Georgina Island, the Chippewas of Rama, and the Wasauksing First Nation.
It was probably in the second half of the seventeenth century that this group of Ojibwe migrated from further north into the region between Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron that became their homeland. At their greatest known extent in the 1790s, under the leadership of Yellow Head, "Chief of Lake Simcoe", they possessed and occupied the shores of Lake Simcoe and the watersheds of the Holland River and the Nottawasaga River with some adjoining areas. Over a twenty-year span beginning in 1798, their chiefs relinquished virtually all of this territory to the government.
It is uncertain when the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe attached themselves to the British colonial authorities in Canada. In the late summer of 1797, Yellow Head led a contingent of his people to York and Niagara to complain to the government of Upper Canada after a hiatus in the "annual Presents" they had come to expect..[1] Yellow Head persuaded his people and other Ojibwe in the Home District to support the British regime during the War of 1812,[2] and personally saw action at the Battle of York in April 1813, where he sustained wounds that appear to have forced his retirement. His son Musquakie, later known as William Yellowhead, replaced his father in 1817 and remained head chief until his death in 1864.[3]
In 1828 the Chippewas of Lakes Huron and Simcoe numbered approximately 550 persons who, reportedly, had "expressed a strong desire to be admitted to Christianity, and to adopt the habits of civilized life".[4] They converted to Methodism and, in 1830, were induced by Lieutenant Governor John Colborne to forsake their migratory way of life and settle in purpose-built villages at Atherley Narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching and at Coldwater. Colborne also set apart Georgina Island, Snake Island and Fox Island in Lake Simcoe as a formal reservation, but his hope was that the Ojibwe would take to farming with the help of white settlers.[5] Just six years later, however, Colborne's successor, Francis Bond Head, persuaded them to leave their villages and the corridor of land between them in return for a share of the proceeds when the land was sold off to white settlers.[6]
After marshalling his people in support of the regime during the Upper Canada Rebellion, Musquakie relocated with the inhabitants of the Narrows to Rama in 1838, where they had obtained 1600 acres of land “purchased out of their own funds” at a cost of $3200.[7] This relocation and establishment of the Rama settlement marks the beginnings of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. A second band, led by Joseph Snake, remained permanently on Snake Island, giving rise to the Chippewas of Georgina Island. The Coldwater villagers, led by John Aisance, relocated to Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay in 1842 and became a distinct band unto themselves. In 1856 they relinquished the island and relocated to Christian Island to the west, joining "a few Pottawatamies and Ottawas" already settled there.[8] The settlement of this band on Christian Island marks the beginnings of the Beausoleil First Nation of today, whose main reserve is still on Christian Island.
Musquakie was recognized as head chief by the Shawanaga Ojibwe, two bands who, in the 1850s, were relocated at their request from Sandy Island in Georgian Bay to nearby Parry Island.[9] In 1859, one of these bands, calling themselves the "Muskoka Indians", petitioned the government through Musquakie for permission to trade Parry Island for ownership of their customary hunting ground on the north shores of Lake Muskoka.[10] The proposition was rejected when the other Parry Island band protested,[11] and the Shawanaga Ojibwe remained on Parry Island as the antecedents of the Wasauksing First Nation resident on the island today.
Musquakie died in January 1864 and was succeeded as head chief by Joseph Benson Naingishkung.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 100-101
- ↑ http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/musquakie_9E.html
- ↑ http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/musquakie_9E.html
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 104
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 107
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 112
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 120
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 121
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 128
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 123-24, 127-28
- ↑ Murray (ed.), Muskoka and Haliburton, 128-29
- Florence Beatrice Murray (1963). Muskoka and Haliburton, 1615-1875. Champlain Society for the Government of Ontario. Search this book on
External links[edit]
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