“Edward Sorin 2 and The Pokagons” ; A thesis by Hugh O’Donnell, written to expand on the
Founding of Notre Dame History by Fr Marvin O’Connell
This thesis is meant to be a supplement to Marvin O’Connell’s book,
“Edward Sorin” in order to better detail
the role the Pokagon Indian Band and other Potawatomi Bands played in
helping Father Stephen Badin and Fr. Edward Sorin found the teaching school that
became the University of Notre Dame.
There are currently two very in-depth
accounts on the founding of Notre Dame.
The first was done by historian Dr. J. T. Wack
in 1967, the second by Fr. Marvin O’Connell, an ND history Professor, in 2001.
Both accounts tell little
about the important role Leopold Pokagon played in causing the University to be
in Northern Indiana rather than located in the Diocesan seat of Vincennes, in
Southern Indiana, where the Vincennes Bishop, Celeste Hailandiere,
1839-1847, wanted it located. Southern
Indiana was farther away from northern Indiana’s indigenous country troubles.
When I interviewed Dr. Wack in 2017, surprisingly, he told me his thesis advisor,
Fr Thomas McAvoy, advised him to steer away from the “Indian Problems” Fr.
Sorin experienced. Father Sorin assumed
control of 300 acres of “Sacred” Potawatomi land in South Bend, IN. Fr. Sorin proudly wrote his superior, Fr.
Basil Moreau, that his secondary mission, over his primary mission to build a
school for the Diocese of Indiana, was to help spiritualize the Indians.
This secondary missionary
effort was to a remnant of Pokagon Native Americans located 25 miles north of
South Bend, IN, in the Diocese of Detroit. Fr. Sorin apparently assumed missionary responsibility
for this small remnant of unremoved Potawatomi Indians, the only Indians to
survive the huge missionary effort started by Detroit Priest, Fr Stephen
Theodore Badin, 1830 - 1836.
Ironically, as we shall see
in this “White Paper”, Leopold Pokagon was more the spiritual person in today’s
sense, the sense that we allow the spirit of the divine to live within us,
instead of allowing the human need for material wealth to guide our work.
Remember that before Fr.
Sorin arrived, Father Stephen Badin was the Catholic spiritual guide to more
than 4000 plus Potawatomi Tribe Native Americans living in both Northern
Indiana and Southern Michigan. But once
Fr. Badin realized most Potawatomi Indians would be removed to Kansas in 1838,
for US material gain, he left his missionary effort to the newly appointed
Bishop of Vincennes, Simon Brute.
In Father O’Connell’s book,
we get the false impression that Pokagon Indians greeted Fr. Edward Sorin when
he arrived at St Mary’s Lake in November,1842.
However, by the time Fr. Sorin arrived, only a vacant log cabin church
remained at St. Mary’s Lake because mostly all the Indigenous people, who inhabited
Michiana in 1838, had been agreeably or forcibly removed. Those Native Americans that avoided exile in
1836, the treaty deadline date, to Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, like Leopold
Pokagon, were in hiding…hiding from Indiana government authorities
hell bent on carrying out President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830
and the Chicago Treaty of 1833.
However, when the new blackrobe Sorin arrived replacing the missionaries, like the
Catholic missionary priests Badin, Deseille and
Petit, they “slipped” down from Michigan to greet Sorin in mid-December of 1842
as described in O’Connell’s book.
The chief purpose of this paper
is to briefly tell the story of the Pokagon Indians under the remarkable
leadership of Band Chief, Leopold Pokagon, 1825-1841. His story is told in
Cecelia Bain Bruckner’s 1939 ND thesis. Sadly, it is also the purpose to tell
the little reported attempt by the second Bishop of Vincennes, Celeste Hailandiere, who in 1840, just before Fr. Sorin arrived, tried
to steal control of the new land Leopold had purchased in Silver Creek, MI, an
action that would have jeopardized their struggle to “not be removed.”
Perhaps understandably, Fr Marvin O’Connell
left out much of this Indian related Michiana history, because it might
otherwise taint his superb history on the foundation of Notre Dame University. Perhaps because these details distract from the
amazing institution Fr. Sorin left behind.
So today, little is known about
Fr Badin’s and Leopold’s attempt to create a manual labor school, meant mainly
for Potawatomi Indians, before the St Mary’s lake property turned into one of
the great Catholic University’s in America.
Like Dr. John Wack before Fr. O’Connell, both historians seemed to avoid telling
the somewhat messy relationship Fr. Sorin had in his ministry to these 200 or
so unremoved Pokagon Indians, that in 1837 were relocated on legally
“purchased” 1000 acres of private land just north across the Indiana State line.
In 1848, after a seven-year
battle in the Michigan Circuit Court and Michigan Supreme Court, Bishop Hailandiere lost the law suit to
Leopold Pokagon, with Sorin present. In
1847, a year before Bishop Hailandiere was formally
convicted of land fraud, the Bishop of Vincennes resigned in haste and departed
to retirement in France at the young healthy age of 49, probably in order to
avoid paying the court penalty for his misdeeds. In any case, the unremoved Native Americans
in Michigan, did avoid removal, in spite of the
Bishop’s efforts, because of Epaphroditus Ransom, Leopold’s legal advisor in
1840, who became first head of Michigan Supreme Court and then Governor of
Michigan in 1848.
Despite Hailandiere’s
meddling in Michigan affairs, Fr. Sorin knew he still needed the Pokagon
Indians for much needed Civilization revenue. So he
continued to minister in Silver Creek, MI, outside his diocese, albeit as a
much less effective “Blackrobe.” After 1851, the Indian missionary responsibility
in Silver Creek reverted to full Detroit diocesan control.
In my thesis, I will quote
sections from Father O’Connell’s book that I feel need supplemental
detail. For instance, on page 105 of
O’Connell’s book, we get the wrong idea on the key role Fr. Stephen Theodore
Badin and Leopold Pokagon played in securing the location of Notre Dame in
northern Indiana, which may not have been US Government land as claimed, but
rather most likely a spot reserved for Potawatomi tribal gatherings.
“ …in 1835, …Bishop Simon Brute became, or rather his
infant diocese became, the beneficiary of Fr. Stephen Badin’s enterprise, 524
acres …enclosed on two small lakes near the south bend of the St joseph
river. This parcel had been acquired
from the federal government, which, in accord with it’s
routine policy, had seized it from the local Indians by way of an exploitative
treaty.”
There is an alternate story, contrary
to this spot once being US Government land. It appears Fr. Stephen Badin,
representing the Diocese of Detroit, came to “own” this land, and then to give it
to the new Diocese of Vincennes, because of his civilization efforts toward the
Potawatomi Indians from 1830 to 1836. Granted,
it is a story based on Potawatomi Oral History Tradition, history passed down
to a Patricia Levier from her mother’s ancestors. This story, to me, seems to be more
consistent after reviewing a conflicting lack of facts.
In the St Joseph County
recorder of Deeds office, Record Book C, page 194, is a deed transferring 300
acres of land from Stephen Badin to Simon Brute, July 31, 1835. No price is quoted for the land except the obligatory,
one dollar. There seems no proof of the contention that
Fr. Badin bought the land from the US government using his own funds. Indian Oral history from Patricia Levier’s
ancestors claim the land was not the governments to sell.
I could find no deed
transferring the land from the US Government to Fr. Badin, but this would not
be surprising as the 1821 treaty stated that land used for missionary
civilization schools should be located on land not ceded to the government.
Patrice Levier’s 1989 Bethel
College thesis, titled “Potawatomi Birthright: Education as Promised by
Catholics at Notre Dame,” points out clearly, that the treaty of 1821 required
non ceded land be used by missionary teachers and blacksmiths, such as used by
Isaac McCoy, between 1822-1830, near Niles, MI, to “civilize” the Indians,
using funds from the 1819 Indian Civilization Act. The 1821 treaty provided that the
missionaries would live on this land, make improvements, build a school, and
receive a salary from US government, from Indian allotments.
Two Potawatomi ladies,
Patricia Levier Brown and Barbara Warren, will testify the 300 acres of land
that now is Notre Dame, was a Powwow like “Gathering Site” for all Potawatomi
Bands located along entire length of St Joseph river before and after 1821. This land was not purchased from US
government, instead the Potawatomi allowed it to be used by Fr. Badin to build
his Indian Manual Labor School, back then called an “orphan asylum.”
In the 1835 deed,
transferring 300 acres of land around St Mary’s Lake, Indiana, from Father
Badin to Vincennes Diocese, does not ask to be repaid for any money he used to
purchase these 300 acres from the government, but that 750 dollars be paid to
him for money he got from the Potawatomi to make improvements and for expenses
Badin used to travel to Pittsburgh, PA, to have this “original” deed prepared.
The situation was not unlike
the Carey Mission built just west of Niles, Michigan in 1822, by Isaac McCoy,
who apparently became rich on funds he received to set up his Indian mission. The Carey Mission near Niles, MI, was ‘given’
to the Reverent Isaac McCoy in 1822 to build an Indian school on one square
mile of non-ceded Indian land, west of the St Joseph river. The land was non ceded land “transferred” to
McCoy’s control to employ a blacksmith and teachers to civilize Chief Tobinabee’s tribe, using tenants of Baptist Christian faith.
Dramatically, in 1828, Isaac McCoy, became a
government removal agent, rather than a government civilization agent. He then abandoned the Niles unceded land `…but
the US government would not “give” this land to Fr. Stephen Badin, the newly
selected Catholic Potawatomi missionary, that Leopold wanted Badin to continue
the Indian mission after Chief Topinobee’s tribe
moved to Kansas with McCoy.
In lieu of McCoy’s abandoned
land near Niles, MI, the US government “gave” Fr. Stephen Badin control of the
land near St Mary’s lake, perhaps because of the possibility another Baptist
missionary would want to continue near Niles, and because most of the
Potawatomi Indians now needed a gathering site in Kansas.
In 1835, 300 acres near St
Mary’s Lake was designated for the new Catholic school and blacksmith
shop. Interestingly, Badin’s new site,
located 25 miles south of the Carey Mission, was more centrally located to serve
other Catholic Potawatomi Indian Bands like those under the leadership of chief
Menominee situated 25 miles south of South Bend near Twin Lakes, IN, as well as
the Catholic Band of Potawatomi under chief Leopold Pokagon located 25 miles
north of South Bend.
The details of how Fr. Badin
petitioned the State of Indiana to build a school for Indian Orphans on 300
acres of non-ceded Indian land near St Mary’s lake is fully described in James
E. Deery’s article, “The First Catholic Orphans Home
of Indiana,” Catholic Historical Society of Indiana, (Dec, 1937), pp. 1-4.
There is another very
interesting point about the Sacredness of the St Mary’s lake property, that
made it a better site than Nile’s for an Indian School. According to Oral Potawatomi Tradition
History, provided me by Patricia Levier (Brown), in her 1989 Thesis, the land
used to build Badin’s School was land never ceded to the US Government, even
though it was located to east and north of St Joseph river. Patricia Levier contends this land was not
ceded because it was the 300 acres always used by the Potawatomi for their
annual “Song, Dancing, Planning, and annual community Celebrations.”
Well before even Fr. Badin
arrived in 1830, the land located around this sacred spot near St Mary’s Lake
was used by all the Potawatomi Tribes living on the St Joseph River as an
annual meeting ground. The spot was
centrally located for the Nottawaseppe Potawatomi
Bands living on the St Joseph River near Three Rivers, MI, the Topinabee Band near Niles, MI, the Pokagon Band of
Potawatomi located near Bertrand MI, and the Menominee Band of Pottawatomi
located near present day Plymouth, IN.
Miss Patricia Levier makes a
compelling case that the land near St Mary’s lake was a sacred meeting ground
for her mother’s Nottawaeippe ancestors, like places
where current day Indian Powwows are held by the Chippawa
Indians near L’Arbre Croche,
MI, (current day Petosky, MI)
The “original” deed, dated
1835, in Record Book C of St Joseph County, IN, Recorder’s Office and James Deery’s article supports her contention that the St Mary’s
lake land was non-ceded contrary to any undocumented contention by the
historians Dr. J. T. Wack or Fr. Marvin O’Connell, or
Fr. Thomas McAvoy, that Badin purchased the land from a US government deed.
One of the important
conditions in the 1835 deed, is that Father Badin be paid 750$ for building and
other improvements made on said land and other expenses incurred in conveying
the said establishment, of one said orphan asylum, on said land. No mention is made of any money spent by Fr.
Badin to purchase the land from the Government, probably because it was indeed
not land available to the Government to sell, as it was Potawatomi Meeting
Ground Sacred land.
We may never know for sure
just who owned the land before Fr. Badin passed it on to the Diocese of Vincennes,
July 31, 1835, but for sure it was then subsequently used by Fr. Sorin to build
the heart of Notre Dame University. Remember
also, that education funds, Indian support funds, would also have been funds
due Sorin by the 1819 Civilization Act for Indian Schools. Indeed Simon Pokagon, Leopold’s third son, is
believed to have attended Sorin’s Manual Labor school during Simon’s teenage
years in 1843-1845. In fact, we suspect
many of the initial students who attended ND in 1844 were “unremoved”
Potawatomi Indians using money Sorin got from the Civilization Act.
After 1838 the Potawatomi
Indians had no further use for annual Gathering Meeting land, once a major
portion of these Potawatomi relocated to Kansas land, as specified by the
subsequent treaty of 1833. In the treaty
of 1833, the Potawatomi, except only Leopold Pokagon’s Bertrand, MI, Band, were
all required to vacate all land in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan by
1838, at which time those not removed were forcibly moved to land west of the
Mississippi.
In the 1833 Chicago treaty
supplement, Leopold Pokagon’s Band of Potawatomi were required to relocate to L’Arbre Croche, MI, where the Detroit
Diocese had a Catholic mission under the leadership of Fr. Stephen Badin’s
brother, Fr. Vincent Badin.
When Leopold Pokagon could
not purchase land in L’Arbre Crouche
in 1836, he employed the legal assistance of Michigan Attorney, Epaphroditus
Ransom, of Kalamazoo, MI. Judge Ransom
helped the Pokagon’s secure 1000 acres of private land near Dowagiac, MI, in
what became a Catholic “Parish” called Silver Creek, run by Father Edward Sorin
from 1843 until the Indian section of the parish dissolved in chaos in 1851. After 1851, Fr. Sorin lost interest in being
an Indian missionary. The details of the
way the Silver Creek Indian mission disintegrated is a “messy story”, one that
Notre Dame and Pokagon historians do not want to spell out or revisit.
The purpose of this research
will be to help begin to detail the good, bad, and ugly parts of this “Pokagon
Silver Creek Mission” run by Fr. Edward Sorin between 1843 and 1851.
A friend of mine, Colin
Crawford, then a history student at Holy Cross College where I once taught
Chemistry, wrote the following “good” story about the saintly CSC priest, Fr Louis
Baroux, who ministered at Silver Creek from
1847-1851.
There is no question the Silver
Creek mission provided ND funds from Indian Civilization Act that Edward Sorin
used to help build the school at St Mary’s lake, that eventually grew to become
the University of Notre Dame.
Starting in 1844, Fr Sorin
assigned two full time nuns and one full time priest to Silver Creek, who, most
likely, would have received salaries from the Indians: important facts that are
not properly mentioned in either Dr. Wack’s or Dr. O’Connell’s
history.
Fr. O’Connell does briefly
mention the good efforts Fr. Sorin made to Silver Creek and also
alludes to mistakes made by Fr. Sorin, particularly in his management control
of Peter Pokagon, heir to Leopold. It
is understandable any ND history would not delve very deeply into mistakes made
by either Fr. Badin or Fr. Sorin, nor would the Pokagon’s want to remember the
mistakes made by their heir to Leopold Pokagon, Peter Pokagon, once Leopold
died in 1841.
History many times avoids
telling the negative side or “messy” details of one’s history, especially when
there is much to admire about what has become a huge good force to the world in
the creation of the today’s University of Notre Dame.
In a more detailed and
evidenced based history account, future history professionals should consecrate
on telling the full story of the true force behind Fr. Badin, the remarkable
Native American, Leopold Pokagon. The story of Leopold Pokagon is one not much
mentioned or remembered by Notre Dame historians. I suggest a PhD study might a great way in
more understanding the role this great unsung indigenous native American had of
the founding of Notre Dame.
The story of Leopold Pokagon
is one ND should be proud to tell.
Leopold, who despite all odds of the “Indian Removal Act,” avoided
removal. Detailed future accounts should more vividy tell the true story of the struggles Fr. Sorin had
against unscrupulous characters like Bishop Hailandiere
and Peter Pokagon, who were distractions to Fr. Sorin in his efforts to build a
great University in Northern Indiana. New
research is needed on how incompetent was the CSC missionary Fr. Sorin first
assigned to Silver Creek in 1843, Fr. Theophile Marivault,
1843-1847. There is much documentation which should
elaborate on the efforts of Marivault’s saintly
replacement, Fr. Louis Baroux, CSC,
1848-1851, who tried against all
odds to keep the Silver Creek mission from failure.
If for whatever reason, I cannot
write this story, at my advanced age of 74, there is much documentation in
large amount of various files and publications I have collected over the years; documents a future ND historian might use as a
basis for a PhD thesis on this subject should ND history supervisors allow it
to be written.
October 14, 2019 ND
Indigenous People’s Day
https://ndsmcobserver.com/2019/10/indigenous-peoples-day-3/
Holy Cross Village
personal web page http://village.hcc-nd.edu/hodonnell/
Dear Brian Collier, ND Oct 16, 2019
Thank you for those kind words in response to my White Paper.
Attached is the final revision, #10, that makes it clear I no
longer intend to write a book or advance this research further. And I
certainly understand that your current job does not permit that. Please
do indeed pass this on to anyone interested in reading my thesis or wanting to
take it to the next level of publication.
BTW, you mention my new interests. Attached are two pages
from the St Joe County Michigan history mentioning a Pierre Moreau.
Patricia Levier Brown, nasagawaya49@gmail.com ,
thinks this is a relative of Moreau who may have caused Fr Moreau to send Fr.
Edward Sorin to Indiana. I find that interesting and on my next trip to
Le Mans area of France will look into this
possibility.
All the best. Thanks for all your encouragement and advise
to save all the documentation I have collected. My son Greg will inherit
this from me.
Hugh ODonnell