It is exciting to know that the French kept records about their activities with the Ho-Chunk as early as the 1712'. The events that David Smith wrote about in the Winnebago Indian News (no references) regarding the early Ho-Chunk/Winnebagos and GOM in 1737, have been recorded in French by Beauharnois himself. Awesome. Though preliminary reviews have not shown GOM's name, there is info about "Puant chefs" and the described events that Smith discussed in his articles compare well with the French writings and the Wisconsin Historical Society (Kellogg) writings. Not sure where this will lead me since I have sent for 100 pages of information from the University of Ottawa regarding "Puant chefs" and I have over 30 letters written by Beauharnois when he was Governor of New France to pour over using the BING translator. Additionally, there are several other letters written by the commanders, Lintot and Hacquart, who were at an outpost and heavily engaged in the Fox War, Mesquaki War and so on.
What I have managed to translate so far reveals that the French gave the early Ho-Chunk at Doty Island (GOM) a lot of "marchandise" to gain their favor and maintain relations. I have come across a permit and a record of Joseph Decarries (spelled differently again!) who was engaged to take said "marchandise" down river into the "baie et Puants". Amazing! Is this how he met GOM? It seems Joseph gave up his commission in the French Military to be a voyageur > GOM though it has been recorded that he was in the French Military > GOM > voyageur. Perhaps there are some military records that would reveal a clearer picture. New France certainly used soldiers to carry these provisions into what is now Wisconsin. The Ho-Chunk were at Green Bay when they first met us and then we moved westward and spent time at Three Rivers, St. Joseph River, and Doty Island, but the bay near Green Bay continued to be called the "baie et Puants" throughout the French Regime.
More to decipher!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Search for GOM has taken me to the University of Ottawa
There is little written about GOM. Carver and Kinzie are the only first-hand accounts in the literature. David Smith wrote about her in his book Folklore of the Winnebago Tribe. He also wrote several articles in the Winnebago Indian News over the past decade about GOM and Ho-Chunk History. The Winnebago Indian News (WIN) is the tribal newspaper from Winnebago, Nebraska. He described in great detail the events that surrounded the Mesquaki War of the 1730s' and Governor Beauharnois of New France. Smith details GOM acting as a peace chief, while married to Joseph Descaris and a mother of two sons and a daughter, during the Meskquaki War.
My continued search of GOM acting in the capacity of a Chieftess has brought me to Canada. I have 74 sources to examine regarding Governor Beauharnois and the Puants. Puant is what the French called the Ho-Chunk. It means 'stinkard'. Not very friendly, but that is what they called us. The marshes where we lived attributed to the name Puant. It will be daunting to go through 74 sources as they are in French. I can get the gist of the meaning of the letters that Beauharnois exchanged between he and his various commanders at a fort near Lake Pepin in which he describes the interaction between the various tribes. The fort in Lake Pepin is one of the forts that Smith describes in some detail. It would be nice if he listed his sources. He doesn't exactly say oral tradition, but I think that is what he is drawing from as well as the documentation in the Wisconsin Historical Society and beyond.
I also received some help from the WHS archive director again. He gave me several links to consider, through he thinks I have exhausted the sources about GOM housed at the WHS. Possibly. At any rate, he said that there were two people that mined info regarding "colonial"history in Wisconsin/US. Wow, the word colonial shook up my brain. Here I am deep in the Fur Trade and Ho-Chunk History and I completely forgot that the time period from 1700 to 1800, is called the colonial period (by non-natives). It was a good place to be.
My continued search of GOM acting in the capacity of a Chieftess has brought me to Canada. I have 74 sources to examine regarding Governor Beauharnois and the Puants. Puant is what the French called the Ho-Chunk. It means 'stinkard'. Not very friendly, but that is what they called us. The marshes where we lived attributed to the name Puant. It will be daunting to go through 74 sources as they are in French. I can get the gist of the meaning of the letters that Beauharnois exchanged between he and his various commanders at a fort near Lake Pepin in which he describes the interaction between the various tribes. The fort in Lake Pepin is one of the forts that Smith describes in some detail. It would be nice if he listed his sources. He doesn't exactly say oral tradition, but I think that is what he is drawing from as well as the documentation in the Wisconsin Historical Society and beyond.
I also received some help from the WHS archive director again. He gave me several links to consider, through he thinks I have exhausted the sources about GOM housed at the WHS. Possibly. At any rate, he said that there were two people that mined info regarding "colonial"history in Wisconsin/US. Wow, the word colonial shook up my brain. Here I am deep in the Fur Trade and Ho-Chunk History and I completely forgot that the time period from 1700 to 1800, is called the colonial period (by non-natives). It was a good place to be.
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