🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿
The Murder of Okunzhewug
In the summer of 1827, Kiwidinok's 6th great-grandmother — 'Okunzhewug' — an old woman and the wife of Keeshkemun, (the principal chief of Torch Lake / Lac du Flambeau, a man old and blind) attended the treaty of Butte des Morts, bearing her husband's medal. She was treated with respect due to the character she represented, and ample presents were directed to be given her; among other things a handsome hat, the latter article had been requested of her by a young Menomonie and refused. It is thought a general feeling of jealousy was excited by her good reception. A number of Menomonie's went on her return route as far as the Clover Portage, where she was last seen. Having never returned to her village, the Chippewas attributed her death to the Menomonie's. Okunzhewug's husband 'Keeshkemun' died soon after; but she had numerous and influential relatives to avenge her real or supposed murder. This is the account delivered by the Chippewas and corroborated by reports from the traders of that section of the country. Her singular disappearance and secret death at Clover Portage is undisputed; and whether caused or not by any agency of the Menomonie's, the belief of such agency, and that of the most direct kind, is fixed in the minds of the Chippewas, and has furnished the basis of their subsequent acts in relations to the Menomonie's hunting parties who have visited the lower part of the Chippewa River. Two women belonging to one of these parties were killed by a Chippewa war party traversing that part of the country the ensuing year. The act was disclaimed by them as not being intentional, and it was declared they supposed the women to be Sioux. On a close inquiry, however, it was found the persons who committed this act were relatives of Okunzhewug, which renders it probable that the murder was intentionally perpetrated.
Pg 121, 122. History of the Ojibway Nation, by W.W. Warren, pg 48.
Indian name: Keeshkemun / White name: Sharpened Stone
🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿
🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿
In memory of Okunzhewug, remembered through her descendants.
🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿
🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿
Silent Sorrow
Expecting to hear her footsteps. Instead learning that she would never come home. The last evening ends at the river, but the grief ended far beyond Clover Portage.
Kiwidinok knows where the river is. She knows the sky. She knows the hat. She knows the silence. Keeshkemun wasn't crying. He wasn't shouting. He wasn't reaching. He was simply — empty. He was blind. He could not look toward the river where his wife died. He could not search the horizon. He could only sit with the knowledge she wasn't coming home. The silence was almost unbearable. Who knew how to stand near his grief.
Kiwidinok's 6th great-grandparents are remembered.
🌿 ─── 🌸 ᑭᐎᑎᓄᒃ 🌸 ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ 🌸 ─── 🌿