Illinois Indians
The Illinois Indians belonged to the Algonquian linguistic family, and were closely connected with the Chippewa and the Miami. In historic times they lived principally along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers…
Illinois
An Historical Sketch of the Tionontates or Dinondadies, now called Wyandots
The tribe which, from the time of Washington’s visit to the Ohio, in 1753, down to their removal to the West, played so important a part under the name of Wyandots, but who were previously known by a name which French write Tionontates; and Dutch, Dinondadies, have a history not uneventful, and worthy of being traced clearly to distinguish them from the Hurons or Wyandots proper, of whom they absorbed one remnant, leaving what were later only a few families near Quebec, to represent the more powerful nation.
Illinois Burial Customs
The term Illinois Indians as used by some early writers was intended to include the various Algonquian tribes, encountered in the “Illinois country,” in addition to those usually recognized as forming the Illinois confederacy. Thus, in the following quotation from Joutel will be found a reference to the Chahouanous – i. e., Shawnee – as being of the Islinois, and in the same note Accancea referred to the Quapaw, a Siouan tribe living on the right bank of the Mississippi, not far north of the mouth of the Arkansas. Describing the burial customs of the Illinois, as witnessed by him … Read more
Treaty of October 27, 1832 – Kaskaskia
Articles of a treaty made and entered into at Castor Hill, in the county of St. Louis in the State of Missouri, this twenty-seventh day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, between William Clark, Frank J. Allen and Nathan Kouns, Commissioners on the part of the United States, of the one part; and the Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes, which, with the Michigamia, Cahokia and Tamarois bands, now united with the two first named tribes, formerly composed the Illinois nation of Indians, of the other part. Whereas, the Kaskaskia tribe of Indians and the bands aforesaid united therewith, are … Read more
Houses of the Illinois Confederacy
Although the tribes of the loosely constituted Illinois confederacy claimed and occupied a wide region east of the Mississippi, in later years centering in the valley of the Illinois River, nevertheless certain villages are known to have crossed and re-crossed the great river. Thus, in the early summer of 1673, Père Marquette arrived at a village of the Peoria then standing on the right Mississippi, at or near the or west bank of the later it had removed to the upper Illinois. Two months passing the Peoria, Marquette discovered another of the Illinois tribes, the Michigamea, living near the northeastern … Read more
Tamaroa Tribe
Tamaroa Indians. (Tamaroa – Illinois: Tamaro´wa, said to mean ‘cut tail,’ or, lit., ‘he has a cut tail,’ probably relating to some totemic animal, such as a bear or the wildcat; cognate with Abnaki tĕmaruwé. – Gerard.) A tribe of the Illinois Confederacy. In 1680 they occupied the country on both sides of the Mississippi about the mouths of the Illinois and Missouri Rivers. They were always friendly to the French, who made their village a stopping place on journeys between Canada and Louisiana. Their enemies were the Chickasaw, who attacked them continually, and the Shawnee. They disappeared as a … Read more
Michigamea Tribe
A tribe of the Illinois confederacy, first visited by Marquette when he descended the Mississippi in 1673. Their village was situated at that time on the west side of the Mississippi and near a lake bearing the same name as the tribe
Moingwena Tribe
Moingwena Indians. The name (the etymology of which is doubtful) of a small tribe of the Illinois confederacy, closely affiliated with the Peoria. The name was applied also to the villages in which they resided. The first recorded notice of the tribe is by Marquette in the account of his descent of the Mississippi with Joliet in 1673, when he found them residing in the vicinity of the Peoria village on the west side of the Mississippi near the mouth of the Des Moines. Franquelin’s map of 1688 gives the name of the river as “Mingana,” and marks the Indian … Read more
Peoria Tribe
Peoria Indians (through French Peouarea, from Peoria Piwarea, ‘he comes carrying a pack on his back’: a personal name. Gerard). One of the principal tribes of the Illinois confederacy. Franquelin in his map of 1688 locates them and the Tapouaro on a river west of the Mississippi above the mouth of Wisconsin River, probably the upper Iowa River. Early references to the Illinois which place them on the Mississippi, although some of the tribes were on Rock and Illinois rivers, must relate to the Peoria and locate them near the mouth of the Wisconsin. When Marquette and Joliet descended the … Read more
Cahokia Tribe
Cahokia Indians. A tribe of the Illinois confederacy, usually noted as associated with the kindred Tamaroa. Like all the confederate Illinois tribes they were of roving habit until they and the Tamaroa were gathered into a mission settlement about the year 1698 by the Jesuit Pinet. This mission, first known as Tamaroa, but later as Cahokia, was about the site of the present Cahokia, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi, nearly opposite the present St Louis. In 1721 it was the second town among the Illinois in importance. On the withdrawal of the Jesuits the tribe declined rapidly, … Read more
Chepoussa Tribe
Chepoussa Indians. A name applied by La Salle and Allouez to a band of Illinois Indians, probably from a chief or leader of a portion of those collected at Kaskaskia by La Salle’s invitation; on the other hand it may have been given to those Indians from a river (apparently Kaskaskia River), in southwest Illinois, to which the name Chepoussa was sometimes applied by early explorers. These people were probably connected with the Michigamea.
The Illinois
When the French explorers and missionaries first came into the region about the southern end of Lake Michigan, it was occupied by a tribe, or confederation of tribes, who called themselves Iliniwek (“men”), which seems, and was apparently meant to be, derogatory to their neighbors. The French early changed this name to Illinois, the name by which the state is known at present. These people belonged to the great Algonkian speech family, and at the time of their discovery formed a confederacy of the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Moingwena, Peoria, and Tamaroa tribes. On the authority of General Harrison it has … Read more
History of the Chicago Tribes
Such were the three tribes that we know once occupied the territory where the city of Chicago now stands, but in order to understand their coming and going, the history of this part of the Great Lakes region must be briefly considered. When the accounts of the great French explorers and priests such as Champlain, La Salle, and Marquette first describe the state of the tribes, we find the Iroquois Confederacy, located in what is now the State of New York, to be the dominant military power. Archaeologists are inclined to believe that the Iroquois came to New York from … Read more
Indians of The Chicago Region
The history of the Chicago region is deeply intertwined with the lives and cultures of the indigenous peoples who inhabited this area long before the arrival of European settlers. This booklet, “Indians of The Chicago Region,” focuses particularly on the Illinois and Potawatomi tribes, drawing on extensive research and firsthand information. Prepared by Assistant Curator Strong, this work is based on materials collected by Mr. M. G. Chandler, an adopted member of the Potawatomi tribe, whose intimate knowledge of the central Algonkian group has been invaluable.
Siletz Reservation
Siletz Indian Agency and Reservation, Oregon
Potawatomi Settlement in Illinois
Soon after their discovery by LaSalle, the great Iroquois Confederation, whose battlefields were strewn with their victims almost from the Atlantic coast to the Wabash, and from the Great Lakes, and even north of them, to the Alleghenies and the Ohio, finally extended their enterprises to the Illinois Tribe. With a great slaughter they defeated this hitherto invincible people, laid waste their great city, and scattered them in broken bands over their wide domain. From this terrible blow they never recovered. For a century later they struggled with waning fortunes against northern encroachments, till finally they were exterminated by the … Read more
Potawatomi’s Secure All Illinois Tribe Territory
This great event in Indian history secured to the Pottawatomie all the territory then belonging to the Illinois, and the exclusive right to which was undisputed by other tribes. It extended their possessions to the lands of the Peoria on Peoria Lake. They occupied to the Wabash as far south as Danville and even beyond. On the other side they occupied to the Hock River, though their right to a strip of land on the east side of that river was disputed by the Sac and Fox Indians who ranged the prairies west of there and beyond the Mississippi. They … Read more
End of the Illinois Tribe
It was very different, however, with the Prairie Indians. They despised the cultivation of the soil as too mean even for their women and children, and deemed the captures of the chase as the only fit food for a valorous people. The corn, which grew like grass from the earth which they trod beneath their feet was not proper meat to feed their greatness. Nor did they open their ears to the lessons of love and religion tendered them by those who came among them and sought to do them good. If they tolerated their presence they did not receive … Read more
A Sketch of the Potawatomi
More than thirty-seven years ago, when I first became a citizen of Chicago, I found this whole country occupied as the hunting grounds of the Pottawatomie Indians. I soon formed the acquaintance of many of their chiefs, and this acquaintance ripened into a cordial friendship. I found them really intelligent and possessed of much information resulting from their careful observation of natural objects. I traveled with them over the prairies, I hunted and I fished with them, I camped with them in the groves, I drank with them at the native springs, of which they were never at a loss … Read more