President John Quincy Adams Effectuates a Provision of the 1819 Unites States Treaty With the Chippewa Indians, Which Secured For the U.S. One Third of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
The grantee of this land was named in the treaty, and his holdings were memorialized by a map at the top.
On September 24, 1819, U.S. commissioner Lewis Cass concluded a treaty with the Chippewa Nation of Indians in Michigan. After originally proposing that the Chippewas leave Michigan altogether, which infuriated them, the final agreement provided that they would cede some 6 million acres including the Saginaw region to the United States. This...
On September 24, 1819, U.S. commissioner Lewis Cass concluded a treaty with the Chippewa Nation of Indians in Michigan. After originally proposing that the Chippewas leave Michigan altogether, which infuriated them, the final agreement provided that they would cede some 6 million acres including the Saginaw region to the United States. This was the most important land cession in Michigan, for it was in the very heart of the Indian Country, and covered nearly a third of the Lower Peninsula. The treaty was proclaimed on March 25, 1820.
For the land cession, the Chippewas received the promise of the United States to “pay to the Chippewa nation of Indians, annually, for ever, the sum of one thousand dollars in silver”. In addition, from the cession, 16 tracts of land totaling 102,000 acres in the heart of their territory were reserved “for the use of the Chippewa nation of Indians”. There were also six specific grants provided to named persons, who were from their names in part of European descent and in part Chippewa. One of these was “For the use of Nowokeshik”, who was also known as Francois Campau, a descendant of a French Canadian family active in Michigan, who was to receive land “to be located at and near the grand traverse of the Flint river, in such manner as the President of the United States may direct.”
The land grants required by the treaty were delayed for years, until the Presidency of John Quincy Adams, who effectuated them.
Document signed on vellum, Washington, June 10, 1825, being the grant to Nowokeshik. At the head of the document is an actual map of the grant, showing its location on the Flint River. The text cites the “Treaty made and concluded at Saginaw in the Territory of Michigan, between the United States of America by their commissioner Lewis Cass, and the Chippewa nation of Indians”, and continues, “There is granted by the United States unto Nowokeshik otherwise called Francois Campau”, 140 acres on the Flint River in Michigan Territory. The document is countersigned by George Graham, Commissioner of the General Land Office.
This is the first land grant we can recall seeing signed by a U.S. president effectuating an Indian treaty, nor does a search of public sale records going back forty years disclose one.
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