Ozhaguscodaywayquay

Ozhaguscodaywayquay (Ozhaawashkodewekwe: Woman of the Green Glade), also called Neengay (Ninge: "My mother") or Susan Johnston (born ca. mid-1770s; died ca. 1840s), was an important figure in the later Great Lakes fur trade. She was born into an Ojibwe family near La Pointe, Wisconsin. Her father was the famous war chief Waubojeeg, and she married the British fur trader John Johnston, a wintering partner of the North West Company. They had prominent roles in the crossroads society of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and the territory before 1830.

Marriage and family

Susan married the Scots-Irish fur trader John Johnston in 1793, and they settled at Sault Ste. Marie in present-day Michigan. The settlement extended on both sides of the river. This was a mostly Ojibwa, Ottawa and Métis community centered on a trading post of the British -founded North West Company. A mixture of European immigrants also worked there. It became a center of European, American and Native American politics and trade in the area.^[1]

Johnston was a "wintering partner" of the North West Company, as one who traded directly with the trappers, who were usually of Native American descent. He was a man of substance, having arrived in Canada with capital to invest in the business, and the couple was influential with trade and relations between the Ojibwe, Europeans and Americans in the area. They received as hosts many explorers, politicians of both Canada and the U.S., scholars, Native chiefs and military officers. They were considered among the ruling class in both the Native and European communities.^[1] Susan taught him and their eight children the language and ways of the Ojibwe.

Their eldest daughter Jane Johnston married the American ethnographer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in 1823. He became noted for his work on the Ojibwe, aided by Jane's access and her knowledge of the Ojibwe language and culture. Jane Johnston has been recognized as the first Native American literary writer and poet in the United States. In 2008, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

Two additional Johnston daughters married prominent white men, one who was Henry R. Schoolcraft's younger brother James. George Johnston assisted Schoolcraft as a U.S. Indian agent. The youngest son, John McDougall Johnston, served as the last official Indian Agent in the area.^[2]

Under the Jay Treaty, the U.S. closed down the ability of British traders and trappers to move freely across the Canadian-U.S. border. John Johnston's business never recovered. The family separated after the War of 1812. Lewis, the oldest son, had served with the British Navy against the U.S. Taken prisoner during the war, poor treatment caused him to reject living under U.S. rule; he lived in Canada.

Susan Johnston was widowed in 1828. Their son William worked with his mother in their sugaring and fishing business for several years. After her husband's death, she and William managed the fur trading business until 1831.

Citations

References

• Virginia Soetebier, Woman of the Green Glade: The Story of an Ojibway Woman on the Great Lakes Frontier,
• Marjorie Cahn Brazer, Harps Upon the Willows: The Johnston Family of the old Northwest, 1993, Ann Arbor, MI: The Historical Society of Michigan, ISBN 1-880311-02-X.
• Chase S. Osborn & Stellanova Osborn, Schoolcraft, Longfellow, Hiawatha, 1942, ASIN B0000D5L0E.
• Richard Bremer, Indian Agent and Wilderness Scholar: The Life of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, 1987, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, ISBN 0-916699-13-7.

External links

• Robert Dale Parker, "Introduction to Jane Johnston Schoolcraft", including material about her mother Ozhaguscodaywayquay (Jane Johnston Schoolcraft).