1999 Mixed-Race Identity in a Nineteenth-Century Family

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3/25

1998

Student

Essay

Prize Winner

Mixed-Race

Identity

in

a

Nineteenth-Century Family:

The

Schoolcrafts of Sault

Ste.

Marie,

1824-27

by

Jeremy

Mumford

In

the

autumn

of

1824

the

Schoolcraft

family

set

out

from

Sault

Ste.

Marie,

at

the mouth of Lake

Superior

in

northern

Michigan

Territory,

to

visit

New York City. For Jane, who had seldom left the

remote

village where she

was

born,

this

was

her

first

visit. It

was

the first time

Henry

had returned

to

his home

state

since

his

appointment

as

federal Indian

Agent

in

Sault

Ste.

Marie

in

1822 and his

marriage

a

year

later. And

everything

was

new,

of

course,

for

their

son

Willy

who

was

only

four months

old.1

The

Schoolcrafts

were

apprehensive

about the

reception they

would

meet

in

the

metropolis.

Jane

was

the

daughter

of

Oshauguscodaywayqua,

a

Chippewa

woman

from

an

influential

lakeshore

family,

and

John Johnston,

an

Irish

gentleman

and

fur

trader.

In

the

language

of her

time,

both

Jane

and

her child

were

half-breeds.2

To

her

relief,

Jane

and

Willy

received

only

friendly

attention

on

this

visit. When

Henry

left

to

do

some

business

in

Washington,

some

friends,

Mr.

and Mrs.

Conant,

invited

Jane

to

leave her

lodging

house and

stay

with them.

She

wrote to

Henry

of

repeated

visits,

I

would like

to

thank

Elizabeth Blackmar and

my

fellow students in

her

seminar

at

Columbia

University,

as

well

as

John

Mack

Faragher,

Martin

Kenner,

and David

Sewell for

their

help

in

revising

this

essay.

1

For

Jane,

see

Marjorie

Cahn

Brazer,

Harps

upon

the

Willows:

The

Johnston

Family

of

theOld

Northwest

(Ann

Arbor,

MI:

Historical

Society

of

Michigan,

1993);

Tammy

Stone-Gordon,

"The

Other

Schoolcraft,"

Michigan

History

78,

no.

2

(1994):

26-29. For

Henry,

see

Richard

Bremer,

Indian

Agent

and Wilderness Scholar: The

Life

of

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft (Mount

Pleasant,

MI:

Clarke Historical

Library, 1987);

Brian

Dippie,

Catlin and

his

Contemporaries:

The Politics

of Patronage

(Lincoln,

NE:

University

of

Nebraska

Press,

1990).

2

While

the

Schoolcrafts and

their

contemporaries

sometimes used the

names

"Ojibwa"

and

"M?tis,"

they

more

often

said

"Chippewa"

and "half-breed." "Half

breed"

was

used

(not

necessarily

with

derogatory intent)

for

people

with

any

combination

of

white

and Indian

ancestry.

MichiganHistorical

Review

25:1

(Spring

1999):

1-23

?

1999

by

Central

Michigan

University.

ISSN 0890-1686

All

Rights

Reserved



4/25

2

Michigan

Historical

Review

interesting

conversation,

and "marked kindness" from

many

acquaintances.3

The

strongest

impression

the

Schoolcrafts took

away

from their

visit

was

of

kindly

interest

in

Jane

and

Willy,

who

were

received

as

"another

Pocahontas"

and her

"bright

American

boy."4

In

making

a

family

excursion

to

the

great

eastern

city,

the Schoolcrafts

signaled

ambitions

within

a

wider

arena

beyond

their

village.

One

purpose

of

the

visit

was to

discuss

a

book

of Indian

oratory

on

which

Henry

intended

to

collaborate

with Samuel

Conant

and

in

which

Jane

may

have been involved.

The

other

was

to

improve

Henry's

political

contacts

in

Washington.

Henry

was ambitious for both literary and political fame, aswell as for the prospects

of

his

first

child,

William

Henry

Schoolcraft,

the

bright

American

boy.

For

both

parents,

their

sojourn

in

the

East

prompted

reflection

on

their

responsibilities

and their

future.

Sick

in

bed,

Jane

wrote

from

New

York

to

Henry

in

Washington

that she

was

unused

to

being

separated

from

him

and

missed him.

He

wrote to

her

of

his

prayer

that their

"sweet,

interesting

little

boy

[would]

be

permitted

to

grow

up

to

man's

estate,

and

...

that his mother

may

be

spared

to

nurture

him

up."

He

mused:

"What

an

interesting

chain

of

thought

is

connected

with

the

idea

of

a

home,

and

a

wife,

and

a

child."5

Inevitably, this chain of thought had

to

take account of the meaning of

Jane's

and

Willy's

mixed

race.

The

Schoolcrafts

were

starting

their

family

in

the shadow of

a

very

different model

of

family-building:

what

was

called

in

the

upper

Great Lakes la

fa?on

du

pays

or

"the

custom

of the

country."

Traditionally,

white

men

lived with and had children

by

Indian

or

mixed

blood

women,

only

to

leave their

families

behind

when

they

returned

east,

entrusting

them

to

other

men's

protection

or

abandoning

them

altogether.

Jane's

parents

were

unusual

in

the

permanence

of their

relationship,

but

even

they

did

not

formalize their

marriage

until she

was

twenty.6

In

visiting

the

East

together

as

a

family,

Jane

and

Henry

(who

were

properly

married

by

a

3

Jane

to

Henry,

12

and

22

Jan.

1825,

sheet

813,

828,

container

5,

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft

Papers (hereafter

Schoolcraft

Papers),

Manuscripts

Division

[available

on

microfilm],

Library

of

Congress.

4

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft,

The

Literary

VoyagerorMuzzeniegun,

ed.

Philip

Mason

(East

Lansing: Michigan

State

University

Press,

1962),

144-45

(no.

14,

28

Mar.

1827).

Years

later,

Henry

wrote

that

"to

introduce

a

descendant

of

one

of

the

native

race

into

society

. . .

was

not

an

ordinary

event,"

but that

"persons

of intellect and refinement

concurred in the wisdom of [his] choice" to marry Jane. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft,

Personal

Memoirs

of

a

Residence

of Thirty

Years

with

the

Indian Tribes

on

the

American

Frontiers

(Philadelphia:

Lippincott,

Grambo

and

Co.,

1851),

236.

5

Henry

to

Jane,

13

Jan.

1825,

sheet

817,

container

5,

Schoolcraft

Papers.

6

Brazer,

Harps

upon

the

Willows,

162.



5/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault

Ste. Marie

3

-%r*

inV$?.

Ht

j*pwWW*

Courtesy

of

the

Bentley

Historical

Library, University

of

Michigan

Jane

Johnston

Schoolcraft



6/25

4

Michigan

Historical

Review

visiting

clergyman)

broke the

custom

of the

country

and

expressed

their

determination

to start

a

family

that

was

just

as

legitimate

in

New

York

as

it

was

in Sault

Ste.

Marie.7

They

were

opposing

not

only

the

custom

of

the

country

but also the

direction

of

educated

opinion.

Jane's

and her children's mixed

ethnicity,

while

not

uncommon,

was a

subject

of

increasing

distrust. When

Jane

was

three

years

old,

President

Jefferson

predicted

that white

and Indian

people

would

"blend

together,

.

. .

intermix,

and

become

one

people."

But

during

her

lifetime

Americans

moved toward

a

harsher

theory

of racial boundaries.

By

the 1840s some scientists argued that amixed-race person was a "hybrid" of

biologically

separate

species,

"a

degenerate,

unnatural

offspring,

doomed

by

nature

to

work

out

its

own

destruction."8

During

the

years

of

Henry's

and

Jane's

marriage,

mixed-race

families

became

ever more

suspect.9

To build

a

secure

foundation for

their

family,

the

Schoolcrafts

used

whatever

resources

they

could

find.

They

looked

hopefully

to

Jane's

Chippewa

connections,

which

promised

substantial

support.

Her

dowry

of

2,000

pounds

(about

$10,000)

came

from

her

parents'

business

in

Chippewa

furs.10

She and

Henry

stood

to

enlarge

it

through

gifts

of land made

by

the

tribe

to

Jane andWilly

as

mixed-blood Chippewa. Jane also contributed

to

her

family's

fortunes

in

another

way:

by teaching

Henry

about

Chippewa

culture

and

folktales,

she laid the

foundation

for

Henry's

later

fame

as an

writer

about

Indians.

7

See

Jennifer

Brown,

Strangers

in

Blood:

Fur

Trade

Company

Families

in

Indian

Country

(Vancouver:

U.B.C.

Press,

1980); Sylvia

Van

Kirk,

"Many

Tender Ties":

Women

in

Fur-Trade

Society

inWestern

Canada,

1670-1870

(Winnipeg:

Watson &

Dwyer,

1980);

John

Mack

Faragher,

"The

Custom

of the

Country:

Cross-Cultural

Marriage

in

the

Far

Western Fur

Trade,"

inWestern Women: Their

Land,

Their

Lives,

ed. Lillian

Schlissel,

Vicki

Ruiz,

and

Janice

Monk

(Albuquerque,

NM:

University

of

New

Mexico

Press,

1988);

Lucy

Eldersveld

Murphy,

"To Live

among

Us:

Accommodation, Gender,

and

Conflict

in

the Western Great Lakes

Region,

1760-1832,"

in

Contact Points: American

Frontiers

from

the

Mohawk

Valley

to

the

Mississippi,

1750-1830,

ed. Andrew

R.

L.

Cayton

and

Fredricka

J.

Teute

(Chapel

Hill:

University

of

North Carolina

Press,

1998).

For

a

fascinating

interpretation

of

Jane's

mother's

marriage

as

the result of

a

vision-quest

see

Jacqueline

Peterson,

"Women

Dreaming:

The

Religiopsychology

of

IndianWhite

Marriages

and

the

Rise

of

a

M?tis

Culture,"

in

Western

Women,

49-68.

8

Thomas

Jefferson

and

Josiah

Nott,

quoted

in

Robert

Bieder,

"Scientific

Attitudes

Toward IndianMixed-Bloods inEarlyNineteenth Century America," Journal ofEthnic

Studies

8,

no.2

(1980):

17-30,

quotations

on

19,

24.

9

See

William

Stanton,

The

Leopard's

Spots: Scientific

Attitudes Toward

Race

in

America,

1815-59

(Chicago:

University

of

Chicago

Press,

1960).

10

Bremer,

Indian

Agent,

97.



7/25

The

Schoolcrafts of

Sault

Ste.

Marie

5

Courtesy

of the

Bentley

Historical

Library, University

of

Michigan

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft



8/25

6

Michigan

Historical

Review

This

essay

will

trace two

attempts

the

Schoolcrafts

made,

in

the

first

years

of

their

marriage,

to

turn

Jane's

Chippewa

inheritance into

a

family

asset.

These

attempts

were

quite

different,

one

in

the realm

of

literature,

the other

in

real

estate.

In

each

case,

however,

the

nature

of the

inheritance made

its

use

problematic.

For

Jane,

her

connection

to

the

Chippewa

culture

she

recorded

undermined her

position

as

a

genteel

woman

of

letters.

For

Willy,

his

connection

to

the

Chippewa

lands he

stood

to

receive

undermined his

future

as

a

citizen and

a man

of

property.

For

the

Schoolcrafts,

mother

and

son,

Indian

legacies

had

apparent

advantages

but hidden liabilities. To

follow

them

is to begin to unravel the question of race, and of mixed-race identity, in one

American

family.

In

their

correspondence

during

Henry's

periodic

travels

as

an

Indian

agent,

Jane

and

Henry

often

expressed

themselves

in

poetry.

"My

dearest

friend,"

Jane

wrote

Henry,

Say

do

thy

thoughts

e'er

turn

on

me?

As

mine

do

constantly

to

thee?

And

when

at

eve

in

deserts

wild

Do'st

thou think

on our

lovely

child?11

Henry

replied

that he

did,

and

urged

her

to

govern

their

child

Not

like

Juno,

or

like

Jove

But

by

tender

winning

Love.

He

expressed

confidence

in

her

childrearing

and

enumerated those

qualities

he

believed

equipped

her for the task:

"That

delicacy

of

sentiment,

modest

deportment,

equanimity

of

temper,

benevolence of

disposition, engaging

simplicity,

correct

taste,

and

good

understanding

which did

so

much

to

captivate

the

father,

will

certainly

suggest

the best mode of

directing

the

son."12

This

exchange

of

letters made

reference

to

a

style

of womanhood

which

both

Henry

and

Jane

valued.

It

encompassed

several

elements:

the

impulses

of

uncorrupted

nature;

the discernment that

came

from the

polish

of

culture;

the

dedication of

these

gifts

to

the

service

of her

family;

and

their

expression

through

the idioms

of

polite

literature.13

11

Jane

to

Henry,

4

July

1825,

sheet

881,

container

5,

Schoolcraft

Papers.

12

Henry

to

Jane,

27

July

1825,

sheet

889,

container

5,

Schoolcraft

Papers.

13

On

the

genteel

worldview

see

Richard

Bushman,

The

Refinement

of

America:

Persons, Houses,

Cities

(New

York:

Vintage

Books,

1992).



9/25

The

Schoolcrafts of

Sault

Ste. Marie

Everyone

who

met

Jane

was

struck

by

her

refinement.

Her

childhood

home,

the

Johnston

household

in

Sault

Ste.

Marie,

had

a

reputation

among

travelers

as an

outpost

of civilization

in

the wilderness.

Henry's

first

impression

of his future

in-laws,

whom he

met

while

on a

government

exploring

expedition

in

1820,

was

of the

"blandishments

of

refined

society,"

which he noted

in

his

published report.14

A succession

of other travelers

described the

Johnston

siblings

as

"polite,

.

.

.

well-educated

and

accomplished,"

"highly

accomplished,"

and

"most

accomplished

&

certainly

of

interesting

manners."15

Thomas

McKenney, Henry's

superior

in

the Indian

Office, wrote in 1826 that the conversation atMr. Johnston's table "would

have done honour

to

those clubs of which Addison and Steele

. .

.

formed

part,"

and that

Jane

was

fit

to

"take

a

first rank

among

the

best

improved,

whether

in

acquirements,

in

taste,

or

in

the

graces."16

Such visitors

typically equated

Jane's

refinement

with

education. Several

of

them

wrote

that

she had

been educated

in

Europe.

In

fact,

she had

only

visited

England

and Ireland

briefly

as a

young

girl,

but her

father had

taken

great

pains

with

her

education

at

home. "Under his

delicate

and well

timed

commendations

and

criticisms,"

wrote

Henry,

"she

not

only acquired

more

than

the ordinary proficiency

in

some

of

the branches of

an

English education

but

also

a

correct

judgment

and

taste

in

literary

merit."17

Henry

and

Jane

courted

by

exchanging

volumes of Oliver

Goldsmith's

poetry.18

For

Henry,

Jane's

education

was a

triumph

of culture

over

geography.

Praising

her

poetry,

he

wrote:

"When

...

we

add the limited

opportunities

of her

early

life,

and the

scenes

of

seclusion

[in]

which

so

much of her

time

had

been

14

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft,

Narrative

Journal

of

Travels

Through

the

Northwestern

Regions

of

theUnited States. . . in theYear 1820

[1821],

ed.Mentor Williams

(East

Lansing:

Michigan

State

College

Press,

1953),

95.

On

Jane's

household

as

a

regular

stop

for

travelers

see

Patricia

Jasen,

Wild

Things:

Nature,

Culture

and

Tourism

in Ontario

?Toronto:

University

of Toronto

Press,

1995),

86.

b

Journals

of

James

Doty

and

Charles

Trowbridge, printed

in

Schoolcraft,

Narrative

Journal,

412, 468;

Robert

McElroy

and Thomas

Riggs,

eds.,

The

Unfortified

Boundary:

A

Diary

of

the

First

Survey

of

the

Canadian

Boundary...

by JosephDelafield

[1822]

(New

York:

privately printed,

1943),

370.

16

Thomas

McKenney,

Sketches

of

a

Tour

to

the

Lakes,

of

the

Character and Customs

of

the

Chippeway

Indians,

and

of

Incidents Connected with the

Treaty of

Fond Du

Lac

(Baltimore: Fielding Lucas, 1827), 201, 185.

17

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft,"Notes

of

a

Memoir

of

Mrs.

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft,"

ed.

J.

Sharpless

Fox,

Michigan

Pioneer

andHistorical

Collections

36

(1908):

95-100,

quotation

on

96.

18

Brazer,

Harps

upon

the

Willows,

157.



10/25

8

Michigan

Historical

Review

passed,

we

think

there

is

still

greater

cause

to

appreciate

and

admire."19

Yet

there

was

another

way

to

assess

the

opportunities

of

Jane's

background;

refinement

had

its

springs

in

nature

as

well

as

in

culture.

Henry

also

wrote

that

"there is

a

naivete

in

her

productions

which is

often

the

concomitant of

taste

and

genius."20

And

Samuel

Conant,

Henry's

New York

collaborator

on

the

book of

Indian

oratory,

noted with

regard

to

Jane

that

"nature

herself,

not

less

than

the

culture of skillful

hands,

has much

to

do

with

the

refinement

and

polish

of

the mind."21

Anna

Jameson,

an

English

author

who

later

met

the

Schoolcrafts

while

touring

the West, saw in Jane not

polished

refinement but natural?or

Indian?domesticity.

She noted

Jane's

"native

taste

for

literature,"

but

suggested

a

different

literary

tradition from that

of

Oliver Goldsmith

in

her

description

of

Jane

"bending

over

her

sleeping

children,

waving

off the

mosquitoes, singing

all the

time

a

low,

melancholy

Indian

song."22

While other

travel

writers

had

ignored

Jane's

mother

Oshauguscoday

way

qua,

who

spoke

little

English,

Jameson

was

drawn

to

this

"genuine

Indian

squaw."

Jameson

wrote:

"Simply,

yet

with

something

of

motherly dignity,"

she

"did

the honors

of

her house with

unembarrassed,

unaffected

propriety."23

Jameson,

like

others,

saw

in Jane the

same

qualities for which Henry praised her in his letter

of

1825:

simplicity,

modesty,

delicacy,

taste.

But while

other writers

saw

these

traits

as

European

acquirements,

Jameson

depicted

them

as

virtues

characteristic

of

Jane's

Chippewa heritage.

The

same

question?that

of

the

relationship

between

Jane's

genteel

virtues

and

her

Chippewa

background?was

aired

in

the

pages

of "The

Literary

Voyager,"

a

family magazine

that

Henry

and

Jane

created

in

the

winter

of

1826-7.

They

did

not

publish

the

magazine

but circulated

it in

manuscript

among

their friends.

As

its

title

suggested,

it

was

the

literary

equivalent

of the

fur-trade

voyageurs

who

carried

European

goods

into

Indian

country

and

Indian wealth out of it. It was both a vehicle for

literary

culture in the

wilderness and

a

forum

for studies

in

language

and

culture.

It

laid

the

19

Literary

Voyager,

84,

no.

7

(Feb.

1827).

20

Ibid.

21

Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs, 236-37.

22

Anna

Jameson,

Winter

Studies and

Summer Rambles

in Canada

(London:

Saunders and

Otley,

1838),

2:148,214.

Here and elsewhere

I

have

not

added

an

ellipsis

when

omitting

the final words

of

a

quotation.

23

Ibid,

2:

224-25.



11/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault

Ste. Marie

9

groundwork

for

Henry's

later

success as

an

ethnographic

writer.24

Henry

wrote

the

bulk

of

the

magazine,

but

Jane

contributed

a

number

of

pieces

under

two

names,

"Rosa"

and

"Leelinau."

More than

mere

pen

names,

they

were

personae,

each

representing

a

different

version

of

Indian

identity.

"Rosa"

was

the Indian

self

as

described

by

Anna

Jameson:

dignified,

domestic, sentimental,

and

virtuous.

One

article,

over

the

signature

"R.

A

Native,"

described the

etiquette

of

Indian

feasts

and

noted

that "there

is

a

politeness existing

...

in

every

human

breast,

and that

an

Indian

feels

it

. .

.

as

well

as

the

most

refined

and

civilized

among

the

whites."25

Rosa

associated

herself, as "ANative," with Nature and the natural. In the first issue of the

"Literary

Voyager,"

she included

a

poem

"By

an

Ojibwa

Female

Pen,"

inviting

her sisters

to

enjoy

the

fresh

air

after

a

rainshower and

comparing

it

to

a

divine

"breeze

of

hope"

opening "through

sorrow's

clouds."26

A

later

contribution,

entitled "Lines

to

a

Friend

Asleep,"

invited

her

hearer outdoors

in

the

morning

when

Nature

is

clad

in

best

array,

The

woods,

the

fields,

the

flowers

are

gay.

As

in

the earlier

poem,

she concluded with

an

invitation

With

joyful

hearts,

and

pious lays,

To

join

the

glorious

Maker's

praise.

. .

.27

Rosa's

poems

combined

a

European

idiom with

an

assertion

of

Indianness;

her

posture

of

invitation

suggested

that

as

part

Indian

she

had

a

special

or

proprietary

relationship

to

Nature and

to

Nature's

God.

If "Rosa"

was one

statement

of

Jane's

sense

of her

own

Indianness,

another

was

"Leelinau."

Jane

used this

persona

to

communicate

not

the

universal

sentiments of

natural

religion

but rather

the

exotic

culture and

folktales of the

Chippewa people.

In

the

first

issue of

the

magazine,

when

24

See Vernon

Kinietz,

"Schoolcraft's

Manuscript Magazines,"

Papers

of

the

Bibliographical

Society

of

American

(1941):

151-54.

Although

the Schoolcrafts left "The

Literary

Voyager"

in

manuscript,

it

has been collected and

published

in

a

modern

edition

by

Philip

Mason,

which

is

the

version

I

cite

in

this article.

(See

note

4

above.)

25

Literary Voyager, 48, no. 4 (12 Jan. 1827). The author is not identified but is

probably

Jane

writing

as

Rosa,

since

no

other

name

beginning

with

"R"

appears

in

the

magazine.

26Ibid,8,no.

1

(Dec. 1826).

27

Ibid,

71,

no.

5

(Jan. 1827).



12/25

10

Michigan

Historical

Review

?WOOW^jfj

?FstL


13/25

The

Schoolcrafts ofSault

Ste. Marie

11

Henry

introduced both

personae,

he

contrasted

Rosa's

"chasteness"

and

"pleasing

versification"

with Leelinau's

more

serious

"investigation

of Indian

history

and

traditions."28

He later

noted

that

Leelinau's

contributions derived

"additional

interest"

from "the

position

she

occupie[d]

between

the

European

and

aboriginal

races."29

One

of

Leelinau's contributions

was

"Moowis,"

a

Chippewa

folktale

which

stood

out

sharply

from

the

magazine's

largely

sentimental fare.

It

told

the

story

of

a

Chippewa

"beau"

who visited

a

"belle"

in

her bed

at

night

and

was

rebuffed.

Humiliated,

the beau

refused

to

accompany

the other

villagers

when they moved camp at the onset of winter. Alone on the dirty and

abandoned

village

site,

he constructed

a

magical

figure

of trash and human

feces.

[He]

gathered

all the bits

of

clothing,

and

ornaments

of

beads and

other

things,

that had been left.

He

then

made

a

coat

and

leggins

of

the

same,

nicely

trimmed

with

the

beads,

and the

suit

was

fine

and

complete.

.

. .

He

then collected the dirt of the

village,

and filled the

garments

he had

made,

so as

to

appear

as

a

man,

and

put

the bow

and

arrows

in its hands, and it

came

to

life.

The

figure

followed

the beau

to

the

villagers'

new

camp.

The

villagers

were

drawn

to

the

figure,

although

when

it

came

close

to

the

fire

they

smelt

it

and

said

"some

one

has trod

on,

and

brought

in

dirt."

But

the

belle

fell

in

love

with

the

figure.

She

brought

it

home

with her that

night.

In

the

morning

the

figure

told the

belle,

"I

must

go

away."

She

followed

behind.

But

the

figure

walked

so

fast

that

she

could

only

see

its

footprints

in

the

snow.

When the

sun rose

high,

she

found one

of

his mittens

and

picked

it

up,

but

to

her

astonishment,

found

it

full

of

dirt.

She,

however took

it

and

wiped

it,

and

going

on

further,

she

found

the other

mitten in

the

same

condition. She

thought,

"fie

why

does

he do

so,"

thinking

he dirtied in them. She

kept

finding

different

articles of his

dress,

on

the

way

all

day,

in

the

same

condition.

By

evening,

she had collected all the

dirty

clothes,

and

the

day's

sunshine

had

softened the

snow

both

ahead and

behind

her.

"She

began

to

cry,

not

knowing

28

Ibid,

5,

no.

l(Dec.

1826).

29Ibid,

38-39,

no.

3

(Jan.

1827).



14/25

12

Michigan

Historical

Review

where

to

go,

as

their track

was

lost,

on

account

of

the snow's

melting.

She

kept

crying

Moowis has led

me

astray.

..."

Alone

in

the

winter

wilderness,

the belle

was

left

to

die.30

This

story

of

sexual

revenge

and

a

homunculus

of

human "dirt"

was

strikingly

different

from

the

poetry

of

Rosa. One

appeal

was

conventional,

the other

exotic;

the

one

suggested

a common

ground

between white and

Indian

culture

which

the

other denied.

Rosa's "Nature"

is

benevolent,

but

Nature in

"Moowis" is

Winter,

killing

anyone

who leaves the

group,

and

its

supernatural

force

is

a

dark

magic

that

betrays

the

belle into

filth

and death.

The genre of the folktale and the persona of Leelinau gave Jane license to

address

topics

she

might

have

thought

too

coarse or

shocking

to

write about

in

her

own

voice.

The

context

for

this tale

was

Henry's

ethnographic

research.

As

Indian

Agent, Henry

considered

himself

as

much

a

scholar

as

an

administrator. While

other

ethnologists

studied

ancient

ruins

and

the skulls

of different

races,

Henry's

particular

interest

was

linguistic

and

cultural.

He

was

fascinated

by

the "oral

fictitious

lore"

to

be

found

"in

the

circle of

Chippewa

wigwams."

Henry

was

to

make

his

reputation by

collecting

and

publishing

folktales

such

as

"Moowis."31

In

Henry's

ethnographic

career,

Jane

played

a

crucial role. She could

translate from

Chippewa,

a

language

Henry

never

mastered.

She also

gave

him

entr?e

into the circle

of

Chippewa

wigwams.

The

folktales

represented

to

Henry

the Indians' realm of

"feelings

and

affections."32

As

a

recently

arrived

government

functionary,

he could have but little

access

to

that

intimate realm.

But

by

marrying

Jane

he entered "the

only

family

in

northwest

America

who

could,

in

Indian

lore,

have acted

as

my

*

guide, philosopher,

and friend.'"33

Henry

did much of his research inside the

Johnston

house,

a

comfortable

substitute

for

actual

wigwams.

But

during

a

trip along

the south

shore

of Lake

Superior

in

1824,

he found that his connection to

Jane's

mother and her

family

won

him

"a

degree

of confidence

and

cordiality by

the

Indians,

which

30

Ibid,

56-57,

no.

4

(12

Jan.

1827).

31

Schoolcraft,

Personal

Memoirs,

196.

See William

M.

Clements,

"Schoolcraft

as

Textmaker,"

Journal

of

American

Folklore

103

(1990):

177-92.

For

contemporary

efforts

in

physical anthropology

see

Bernard

Peters,

"Indian-Grave

Robbing

at

Sault

Ste.

Marie, 1826,"Michigan Historical Review 23, no. 2 (Fall 1997): 49-80; Stanton, The

Leopard's

Spots,

24-44.

For

the

study

of

ruins

see

Dippie,

Catlin

and His

Contemporaries,

234.

32

Schoolcraft,

Personal

Memoirs,

196.

33

Ibid,

107-8

(journal

entry,

28

July 1822).



15/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault Ste.

Marie

13

[he]

had

not

expected."34

In

"Moowis,"

as

in the

"Nature"

poems,

Jane

claimed

authority by

virtue

of her Indian

background.

Where

Rosa

served

as

Indian

guide

to

the

beauties

of

Nature,

Leelinau

was a

guide

into

the

wigwams.

But

the

nature

of

the

authority

was

very

different.

First,

as a

native

informant,

Jane

had

authority

without

authorship.

There

was

undoubtedly

a

creative

aspect

to

her

work,

and the

"Literary Voyager"

gave

her

pseudonymous

credit

for

"Moowis"

just

as

for the

poems.

But

Henry

did

not

credit her when

he

published

her

folktales

in

book

form.35

Ultimately,

Jane

was

just

one

link in

a

chain of

transmission from the anonymous Chippewa wigwams toHenry Wadsworth

Longfellow,

who later reworked material from

Henry's

books

into

Tloe

Song

of

Hiawatha?6

There

was

another

difference

between the claims

Jane

made

as

Rosa and

as

Leelinau.

In

switching

from

one

persona

to

the

other,

Jane

surrendered her

claim

to

a

Christian

moral

authority.

The values

of

the

Nature

poems

were

accessible

to

white

readers;

those of

"Moowis"

were

not.

As transmitter

of

"Moowis"?as

a

"half-breed"

able

to

understand the

story's

language

and

logic,

as

someone

to

whom

such

a

tale

was

not

alien,

but

familiar?Jane

became

a

disturbingly foreign figure. She

left

behind both the gentility of Jane Johnston

and the

chasteness

of

Rosa.

During

the months

when

Jane

was

experimenting

with her

part-Indian

identity

in

the

"Literary

Voyager,"

she

and

her

infant

son were

in

expectation

of

a

tangible

benefit from

the Indian

side

of her

family.

In

August

1826

Henry

had

traveled

to

the

far end

of

Lake

Superior

to

help

negotiate

the

treaty

of

Fond du Lac.

Congress

wanted

to

define

the

Chippewa-Sioux

boundary

and

to

obtain the

right

to

mine

copper

on

Chippewa

land;

the

Chippewa,

their

national lands still

largely

intact,

agreed

in

exchange

for

government

annuities.

They

also decided to award allotments of tribal land to "half-breeds ... in

consideration of

the

affection

they

bear

to

these

persons,

and of the

interest

which

they

feel

in

their

welfare."

Land

grants

to

individuals

were

common

in

contemporary

Indian

treaties,

owing

both

to

the

interested motives

of

34

Ibid,

194

(journal

entry,

30

May 1824).

35

"Moowis,

or

the

Man

Made

up

of

Rags

and

Dirt,"

in

Henry

R.

Schoolcraft,

Western Scenes

and

Reminiscences:

Together

with

Thrilling

Legends

and Traditions

of

the

Red Men of theForest (Buffalo,NY: Derby, Orton & Mulligan, 1853), 164-67. In this

later

version

both the sexual and the excremental

aspects

of

the

story

were

toned

down.

36

See

Chase Osborn and Stellanova

Osborn,

Schoolcraft,

Longfellow,

Hiawatha

(Lancaster,

PA:

Jacques

Cattell,

1942);

Helen

Carr,

"The

Myth

of

Hiawatha,"

Literature

and

History

12

(1986):

58-78.



16/25

14

Michigan

Historical

Review

negotiators

and

to

a

need

to

provide

for relatives

of

a

tribe

who

were no

longer

part

of

it.

The

treaty

of

Fond du Lac

included

a

list of

some

forty-five

Chippewa

women

married

to

white

men,

each of whom

was

to

receive

land

for herself and

her

children.

Jane's

mother,

Oshauguscoday

way qua

headed the

list and

was

the

only

one

to

receive

a

further allotment for

each

grandchild.

Her

family's

lands?which

included 640

acres

each for

Jane

and her

son

Willy?were

to

be

on

Sugar

Island,

a

prime

location for

the

production

of

maple

sugar.37

Henry

Schoolcraft,

as

Indian

Agent

for

Lake

Superior,

helped negotiate

the treaty which was to enrich his wife and son. By including them under the

name

of

Oshauguscodaywayqua (a

name

probably

unfamiliar

in

Washington,

D.C.)

he

masked his

conflict of

interest.

But

even

though

his

subterfuge

was

not

exposed,

the

Senate

struck down the "half-breed"

land

grants

while

ratifying

the

rest

of the

treaty.38

In

the

eyes

of

the

Schoolcrafts,

the

intended

grants

to

Jane

and her

child

appeared

not

as

corrupt

profiteering

but

as a

legitimate

inheritance.

Henry

always

emphasized

his

family's

"diverse

sources

of

pride

of

ancestry,"

which

included

Oshauguscodaywayqua's

father

Waubojeeg,

a

Chippewa

leader

whom Henry called "the ruling chief of the region,.

. .

another Powhatan."39

(Jane,

more

modestly,

called

him "a chief of

fame,"

raised

by

his

own

talents

to

a

"simple

forest

throne."40)

Given this

distinguished background,

the

generous

land

grant

must

have

seemed

only

fair,

a

kind

of

royal

inheritance.

The

Sugar

Island

estate,

furthermore,

was

well chosen.

As the fur

trade

was

rapidly

stripping

the beaver

from the

Chippewa

lands,

the

region's

economic

future

would lie

with renewable

resources

such

as

maple

sugar.41

37

"Treaty

With

the

Chippewa,

1826,"

Article

4

in

Indian

Affairs:

Laws

and

Treaties, vol. 2, ed. Charles

Kappler

(Washington:

GPO,

1904),

268-73.

38

Quotation

from

ibid.

Article

7.

The

ratification

proceedings

are

in

Senate

Journal,

19th

Cong,

2nd

sess,

5

Jan.

and

11

Jan.

1827,

307-9.

Although

they

were never

ratified,

the

half-breed land

grants

repeatedly appeared

in

the

published

text

of the

treaty:

American

State

Papers:

Indian

Affairs,

vol.

2

(Washington:

Gales and

Seaton,

1834),

677-78;

?7.5.Statutes

at

Large,

vol.

7

(Washington,

1848),

290-95;

Kappler,

Indian

Affairs,

272-73.

See

Bremer,

Indian

Agent,

74,

and

Robert

Keller,

"The

Chippewa

Treaties

of

1826

and

1836,"

American

Indian

Journal

9,

no.

3

(1986):

27-32.

39

Schoolcraft,

Personal

Memoirs,

236;

Henry

Rowe

Schoolcraft,

Summary

Narrative

of

an

Exploratory Expedition

to

the Sources

of

the

Mississippi

River,

in

1820

(Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co, 1855), 77n.

40Literary

Voyager,

138-9,

no.

13

(10

Mar.

1827).

41

An

Indian

agent

in

1843

estimated

the annual value of

Chippewa

sugar

above

that of

Chippewa

furs.

In

season

maple

sugar

made

up

as

much

as

one-sixth

of

the local

food

supply.

Robert

Keller,

"An

Economic

History

of Indian Treaties

in

the

Great



17/25

The

Schoolcrafts of

Sault

Ste. Marie

15

Flenry

Schoolcraft had

no

patrimony

of his

own

to

leave his

son

and would

not

get

rich

on

government

pay.

He

and

Jane

hoped

to

see

their

son

well

launched

in

the

world

on

the varied

gifts

of his mixed

background:

a

precocious

intelligence,

a

"face of

the

purest

Caucasian

whiteness"42

from his

three

white

grandparents,

and

640

acres

of

sugar

maples

from

Oshauguscodaywayqua.

One

of

Willy's

assets,

however,

his

full

citizenship

under the

government

which his

father

served,

was

open

to

challenge.

In

the

year

before

the

treaty,

Henry

was

involved

in

a

political

controversy

over

whether mixed-race

men

had the

right

to vote. In the 1825 election for

Michigan's

territorial

delegate

to

Congress,

most

of

the

votes

from Sault

Ste. Marie

village

went to

one

candidate,

a

land

office

clerk named

John

Biddle who

was a

political ally

of

Henry

Schoolcraft.

Biddle beat the other

two

candidates

in

the

election,

defeating

his

nearest

rival,

Austin

Wing,

by

just

seven

votes.

Wing's

allies

protested,

claiming

that the

votes

from

Sault

Ste. Marie

should

not

have been

counted

since

some

of

the

voters

were

part

Indian.

By

law the

Michigan

franchise

was

reserved

for

white

men.43

A

two-man

Board

of

Canvassers

met to

examine the

question.

They

received affidavits from Sault Ste. Marie regarding the mixed-race voters.

Wing's

supporters

claimed that these

voters

were

"assimilated

entirely

to

Indians

of

the

full

blood,

and

[had]

no

habits

in

common

with the white

population," living

by

hunting

and

fishing

instead of

farming.44

Schoolcraft

indignantly

replied

that

"persons

of mixed

blood,

usually

called half-breeds"

were

"assimilated

in

their

manners

and

customs to

the

most

favored

class

of

citizens,"

resembling

white Americans

in their

clothing, religion,

language,

and

employment.45

Lakes

Region,"

American

Indian

Journal

5,

no.

1

(Feb. 1978):

2-20,

statistics

from

6,11.

42

"Notice

of

William

Henry

Schoolcraft,"

Literary

Voyager,

144,

no.

14

(28

Mar.

1827).

43

See

Wallace

Genser,

"'Habitants,'

'Half-Breeds,'

and

Homeless Children:

Transformations

in

M?tis andYankee-Yorker

Relations

in

Early

Michigan,"

Michigan

Historical Review

24,

no.

1

(1998):

23-48;

William

Dunbar,

Michigan:

A

History

of

the

Wolverine State

(Grand

Rapids:

Eerdmans,

1965),

276-80.

On

the

history

of

part-Indian,

mixed-race

voting

rights

see

Jeremy

Mumford,

"M?tis

and the Vote

in

Nineteenth

Century

America:

A

Westward

Journey,"

Journal

of

the

West

(forthcoming).

44

"AReport of theProceedings inRelation to the Contested Election forDelegate

to

the

Nineteenth

Congress,

from the

Territory

of

Michigan

. . .

,"

[1825]

in

The

Territorial

Papers

of

the United

States,

vol.

9,

The

Territory ofMichigan

1820-1829,

ed.

Clarence Edwin

Carter

(Washington:

GPO,

1945),

742.

45

Ibid,

752.



18/25

16

Michigan

Historical

Review

The

two

board

members

found

themselves unable

to

agree

on

whether

people

of

mixed blood could

ever

have

the

right

to vote.

One

argued

that

"no

one,

having

any

Indian

blood

in

his

veins,

can

be

entitled

to vote.

. .

.

Education

does

not

alter

the

cast,

nor

any

mixture of

blood

constitute

of

a

part

Indian,

a

'free,

white

citizen.

'"

The other

member

disagreed.

He

described

a

hypothetical

mixed-blood

man

who lived with and

in

the

manner

of

white

Americans and

was

"in

a

condition of

estrangement

from

all nations

and tribes

of

Indians"?

"should

such

a

case

occur,"

he

concluded,

that

man

might

be

allowed

to

vote.46

The controversy went to theHouse Committee on Elections, which took

up

the

"very

delicate

and

important" question

of

mixed-blood

voting.

The

committee

sided with the second

member of

the territorial Board

of

Canvassers,

declaring

that

a

mixed-blood

man

who

was

"assimilated

to,

and

associated

with,

the

great

body

of

the civilized

community"

could

vote.

If

he

was

associated with

an

Indian

tribe,

however,

"it

would be

a

prostitution

of

the character

of

an

American

citizen"

to

let that

man

vote.47

Though

the

point

of

law

was

somewhat

doubtful,

it

appeared

that the infant William

Henry

Schoolcraft

might

grow

into

full

political membership

in

his

country.

For

Henry Schoolcraft,

an

ambitious

federal

official,

it

was

vitally important

that

Willy's

racial

background

not

limit

him

to

second-class

citizenship.

The

decision

of

Congress,

it

seemed,

would

ensure

him

full

citizenship.

Yet

Henry's

strategy

of

acquiring

land for

Willy

at

the

treaty

of Fond du

Lac

put

the child's

full

citizenship

in

jeopardy.

The

half-breed land

grants

were

designed

precisely

to

tie

mixed-blood

and

full-blood

Chippewa

more

closely together,

to

prevent

what

the

Michigan

canvassers

called

"estrangement

from

all

nations

and

tribes

of

Indians."48

In

justifying

the

grants,

Henry

argued

that mixed-race

Chippewa

were

the tribe's

"best and

most

constant

friends."49

Thomas

McKenney,

the

Superintendent

of Indian

Affairs who

supervised

the

treaty,

was more

specific:

the allotments would

enable

the

half-breeds

to

"grow

potatoes

and other

things,

and be able

to

feed,

in

part,

the Indians

of the

lake."50

46

Ibid,

731.

47

House

Committee

on

Elections,

Michigan

Election,

19th

Cong,

1st

sess.

13

Feb.

1826,

H.

Rept.

69.

The

Sault

Ste.

Marie

votes

were

rejected

on

other

grounds,

however,

and the election

went

to

Austin

Wing.

48

"Report of the Proceedings in Relation to the Contested Election," 731.

49

Literary

Voyager,

30-31,

no.

2

(Dec.

1826);

Schoolcraft,

Personal

Memoirs,

244

(journal

entry

from

10

July

1826).

50

McKenney,

Sketches

of

a

Tour

to

the

Lakes,

376n

(journal

entry

from

21

Aug.

1826).



19/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault

Ste. Marie

17

n

a

a

a

o

H

U

C$

Q

a

o

a

o



20/25

18

Michigan

Historical

Review

Willy's

land

on

Sugar

Island

was

not

intended for

potatoes

but for the

more

lucrative

production

of

maple

sugar.

As

such,

it

was an

invitation

into

his Indian

grandmother's

family

business.

Oshauguscodaywayqua

had

been

making

sugar

on

a

large

scale for

years.

Henry

visited her

sugar

camp

in

1823

and

observed

that "the whole

air

of the

place

resembled that

of

a

manufactory."51

She made

over

a

ton

of

sugar

each

spring,

which

was

her main

source

of income after

her husband's death.

The

maple

sugar,

often

set

in small

baskets

called

mokkuks,

was

a

characteristic

Chippewa product.

Oshauguscodaywayqua

doted

on

her

grandson;

Henry

and

Jane

wrote

that

she

"never failed to address him in the native

tongue

.. .

[calling

him] penaysee or

little

Bird."52

She

may

have

requested

the

clause

in

the Fond du

Lac

treaty

which

designated

Jane's

and

Willy's

allotments

on

Sugar

Island

precisely

in

order

to

have

them

nearby.

The

purpose

of

the

land

grant

was

not to

estrange

him

from the

Chippewa

tribe but

to

tie

him

to

it.

One

of

the land

grant's

provisions,

in

particular,

might

have

undermined

Willy's

claims

to

full

citizenship:

the

treaty

forbade

the

recipients

from

selling

their

land

except

by permission

of

the

president.53

This

provision

had

symbolic

as

well

as

practical

significance.

Private

property

was at

the heart of

how Americans understood both civilization and citizenship. Henry himself,

in

arguing

that the

half-breed

voters

of 1825

were

white

in

the

eyes

of

the

law,

wrote

that

they adopted

"the

maxims

of

civilized communities

with

regard

to

the

rights

of individuals

and

the

acquirement

and

possession

of

property."54

In

seeking

to

endow

Willy

with

Indian

lands

that

he

(like

the

Chippewa

tribe)

had the

right

to

hold but

not to

sell,

Henry

and

Oshauguscodaywayqua

undermined the

child's

membership

and

citizenship

in

a

"civilized"

community.

For

Willy

the

question

proved

moot.

In

March

1827,

two

months

after

the Senate

rejected

his

ambiguous

inheritance

on

Sugar

Island,

Willy

suddenly

became

sick with

croup

and died. After

building

up

so

many

dreams on "the

interesting

chain

of

thought...

connected

with

the

idea

of

a

home,

and

a

wife,

and

a

child,"

both

parents

became

deeply depressed.

They

went

on

to

have

two

more

children:

Jane

Susan

Anne

Schoolcraft,

called

Janee,

born

in

1827,

and

51

Personal

Memoirs,

162-63

(journal

entry

from

26Mar.

1823).

52

Literary Voyager,

146,

no.

14

(28

Mar.

1827).

53

Indian

Affairs:

Laws

and

Treaties,

2:

269.

54Deposition of John Agnew and Henry Schoolcraft, in "Report of the

Proceedings

in

Relation

to

the Contested

Election,"

752. On

the

historical

relationship

between freehold

property,

male

authority,

and

political

citizenship,

see

Nancy

F.

Cott,

"Marriage

and

Women's

Citizenship

in

the United

States,"

American Historical

Review

103

(1998):

1440-74.



21/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault

Ste. Marie

19

John

Johnston

Schoolcraft,

called

Johnston,

born

in 1829. But

the

fresh

hopes

of

the

Schoolcrafts'

early marriage

did

not

return.

In

1830,

while

traveling

to

the

session

of

the

territorial

legislature

in

Detroit,

Henry

had

a

religious

conversion.

He

joined

the

Presbyterian

church,

gave

up

card

playing,

and

began

reading

Calvin.

Religion

became

a

primary

force

in

Henry's

life,

and he

helped

bring

about

a

revival the

following

winter

in

the

village

of Sault

Ste. Marie

by paying

for

the

establishment

of

a

Presbyterian

minister

there.

But

Henry's

new

faith

did

not

bring

him

closer

to

his

family.

In

fact,

he believed that William

Henry's

death

was

just

retribution for the fact that he and Jane had loved the child too much and had

committed the

sin

of

"idolatry."

He

loved his

younger

children

and

hoped

that

his

second

son

would

grow

up

to

be

a

minister.

But

Henry

was

in

no

danger

of

repeating

his "idolization."55

Henry

came

to

distrust

the

Indian

part

of

Jane's

background. Shortly

after

the

beginning

of

his

conversion?which took

place, significantly,

while

they

were

apart?he

wrote

to

her about the

state

of her

soul.

Her

upbringing

had

been

sadly

deficient,

he

warned,

since

she

had

been

"brought

up

in

a

remote

place,

without

any

thing

which

deserves the

name

of

a

regular

education,

. . .

without

a

mother, inmany things,

to

direct, & with

an

overkind father, who

saw

every

thing

in

the fairest

light."56

In

Henry's

new

frame of

reference,

salvation demanded

a

strict

training

in

Christian

doctrine

and

practice.

Sault

Ste. Marie's

remoteness

from civilization

impeded

Christian

education;

and

having

a

Chippewa

mother,

he

seemed

to

say,

was

as

bad

as

having

no

mother

at

all.

In

discounting

any

positive

influence from

Oshauguscodaywayqua,

Henry

surrendered

one

of

the

translation

projects

undertaken

in

their

marriage.

He

no

longer

looked

for

genteel

womanhood?for

"delicacy

of

sentiment"

and

"correct taste"?in

the

joint

heritage

of

Rosa

and

Leelinau.

The

family

moved

to

Mackinac

in 1833

so

that

the

children

could

attend

a

Presbyterian

school;

three

years

later

they

moved to Detroit when

Henry

was

appointed

Michigan's

Superintendent

of

Indian

Affairs.

Jane

was

unhappy

away

from her

village

and

family,

and

she

found herself unwelcome

in

society.57

A

man

who

met

the Schoolcrafts

in

Detroit,

where

they

shared

a

boarding

house

with the

governor,

recalled that

Jane

"did

not

often

appear

at

^

Bremer,

Indian

Agent,

chaps.

6

and

8.

The

religious

revivals

throughout

Michigan

in

1830-31

were

part

of

a

nationwide

movement,

centered

in

the "Burned

Over District" of western New York from which many Michigan immigrants had

come.

56

Henry

to

Jane,

Thanksgiving

1830,

quoted

in

Brazer,

Harps

upon

the

Willows,

228.

57

Jane

to

Henry,

12

Oct.

1833,

sheet

2015,

container

11,

Schoolcraft

Papers.



22/25

20

Michigan

Historical

Review

the

table,

though

well-educated

in

England

and

a

real

lady

in

her

manners.

When she found herself

cut

by

some

of the

white ladies

when

at

Washington,

she could

never

get

over

it,

but rather retired

from

company."58

Jane's

snubbing

was

part

of

a

regional

pattern.

The

daughters

of Indian

women

and

Anglo

officials

and

traders

grew

up

as

the

first ladies

of the

fur

trade

country.

Jane

had been that

in

Sault

Ste.

Marie,

where

so

many

visitors

at

her father's

table

had admired her

grace

and

accomplishments.

Her

marriage

to

a

rising

government

official

might

have assured her

place

in

society

had she

stayed

in

Sault Ste.

Marie:

as

late

as

1831

there

were

only

two

married

women

there not of Indian descent.59 But in the

larger

settlements,

white ladies were

beginning

to

arrive;

for

them,

"half-breeds"

were

a

lesser

caste,

unfit

to

be

known

or

visited.

Henry

offered

Jane

little

support

in

this trial.

Anxious

about

the lack

of Christian

culture

in

Michigan,

he had himself

hoped

for the

arrival of "females of

various

European

or

American

lineages,

from educated

and

refined

circles."60

Jane,

furthermore,

was

not

well.

Her

health had been

poor

for much

of

her

life;

even

during

their

stay

in

New York

in 1824

she had

spent

many

days

in

bed.

In

Mackinac

in

1835

she

came

down with

whooping cough,

for which

she took the opium derivative laudanum. She remained a semi-invalid and

dependent

on

the

drug

(then

widely prescribed)

to

get

through

the

day.

She

and

Henry

sent

the

children

to

boarding

school

in

the

East. The

family

suffered further blows.

Henry,

caught

up

in

the

western

land boom of the

mid-1830s,

invested

heavily

in

Detroit real

estate

and

lost

most

of the

family's

savings

when

the

market

collapsed

in 1837.

Then

as

an

outspoken

Democrat

he

lost

his

position

when

a

Whig

administration

took

over

in

1841.

The

next

year,

with the

family

scattered?Henry

in

England

trying

to

publish

a

book,

Jane

visiting

her

sister

in

Ontario,

the children

in

school

in

Albany?Jane

suddenly

died. She

was

only

forty-two.61

Henry

struggled

to

regain

a

government

position

in Indian

Affairs.

Attempting

to

trade

on

his

children's

Indian

background,

he

wrote

a

sponsor:

"I

know

no

other

means

to

get

bread

for

my

children,

&

you

must

recollect

58

Autobiography of

John

Ball

[1925],

in

Recollections

of

the

Early Republic:

Selected

Autobiographies,

ed.

Joyce

Appleby

(Boston:

Northeastern

University

Press,

1997),

37.

Thanks

to

An

wen

Hughes

for this reference.

59

Bremer,

Indian

Agent,

104.

60

Quoted inRobert Bieder, Science Encounters theIndian, 1820-1880: The Early

Years

of

American

Ethnology

(Norman:

University

of Oklahoma

Press,

1986),

166.

See

Van

Kirk,

"Many

Tender

Ties"-,

idem,

"'The

Reputation

of

a

Lady':

Sarah Ballenden

and

the

Foss-Pelly

Scandal,"

Manitoba

History

11

(Spring

1986):

4-11.

61

Bremer,

Indian

Agent,

196-206, 216-21,

255.



23/25

The

Schoolcrafts

of

Sault

Ste.

Marie

21

that

they

are

of

that

race,

who have

peculiar

claims

on

this branch

of

the

government."62

Eventually

his

efforts

succeeded: he

won an

appropriation

from

Congress

to

conduct

a

large-scale

statistical

study

of Indians

in

all

parts

of the

United

States which he

published

in

six massive

volumes

from

1851

to

1857.

Due

to

his

own

declining

health,

his

lack

of

system,

and the

rapid

publication

schedule mandated

by

Congress,

he

produced

a

study

that

was

too

disorganized

to

be

of

much

use

to

either

scholars

or

administrators.

It

won

him

fame

but little

respect.63

Around the

time

Henry

moved

to

Washington

to

begin

his

government

study, he married a second wife, Mary Howard, a southern slaveowner. Her

deep

belief

in

slavery

was

informed

by

the

new

scientific

theory

of

race

that

by

midcentury

had become

the

"American

School

of

Ethnology."

This held

that

races were

separate

species, essentially

different

and

unfit

to

intermarry.

Consequently,

as

she

concluded,

mixed-race

unions

were

"sins

against

the laws

of

Nature,"

the children

subject

to

1999 Mixed-Race Identity in a Nineteenth-Century Family

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Transcript of 1999 Mixed-Race Identity in a Nineteenth-Century Family