The caste system of the world is complicated - Isabel Wilkerson's book, Caste, is so very helpful in doing some of the unraveling. I just so value people like you and her who are enabling the light to shine through the cracks.
So much of history is obscured by misspellings, misunderstandings, and biases. I think you are being hard on yourself - something didn't feel right, and you kept digging. It's a testament to your perseverance as a researcher that you reconciled a misattribution.
This isn't being hard on myself, this turns out to be rewarding. What's hard is eating humble pie and admitting when I'm wrong. I'm not alone in finding that to be the hard work of discerning myth from reality.
In my research on Leonora I had two bad data points — that her mother was honor granger. When indeed her mother is Honora Brown. The other woman was her step mother — whose name is on the cemetery tombstone. (No idea where the mother is buried). My other bad data point was Leonora was baptized as Honora. When I found the mom I found her records.
Honora. Leonora. Dreveau. Duncan. Spelling matters. Kakaygeesick. Ka-Kee-Ka-Kee-Sick. Gah Gay Keshig. Ka-ge-gi-jig. Ka-kay-geezhig. Kage gejig. It's like a crossword puzzle in that you gets clues from the intersections of things. Even more so beyond spelling data points. I enjoyed reading your account of Leonora. Thanks for reading!
I think all kinds of things contribute to what is perhaps our early naivete about just about everything - some of us had teachers, parents and others who taught us to "challenge" what we were learning, but many of us at least of my age operated with a lot (probably too much) trust that we were being taught truths. I certainly don't recall challenging or critiquing the absurd history I was taught. I drank the Koolaide. Unlearning is hard work. Think about this: I didn't even learn who Jeannette Rankin was until I moved to Georgia and happened to befriend a woman here who worked for her when she lived in Watkinsville. The first woman elected to the US Congress was not even a footnote in any of my history textbooks.
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage by marriage
I loved this piece... But not the undeserved self doubt or criticism. Much like when you first doubted Kakaygeesick's age, then and now you dug deeper. I think this is evidence in support of your humanness. Bias is ingrained in all of us. It's not about some personal deficiency, it's not a failure unique to some and not others. It's part of how we are ALL wired. The neuroscience about this universal truth is unequivocal, and the only way we reduce bias is to do what you do: admit it, challenge yourself, search outside your assumptions etc etc. you DO ALL OF THAT. These substack posts are living written proof that this is who you are. Somebody who challenges the surface story, the mainstream narratives, and is diligent in using her resources to bring to herself and the rest of us the honest, at times complex and nuanced, at times uncomfortable stories that would otherwise remain untold, and mysteries that would otherwise remain unsolved. Thank you for taking the time and energy to go down these research rabbit holes, God knows I'm not going to and yet I'm better for knowing what you have written and taught us. Thank you for being so honest and human as to admit potential bias. Thank you for trusting us with that. Because I just know your admission will help me do the same.
Thank you for your work in discovering this example of erasure of the indigenous people's names and lineage. It certainly fits with my understanding of prejudice and even consistent with the Hollywood movies which depicted "Half-breeds," with shame.
I know it fits with my unacknowledged assimilation of those messages. I knew all the lyrics to Cher's song but I had no idea what "half-breed" really meant or the harm it caused.
This passage from information you sent reveals a little of what I mean by "regard." "Bea BEGG-STILL: My mother (Sadie BEGG) kept obituaries of most of the older people she knew especially around the district. I have all of these obits and it sure is interesting. Duncan BEGG and his mother acted as interpreters at the signing of the famous Indian Treaty No 3 in 1873 in Kenora. It took three days of negotiations. It says in the write up that Chief POW-WA-SANG was the hardest nut to deal with. He (Duncan) said he was the only Indian I ever struck in my life. Apparently the Chief insulted him over some bargaining for goods and “I knocked him down”.
Yes. This brings up how complicated these relationships are. Chief Powassin (POW-WA-SANG) married one of Chief Ay Ash Wash's daughters (Annie Thunder), I believe. Treaty 3 was not a good deal for the Ojibway and may speak to some bitter feelings. Negotiations had been heated and not all of the chiefs marked their X on the document. But this is what I hope to keep learning more about. It's far more complicated than counting the numbers of students who checked one box for white and one for Indian.
Great “confessional “ post! Your self awareness informs your research work in a really productive way. With regard to names reflecting heritage…or not… I’m reminded of my own ancestors who modified their names after coming to the US. The difference is that now it’s not difficult to be recognized as German or Irish but for Native Americans it is still difficult or even dangerous!
I appreciate your feedback and reflections. Your own self-awareness has been reflected in calling in tribal experts before archeological experts to understand what the creek on the family farm land has to say about the past and future.
This is such a difficult but luminous example of how our perspectives (including our unconscious biases) shape the stories we tell, and how we remake history without even realizing it. Thank you for writing with such clarity about all you are learning, especially these kinds of hidden assumptions. Your honesty makes your story shine!
Sifting through the muck of our biases must indeed be confusing. But you are being transparent about your search for the back story, the story without the overlay of bias and prejudice and simple ignorance, and that is exemplary. Thank you for persisting and continuing to dig and write about it.
I find words jump out at me that color my sense of "regard". For example, "half-breed" -"Mr. Duncan Begg had married Jane Rutherford Boulton, the “half-breed” daughter of Joseph and Mary Boulton." Or when you recognize "the Germans were outcasts." I just also feel that your "honest" writing about your own assumptions is so helpful. I am convinced I would make many or most of the same "assumptions."
I still cringe at the inclusion of the quote from Red River Ancestry of "half-breed" but I do think it is evidence of the lack of regard at the time. The caste system in America is complicated. The unraveling is slow....
I think you should title the book that you may write The Great Unraveling. Everything that you published today confirms for me how insightful it will be if you can find some letters, diaries, and other more personal recollections of families and lives in this community. I suspect there would be some great truths in "unofficial" writings if any/many exist. This history is so incredibly complicated because we don't know the regard and disregard different groups may have held for one another around all kinds of social matters --- schools, church, government, family relationships, etc. Whew!
The Great Unraveling. I might have to bring in all my knitting knowledge to that. Making one mistake gets compounded and if you want it to fit you have undo all the previous stitches. The undoing is the hard part of all this, the unforgetting, the unpacking, the stuff we have shoved up in our attics. Like those diaries and old letters. I hope to explore more when I visit Warroad this summer. I appreciate any ideas about how else I might learn about how people treated each other with regards to cultural differences. I know later the Germans were outcasts, and there were even internment camps for them in northern Minnesota.
Jill, I'm amazed by the growing fruit of your persistence as you question easy or obvious assumptions. The more you dig, the more authentic this history becomes. Thank you, Jill, for daring to admit errors because in your honesty, a deeper truth is revealed. I feel I'm witnessing the unfolding of a powerful mystery.
No problem. Tech hurdles leapt! I have found a couple more posts I'm updating now. Many thanks for flagging this error on my part. I also added Glen, Dorothy and Frank as three chidren Tom and Sarah added to their family.
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage by marriage
Thank you for catching this mistake I made. Uffda. I confused the two Marys. Mary Begg was the sister-in-law of Mary Ann Muggaberg Begg. I'm going to try to clean up this mess I've made and edit this post and another (Grandma's Sister Married a Muggaberg). I am most grateful to you for reading carefully and helping me create a historically accurate account.
The name Boulton….. similar to Bolton? I’m so curious about the treaty. How negotiations began and what the Chiefs felt about even negotiating their land. Thanks for looking for answers to your questions and sharing.
The name Boulton jumped out at me too, but it appears Jane Rutherford Boulton who married Duncan Begg came from Ontario and no relation to the Boltons of Warroad. With documents Roy Jones sent, I have a few more answers coming into focus.
Wow, l think you speak for us all in the post, Jill, as we begin to recognize our own assumptions in our perceptions of history and whatever we thought we knew about the past. This is such wonderful work on your part--thank you for sharing it with us all.
I can only speak for myself and I'm eager to find other voices from the past which may have been silenced or erased over time. I don't have all the answers, but now I have a lot more questions.
l guess to be more accurate l should have said "many of us" or at least me, knowing l would have likely made the same assumptions. I appreciate your willingness to continue to question!
I'm glad you could identify with me in recognizing how easily such "mistakes" are made wtihout any intentional malice and yet how built into our language and mindset these assumptions about ethnicity and race are.
The caste system of the world is complicated - Isabel Wilkerson's book, Caste, is so very helpful in doing some of the unraveling. I just so value people like you and her who are enabling the light to shine through the cracks.
Thanks for the encouragement. It's not easy to own mistakes and misjudgments. I'm late in life to learning that lesson.
So much of history is obscured by misspellings, misunderstandings, and biases. I think you are being hard on yourself - something didn't feel right, and you kept digging. It's a testament to your perseverance as a researcher that you reconciled a misattribution.
This isn't being hard on myself, this turns out to be rewarding. What's hard is eating humble pie and admitting when I'm wrong. I'm not alone in finding that to be the hard work of discerning myth from reality.
In my research on Leonora I had two bad data points — that her mother was honor granger. When indeed her mother is Honora Brown. The other woman was her step mother — whose name is on the cemetery tombstone. (No idea where the mother is buried). My other bad data point was Leonora was baptized as Honora. When I found the mom I found her records.
Honora. Leonora. Dreveau. Duncan. Spelling matters. Kakaygeesick. Ka-Kee-Ka-Kee-Sick. Gah Gay Keshig. Ka-ge-gi-jig. Ka-kay-geezhig. Kage gejig. It's like a crossword puzzle in that you gets clues from the intersections of things. Even more so beyond spelling data points. I enjoyed reading your account of Leonora. Thanks for reading!
it's just a start. As I dig and find out more, I can fill in more of the blanks. Your feedback, as always, is treasured.
I think all kinds of things contribute to what is perhaps our early naivete about just about everything - some of us had teachers, parents and others who taught us to "challenge" what we were learning, but many of us at least of my age operated with a lot (probably too much) trust that we were being taught truths. I certainly don't recall challenging or critiquing the absurd history I was taught. I drank the Koolaide. Unlearning is hard work. Think about this: I didn't even learn who Jeannette Rankin was until I moved to Georgia and happened to befriend a woman here who worked for her when she lived in Watkinsville. The first woman elected to the US Congress was not even a footnote in any of my history textbooks.
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage by marriage
I loved this piece... But not the undeserved self doubt or criticism. Much like when you first doubted Kakaygeesick's age, then and now you dug deeper. I think this is evidence in support of your humanness. Bias is ingrained in all of us. It's not about some personal deficiency, it's not a failure unique to some and not others. It's part of how we are ALL wired. The neuroscience about this universal truth is unequivocal, and the only way we reduce bias is to do what you do: admit it, challenge yourself, search outside your assumptions etc etc. you DO ALL OF THAT. These substack posts are living written proof that this is who you are. Somebody who challenges the surface story, the mainstream narratives, and is diligent in using her resources to bring to herself and the rest of us the honest, at times complex and nuanced, at times uncomfortable stories that would otherwise remain untold, and mysteries that would otherwise remain unsolved. Thank you for taking the time and energy to go down these research rabbit holes, God knows I'm not going to and yet I'm better for knowing what you have written and taught us. Thank you for being so honest and human as to admit potential bias. Thank you for trusting us with that. Because I just know your admission will help me do the same.
Thanks Stephanie. It means a lot.
Thank you for your work in discovering this example of erasure of the indigenous people's names and lineage. It certainly fits with my understanding of prejudice and even consistent with the Hollywood movies which depicted "Half-breeds," with shame.
I know it fits with my unacknowledged assimilation of those messages. I knew all the lyrics to Cher's song but I had no idea what "half-breed" really meant or the harm it caused.
This passage from information you sent reveals a little of what I mean by "regard." "Bea BEGG-STILL: My mother (Sadie BEGG) kept obituaries of most of the older people she knew especially around the district. I have all of these obits and it sure is interesting. Duncan BEGG and his mother acted as interpreters at the signing of the famous Indian Treaty No 3 in 1873 in Kenora. It took three days of negotiations. It says in the write up that Chief POW-WA-SANG was the hardest nut to deal with. He (Duncan) said he was the only Indian I ever struck in my life. Apparently the Chief insulted him over some bargaining for goods and “I knocked him down”.
Yes. This brings up how complicated these relationships are. Chief Powassin (POW-WA-SANG) married one of Chief Ay Ash Wash's daughters (Annie Thunder), I believe. Treaty 3 was not a good deal for the Ojibway and may speak to some bitter feelings. Negotiations had been heated and not all of the chiefs marked their X on the document. But this is what I hope to keep learning more about. It's far more complicated than counting the numbers of students who checked one box for white and one for Indian.
Great “confessional “ post! Your self awareness informs your research work in a really productive way. With regard to names reflecting heritage…or not… I’m reminded of my own ancestors who modified their names after coming to the US. The difference is that now it’s not difficult to be recognized as German or Irish but for Native Americans it is still difficult or even dangerous!
I appreciate your feedback and reflections. Your own self-awareness has been reflected in calling in tribal experts before archeological experts to understand what the creek on the family farm land has to say about the past and future.
Thanks, Jill. I hadn't thought about it that way, so your perspective is helpful!
This is such a difficult but luminous example of how our perspectives (including our unconscious biases) shape the stories we tell, and how we remake history without even realizing it. Thank you for writing with such clarity about all you are learning, especially these kinds of hidden assumptions. Your honesty makes your story shine!
Appreciate your kind words about clarity when so much of what I am learning about the past can seem at times confusing.
Sifting through the muck of our biases must indeed be confusing. But you are being transparent about your search for the back story, the story without the overlay of bias and prejudice and simple ignorance, and that is exemplary. Thank you for persisting and continuing to dig and write about it.
I find words jump out at me that color my sense of "regard". For example, "half-breed" -"Mr. Duncan Begg had married Jane Rutherford Boulton, the “half-breed” daughter of Joseph and Mary Boulton." Or when you recognize "the Germans were outcasts." I just also feel that your "honest" writing about your own assumptions is so helpful. I am convinced I would make many or most of the same "assumptions."
I still cringe at the inclusion of the quote from Red River Ancestry of "half-breed" but I do think it is evidence of the lack of regard at the time. The caste system in America is complicated. The unraveling is slow....
I think you should title the book that you may write The Great Unraveling. Everything that you published today confirms for me how insightful it will be if you can find some letters, diaries, and other more personal recollections of families and lives in this community. I suspect there would be some great truths in "unofficial" writings if any/many exist. This history is so incredibly complicated because we don't know the regard and disregard different groups may have held for one another around all kinds of social matters --- schools, church, government, family relationships, etc. Whew!
The Great Unraveling. I might have to bring in all my knitting knowledge to that. Making one mistake gets compounded and if you want it to fit you have undo all the previous stitches. The undoing is the hard part of all this, the unforgetting, the unpacking, the stuff we have shoved up in our attics. Like those diaries and old letters. I hope to explore more when I visit Warroad this summer. I appreciate any ideas about how else I might learn about how people treated each other with regards to cultural differences. I know later the Germans were outcasts, and there were even internment camps for them in northern Minnesota.
Jill, I'm amazed by the growing fruit of your persistence as you question easy or obvious assumptions. The more you dig, the more authentic this history becomes. Thank you, Jill, for daring to admit errors because in your honesty, a deeper truth is revealed. I feel I'm witnessing the unfolding of a powerful mystery.
Sorry didn’t mean to post three times, but kept saying to update profile so thought it wouldn’t post
No problem. Tech hurdles leapt! I have found a couple more posts I'm updating now. Many thanks for flagging this error on my part. I also added Glen, Dorothy and Frank as three chidren Tom and Sarah added to their family.
Hi sorry Sarah Jesse Thunder was actually the daughter of Mary Begg (daughter of Duncan Finlayson Begg and Jane Begg )and Frank Clements not Mary Ann Muggaberg and William Begg , he was her Uncle and Maryann was her Aunt by marriage by marriage
Thank you for catching this mistake I made. Uffda. I confused the two Marys. Mary Begg was the sister-in-law of Mary Ann Muggaberg Begg. I'm going to try to clean up this mess I've made and edit this post and another (Grandma's Sister Married a Muggaberg). I am most grateful to you for reading carefully and helping me create a historically accurate account.
The name Boulton….. similar to Bolton? I’m so curious about the treaty. How negotiations began and what the Chiefs felt about even negotiating their land. Thanks for looking for answers to your questions and sharing.
The name Boulton jumped out at me too, but it appears Jane Rutherford Boulton who married Duncan Begg came from Ontario and no relation to the Boltons of Warroad. With documents Roy Jones sent, I have a few more answers coming into focus.
Wow, l think you speak for us all in the post, Jill, as we begin to recognize our own assumptions in our perceptions of history and whatever we thought we knew about the past. This is such wonderful work on your part--thank you for sharing it with us all.
I can only speak for myself and I'm eager to find other voices from the past which may have been silenced or erased over time. I don't have all the answers, but now I have a lot more questions.
l guess to be more accurate l should have said "many of us" or at least me, knowing l would have likely made the same assumptions. I appreciate your willingness to continue to question!
I'm glad you could identify with me in recognizing how easily such "mistakes" are made wtihout any intentional malice and yet how built into our language and mindset these assumptions about ethnicity and race are.