Land Transactions Between the Anishinabe, the Huron and the Crown in Southwestern Ontario
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How the West Was Won: Land Transactions Between the Anishinabe, the Huron and the Crown in Southwestern Ontario RHONDA TELFORD Historical Research and Consulting Services INTRODUCTION The Crown obtained southwestern Ontario through the unnecessary taking of Aboriginal land under numerous agreements and treaties, which not only fractured and reduced the land and resource base of the First Nations, but also led to harmful and sometimes irreparable fractures in the social cohesion of communities and in relations between communities. This is how the Indian Department or its representatives created the ten sions within the Huron Tract communities which led some members to poison two of their own chiefs. This is what lay behind the disputes bet ween the western Anishinabe and the Huron nation and was at the root of the bitter divisions within the Huron nation itself. Nevertheless, once the power of the halfbreed faction was artificially augmented at the expense of the full-blood one, there is no doubt that the former consistently acted to diminish the collective land base for cash.' Even before an agreement was signed, the preliminary suggestion of surrender could begin the road to factionalization and thus weaken a community, rendering it less able to ward off the failed government program of "civilization": agriculture, Christianity and assimilation. An extraordinary amount of land was shared by Native peoples with the Crown between 1789 and 1839, much more than was practically necessary for purposes of actual settlement.2 The Indian Department both obtained the treaties and participated in the spoils. This paper examines the taking of three tracts of land in southwestern Ontario, the Longwoods Tract, the Huron Tract and the Huron reserve, between 1818 and 1845, with particular attention given to the roles of the Ironside family. Multiple 1 The role of mixed-blood peoples in the dissolution of First Nation lands has been considered much more in American literature than in Canadian works: see, for example, William E. Unrau, Mixed-bloods and tribal dissolution: Charles Curtis and the quest for Indian identity (1989), and his bibliography. I would like to thank Sylvia Van Kirk for bringing this work to my attention. 2 G. M. Craig, Lord Durham's report: an abridgement (1982), 118-9. HOW THE WEST WAS WON 329 agreements cover every tract reflecting the shoddy, unfair, manipulative and probably fraudulent practices of the government of the day. In contrast one can see the Aboriginal perspective on what was or was not valid and who had the right to legitimately sign such agreements. Long before George Ironside and his son, George Jr., of mixed white and Shawnee descent, arrived at Amherstburg, the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi were there. Henceforth, this paper will refer to these peoples as the western Anishinabe or the Three Nations. Later came the Huron, having fled their homeland under repeated Iroquois attack. These Four Nations constituted a substantial population around Detroit before 1701. Their first major land transaction with the British occurred in May 1790, when they shared a large area of land, retaining the Huron reserve and the Huron church reserve.3 Speculators, including George Ironside Sr., soon controlled much of the treaty area.4 Between 1808 and 1817, Isabella Ironside's relations, Tecumseh and the prophet Tenskwatawa, visited Amherstburg, the latter having emigrated to Cedar Creek in Colchester Township where he resided between 1814 and 1826.5 It is not known whether Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa visited Isabella while at Amherstburg or if she maintained close relations with her people. With loyalties divided during the War of 1812 the Huron lost many of their important chiefs. Between 1815 and 1820, William Caldwell, Billy Caldwell, John Askin and George Ironside Sr. ran the Indian Office at Amherstburg.6 During this period, George Sr. and his son Alexander used 3 Peter Clarke, Origin and traditional history of the Wyandotts (Toronto 1870), 1-15- Milo Quaife, The John Askin papers (Detroit Library Commission 1928), v. 1, 332; Dennis Carter-Edwards, "George Ironside", DCB 9 (1976), 340-1. 4 On Ironside's speculations, see NAC, Upper Canada Land Petitions, and the AO RG 1, A-l-6 series; also John Clarke, "Geographical aspects of land speculation in Essex County to 1825: the strategy of particular individuals (1983). 5 NAC, RG 10, v. 11, 9901-04, Lt. Gov. Francis Gore to Sir•James; Craig,.21'July 1808; v. 31, 18957, Billy Caldwell to Claus, 27 March 816, v. 43 22883-84 Ironside to Claus, December 1825. Reginald Horsman, Mat^m^t.^h Indian agent (Detroit, 1964), 166-176. Greg Curnoe, Deeds/Nations (London Chapter, OAS, Occasional Paper No. 4, 1996), 136-7. 6 MAP nolo v 39 21660 Ironside to Claus, 27 June 182 l;v. 31,18356-60 'Troce^d^ of Askin, 28 December 1816 and 2 January1817, v. 14 1_135> ueorg John Johnson; v. 37, 21033, General Order 28 JanuaryM820. AO RG 1 A 6021, Ironside to Thomas Smith, 7 June 1820. Carter-Edwards, DCB 9 (iy/o,, 330 RHONDA TELFORD their positions to amass several hundred more acres of land. THE TAKING OF THE HURON AND LONGWOODS TRACTS Between 1818 and 1827, Askin and Ironside were involved in a confusing string of agreements resulting in two treaties, covering upwards of three million acres in the Huron Tract and the Longwoods, north of the Thames River. Askin was ordered to learn the terms under which the principal chiefs and headmen would enter into a treaty for this land. In mid-October 1818 he was informed by the leaders of the Chenail Ecarte, St. Clair, Sable, Bear Creek and Thames that they would sell their land, with five reservations which in present-day terms were Sarnia, the Lower Indian Reserve, Kettle Point, Stoney Point, Bear Creek and a reserve on the Thames for Tomago, one of about four principal chiefs who was absent from this meeting. Significantly, the Anishinabe stated that these reserves were to be increased in size when the purchase was finally concluded. Leaving the amount to the lieutenant governor, they required annuities for 50 years, half in specie and half in clothing. As well, a blacksmith and husbandman were to be maintained from the cash payment.8 At least one reason why the Three Nations agreed to the sale of the Huron Tract was that Askin told them a part of the Shawnee reserve still belonged to them. This reserve, 12 miles square, was purchased for the Anishinabe in 1795 by Alexander McKee, but had been given away to reduced militiamen after the War of 1812 without Aboriginal consent. Askin's promise that they would retain some of it must have counted a great deal in their decision to sell the large Huron Tract. This promise was not recorded by Askin at the time, and Ironside, also present, later linked it back to the McKee purchase.9 7 See NAC, Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1818 to 1823; see also AO, RG 1, A-l- 6, v. 6, 6018-20, Ironside to Duncan Cameron, 6 June 1820, and 6057-59, 6100-01, 6139^10 and 6417-18, Ironside to Thomas Ridout, 23 August, 9 October 6 December 1820, and 16 October 1822. 8 NAC, RG 10, v. 35, 20531, Claus to John Askin, 22 September 1818; p. 20567, Askin to Claus, 10 October 1818; p. 20569, Thomas Ridout to Claus, 13 October 1818. NAC,MG 19, v. 11, pp. 95-96, "Augmentation Treaty", 16 October 1818. RG 10, v. 35, 20585 and 20614, Askin to Claus, 22 October and 20 November 1818. NAC, RG 10, v. 37,21260-61, Chippewa speech to Ironside and others 18 June 1820 (also in v. 39, p. 21649), and p. 21660, Ironside to Claus, 27 June 1821. Ironside was present when all of the Askin agreements were signed- see v 41 p 22425, Ironside to Claus, 6 November 1823. HOW THE WEST WAS WON 331 The lieutenant governor was afraid these reserves would impede settlement and wanted the payment provisions changed.10 Thus, as we shall see below, three different agreements were made for the Longwoods Tract between 1819 and 1822, and five different agreements would be made for the Huron Tract between 1819 and 1827. Multiple agreements for the same area were necessary because the lieutenant governor had the terms of some of the agreements altered in the Crown's favour after they had been signed by the First Nations in good faith and because he hoped that on each new occasion the Superintendent could make the First Nations accept payment in goods alone. Askin took one provisional agreement from the Longwoods Chippewa on 9 March 1819 and two such agreements from the Three Nations for the Huron Tract on 13 and 30 March 1819." Indian Department records show that liberal quantities of rum were a factor in obtaining signatures on all of these agreements.I2 Details surrounding the agreements indicate additional problems. For example, Askin expressly led the Longwoods Chippewa to believe they would receive their compensation of £600 (about $2400) in cash although this is not what appeared in the provisional agreement, which provided for half specie and half goods — an altered and reduced payment scheme which was still not accepted by the lieutenant governor. A second Huron Tract surrender was obtained because the lieutenant governor wanted the half-specie payment in the first one eliminated. But this did not occur and the second agreement was incomplete, being signed in the absence of several chiefs. Again, the lieutenant governor refused it.13 Soon after, at a council in Amherstburg, bitter complaints were made 10 NAC RG 10, v. 35, p. 20583, Alexander McDonell to Askin, 19 October 1818; p.