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196 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

THE ORIGIN OF THE SPEAKERS OF THE SEVERN

Charles A. Bishop

State University of New York at Oswego

Resume. II existe dans le Nord-Ouest ontarien, plus precisement dans le bassin hydrographique de la haute Severn, un certain nombre de commuantes algonquines qui se rattachent au dialecte Severn. Ce dialecte se distingue tant du cri parle pres des cotes de la baie d'Hudson et de la baie James que de l'ojibway repandu dans la partie sud du Nord de l'. Au dire de

Todd, le dialecte severn aurait comme plus proche parent l'algonquin parle dans la vallee de l'Outaouais superieure. Les documents ethnohistoriques indiquent que les locuteurs du dialecte severn sont des plutot que des Cris ou des Ojibways. Plus precisement, ce sont les descendants du clan ou de la famille Sucker des qui, a l'epoque historique, ont emigre de l'est de la baie Georgienne pour s'etablir a l'endroit ou ils se trouvent maintenant. La ressemblance entre l'algonquin et le dialecte severn amene a considerer l'ottawa comme Unguistiquement plus proche de l'algonquin que de l'ojibway ou du cri. 197 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

Located in northwestern in the Severn River drainage and extending into northeastern are a number of Algonkian communities which belong to the Severn dialect of Ojibwa (Todd 1970).

Speakers of the Severn dialect, according to Todd, belong to three administrative bands: Trout Lake, Round Lake, and Deer Lake. Wolfart's study (1973) of the Island Lake language would indicate that Severn dialect speakers form a segment of that community also. Todd, Wolfart and Jean

Rogers (1963) all agree that this dialect has its closest affinities with

Ojibwa spoken to the south and southeast, rather than with Cree, although speech patterns suggest Cree influences. Since Severn speakers

-are in close proximity to groups, and the two even reside in the same communities, mutual interchanges are therefore not surprising.

While the study of the Severn dialect has proved to be interesting to several linguists because of certain peculiarities of the dialect which set it apart from Ojibwa dialects to the south, these differences combined with the relatively large geographical area over which its speakers reside, make it equally fascinating from an historical perspective. The origin of the speakers of this dialect is the concern of this paper.

It should be made clear that no new linguistic data are presented here.

The hypotheses offered are based on existing information given on the dialect plus new historical input which suggests the origin and linguistic affinities of the Severn dialect. In offering a solution to this question, a new line of historical inquiry is proposed which is related both to the present distribution of the dialect and to groups not included within the geographical parameters tentatively outlined by Todd and others. Since much linguistic research has gone on in an historical vacuum making it 198 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

difficult for ethnohistorians and ethnologists to evaluate analyses, my purpose here is to stimulate linguists to test my argument with data from the field and/or contained in linguistic reports, the subtelties of which

I am ill-equipped to interpret.

My argument is as follows: 1) The Severn dialect has its closest relationship with Algonquin spoken in the upper area rather than with Ojibwa or spoken near . Todd (1970:266), has already suggested this, but there is historical evidence as well.

2) Because this seems to be the case, the original homeland of the Severn speakers was near the east shore of far from the region which they presently occupy. My reason for placing them on Georgian Bay rather than in the Ottawa Valley will become apparent as the data unfold. From these data, I have concluded that the Severn speakers are the descendants of a segment or clan of the Ottawa. I shall deal with the second point first and in most detail since it is primarily upon the historical evidence that my argument rests. What is the evidence?

The literature of contact dating to the 17th century contains the names of various Algonkian-speaking peoples living near or along the Ottawa

Valley and the shores of Georgian Bay. Among these peoples were the Ottawa who traditionally lived on and perhaps on the eastern shores of Georgian Bay (Thwaites 1896-1901, 18:231). While the term

"Ottawa" was sometimes extended to almost all "upper" Algonkians including

Nipissings and Ojibwa groups, the Ottawa Proper are most frequently divided into four nations: the Kiskagons (Short-tailed Bear Nation), Sinago

(Black Squirrel Nation), Sable (Sandy Beach People) , and the Nassawaketon

(Nation of the Fork) (Kinietz 1965:246-48). It is significant to add that Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference199 Papers (1974)

Sebastien Rasles stated that there were three families of Ottawa, one originating from the Great Hare, another from the Bear, and the third from the Carp. It is the Carp family which is important here to historical reconstruction. According to Rasles: "The second family of Outaouacks maintain that they sprung from Namepich,—that is to say, from the

Carp...thus they are called 'the family of the Carp'" (Thwaites 1896-1901,

67:153-57). What the exact relationship is between Rasles' three groups and the four divisions is uncertain. The animal named groups may have been clans. If this was the case, neither the clan affiliation of the

Nassawaketon nor the Sable are given (Kinietz 1965:247). There is some evidence, as will be shown, that the Nassawaketon were the same as the

Namepich (meaning carp or sucker) mentioned by Rasles. The term Namepich also suggests a fishy affinity with some of the Algonquin groups of the

Ottawa Valley.

I have deliberately avoided mentioning Ojibwa groups to the west along

Georgian Bay and near Sault Ste. Marie since I do not believe that any of these peoples are relevant to understanding dialectic concerns in the

Severn area at present. It needs mentioning, however, that many of these groups as well as those from further east, migrated to the northwest of

Lake Superior during historic times replacing Cree and Assiniboin as they expanded (Bishop and Smith 1975). There is no evidence that Ojibwa or

Algonkians other than Cree resided at the west end of Lake Superior until after the raids of the 1650's. In 1662, however, Nicolas Perrot reported that a number of groups from further east including the Ottawa,

Nipissing and Amikwa were hunting elk near Sault St. Marie (Blair 1911,

1:179). Claude Dablon mentioned the names of several other groups who 200 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

were earlier reported as living further east at the same location in 1670

(Thwaites 1896-1901, 54:133-35). The Nassawaketon Ottawa were living north of Green Bay during the late 17th century (Hodge 1910, 2:34). There can be little doubt that the Iroquois raids and the expansion of the fur trade was having a scattering effect upon all Algonkian-speaking peoples in the Upper region although many of these groups collected temporarily at Sault St. Marie and . For instance, Perrot noted that some of the Saulteurs on the south shore of Lake Superior: had left their people at the north; ... and that the Nepissings and

Amikouets were at Alimibegon [Nipigon] (Blair 1911, 1:173-74). Upon learning of these other peoples, the Ottawas moved further north to trade with groups to the northwest of Lake Superior (Blair 1911, 1:174; cf. NYCD 1853-87 9:160- 61). A few years later in 1706 Simon Daumond listed the tribes north of Lake Superior: the Christinos, Assinipoals,

Aumonssonniks, Outaouais, Bouscouttons, Niscaks and Masquikoukioeks, all inhabitants of the Northern Country and near neighbors of the Sea

(NYCD 1853-87, 9:803). The Christinos, Aumonsonssonniks, Bouscouttons and Masquikoukioeks were all Cree divisions and the Assinipoals the

Assiniboine. However, both the Outaouais and the Niscaks were Ottawa

(Hodge 1910, 2:75). I suggest that these Ottawa were the Nassawaketon, or at least included them. This division of Ottawa seems to disappear from the literature by the end of the 17th century (Kinietz 1965:246), whereas there is a considerable amount of data on the other three divisions who shifted southward into rather than northward. I have already suggested that the Nassawaketon Ottawa were equivalent to the Carp or

Sucker family mentioned by Rasles-so far-on rather shakey evidence. Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference201 Papers (1974)

By the 1770's, the various Algonkian groups from the southeast had expanded to approximately their present-day limits. The placement of some of these emergent Northern Algonkian peoples is given in the

Osnaburgh House district report for 1814: The Cranes and the Suckers hunt to the Northward of Osnaburgh House between that and Trout Lake where there is a settlement from Severn...The Loons hunt to the Eward toward Lake St. Anns [Nipigon], the Moose and Sturgeons to the S.W. and the Kingfishers and Pelicans toward to the N.W. of

Osnaburgh (HBC Arch B155/e/l). It is the Cranes and the Suckers who are of interest to us here since they reside in the area where the

"Severn dialect is presently spoken. Since there is a dialect "gap" between these people and other Ojibwa peoples to the south, the question of who they are is raised. As noted, I suggested that the Nassawaketon

Ottawa were the Suckers and that they were the Ottawa mentioned in the early 18th century residing inland north of Lake Superior. What evidence other than inferential is there to warrant such a conclusion?

First, there is the similarity in name. The Indians of the Severn drainage are called Suckers (Namebin) , the same term used to refer to one of the Ottawa "families". The fur traders of both Osnaburgh House and Trout Lake frequently mention the Sucker "Tribe" during the early

19th century. But this is no proof that they were necessarily Ottawa, or that the Nassawaketon were indeed the Namebin or Sucker family mention by Rasles over a century earlier.

More solid evidence is contained in the excellent accounts of the

Hudson's Bay trader, Andrew Graham, dating to the late 18th century.

In his description of various tribes, Graham reports that the Indians 202 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

called Nakawawuck: inhabit the Country from about an hundred miles from the Sea-Coast of Hudson's Bay South and Easterly unto the great Lake of the Christianux which they never cross. Their Language is in a great measure the same with that of the Keiskatchewan [Cree] Indians but differs from it in some and pronounciations like the high and low Dutch... It is my opinion that this people have drawn up to the Northward gradually as the Keiskatchewans receeded from it towards the South-west...the Nakawawuck Indians are the most northern tribe of the Attawa Nation (HBC Arch E2/9).

And:

several Tribes of Makawawuck or Attawawa Indians extend as far as the Country and are frequently at war with these Natives (HBC Arch E2/10).

Who else but the Ottawa could these people be? The term "Sucker" frequently mentioned in the journals to apply to groups in the very area to which Graham refers is strong support for an historical relationship with the Namebin Ottawa of Rasles' time. There is additional linguistic evidence. The term Nassawaketon mentioned in the early literature may well be cognate with Nakawawuck. In John Long's vocabulary is the

Algonkin (Algonquin) for fork or pronged stick—"Nassawokwot"

(Long 1791:202). The word is indeed very close to both Nassaweketon and

Graham's Nakawawuck, but differs significantly from the Ojibwa word for 2 fork with is "Cawmeek meteek". If the Nakawawuck were actually the Ottawa "People of the Fork", and I have found no contradictory evidence, then it is justified to refer to such present-day peoples as the Round

Lake Ottawa (rather than Ojibwa), and so forth for all speakers of the Severn dialect.

The only task remaining is to determine, albeit somewhat roughly, the geographical parameters of these peoples as they existed during the 19th 203 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

century. While historic data provide us with clues, more finite boundaries remain to be worked out by linguists. The area occupied by the Sucker division of Ottawa is somewhat larger than Todd had suggested. There were

Suckers living as as Martin's Falls some 300 miles southeast of

Trout Lake. According to George Barnston in 1839:

The Greater number of the families belong to that tribe of Sauteux denominated the Suckers—a Band of the Great Chippewa Divisions which appear to have pushed farthest to the northward at least in this quarter...They are known at York Factory and Severn as Bungees, a name I imagine given to them from their use of the Sauteaux word Pungee—a little. To the northward they keep up an intercourse with the Severn Indians, to the eastward with those of Albany (HBC Arch B123/ a/14).

Although Barnston calls the Suckers of Martin's Falls Chippewa, he notes that their relations with the Cree has affected "the Language and Character in no slight degree". It would appear that Barnston, like many after him, was using the term Chippewa in its broadest sense to include all Algonkians who had expanded from the southeast, just as the 17th century Jesuits on occasion used the term Ottawa to refer to all the "Upper" Algonkians. The language or dialect changes which Barnston has noted were probably due to inherent structural differences between Ojibwa and Ottawa rather than simple borrowing between the Suckers and the Cree, although the latter process may also have been occurring. It is important to note that today the Ir-Hans of Trout Lake and Deer Lake, according to Todd (1970:1), describe their language "as a mixture of Cree and Saulteaux".

To the northwest, the Ottawa seem to have expanded as far as Gods Lake but not to Oxford House. In 1827, the manager at the Gods Lake post wrote: would not the Indians of Oxford and [Gods] Lake be fitted out from the same establishment. I am afraid not—they are not only distinct tribes but the Same Algonquins have but 204 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

an indifferent opinion of the Swampy Crees of Oxford-while the latter possess an untolerable aversion to the hostile disposition of the Former which in my opinion is pretty strong proof against an immediate union of these two tribes (HBC Arch B283/e/l). There seems to be little doubt that the Round Lake people are Suckers even though they are frequently called "Cranes". The term Crane actually refers to the name of a band leader of the late 18th century. The peoples of Round Lake and at least some of those of Sandy Lake were once closely related. In 1800, it was reported that the Crane's brother Tinnewabano or the Tinpot as he was sometimes called had gone to Sandy Lake to live to avoid the revenge of another band of Indians a member of which his gang had murdered (HBC Arch B155/a/15). The Trout Lake journals of the early 19th century mention Sucker Indians arriving from the Sandy Lake region.

In sum, the Ottawa of the Sucker clan, the "Nation of the Fork", had come to occupy an immense belt of territory north of a number of Ojibwa groups stretching from Martin's Falls in the southeast to Gods Lake in the northwest. This tract of land, I suggest, roughly defines the parameters of the Severn dialect. Verification and refinement of this hypothesis awaits additional linguistic data from other communities.

While I am not prepared to discuss the intracacies of dialect similarities between the Severn area and elsewhere, a few concluding comments may be made.

Todd (1970:266) has stated that, "There are a number of interesting similarities between the Severn dialect and Algonquin, the dialect of Ojibwa spoken in western ". She goes on to document these. From Todd's materials, and perhaps others (cf. Geary 1941:304-10), it would seem that the Severn dialect is more similar to Algonquin than to Ojibwa. If this Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference205 Papers (1974)

proves to be the case, then the Ottawa bands of the 17th century may have represented little more than a geographical extension of Ottawa Valley groups including perhaps the Nipissing. Today, however, one would not necessarily expect to find an on Manitoulin Island since the island has been settled by a number of different Ojibwa groups in addition to some Ottawa during historic times.

To some less familiar with the historical sources, my Ottawa-Severn dialect hypothesis may seem a bit hard to swallow. Whether scholars agree or not is not the crucial issue at stake. This is that historical research desperately needs linguistic data and interpretations to make sense of the plethora of tribal, band and group names in the literature of contact. At the same time, studies of dialect variations among various

Algonkian-speaking peoples make little sense unless placed within an historical context based upon a careful scrutiny of the sources. Here,

I have attempted to accomplish the latter aim for the Severn dialect area. My conclusions now await further checking with linguistic data. 206 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

NOTES

I wish to thank the Governor and Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company for permission to cite from their archival sources. Research for this paper was sponsored by grants from the National Museums of Canada (National Museum of Man), and from the State University of New York Research Fellowships.

Following the presentation of my paper, Ives Goddard raised objections to my equation of Nassaweketon and Nakawawuck arguing that the two terms cannot be cognates. While this may be true, it is very possible that either the trader, Graham, or the Indians were applying a bastardized or garbled (and perhaps a derogatory) interpretation to the term. 207 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

REFERENCES CITED

Bishop, C.A., 1974. The Northern Ojibwa and the Fur Trade: An Historical and Ecological Study. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Bishop, C.A. and M.E. Smith, 1975. Early Historic Populations in Northwestern Ontario: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Interpretations. American Antiquity (January issue: forthcoming).

Blair, E.H., trans, and ed. , 1911. The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Region of the Great Lakes. 2 vols. Cleveland: A.H. Clark.

Bloomfield, L. , 1958. Eastern Ojibwa: A Grammatical Sketch, Texts and Word Lists. (ed. C. Hockett) Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Cuoq, J.A., 1891-92. Grammaire de la Langue Algonquine. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. 1st Series IX (1891) 85-114 and X (1892) 41-119.

Geary, J.A., 1941. Proto-Algonquian *ck: Further Examples. Language 17:304-10.

HBC Arch, n.d. Hudson's Bay Company Archives (Ottawa and London).

Hodge, F.W., ed., 1907-10. Handbook of the American Indians. Two parts. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. Washington.

Jones, W. , 1917-19. Ojibwa Texts. Publications of the American Ethnological Society. 2 vols. (vol. 7 part 1, 1917 and part 2, 1919).

Kinietz, W.V., 1965. The Indians of the Western Great Lakes 1615-1760. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Long, J. , 1791. Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and Trader. London.

NYCD, 1853-87. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York. 15 vols. Albany.

- Rogers, E.S., 1963. Changing Settlement Patterns of the Cree-Ojibwa of Northern Ontario. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 19:64-88.

Rogers, J.H., 1963. Survey of Round Lake Ojibwa and . Contributions to Anthropology, 1961-62, part 2. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 194, Ottawa.

Thwaites, R.G., ed., 1896-1901. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit in New , 1610-1791. 73 vols. Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers. 208 Originally published as part of: 6th Algonquian Conference Papers (1974)

Todd, E.M., 1970. A Grammar of the Ojibwa Language: The Severn Dialect. Ph.D. dissertation.

Williams, G. , ed. , 1969. Andrew Graham's Observations on Hudson's Bay 1767-91. The Hudson's Bay Record Society, vol. 27. London.

Wolfart, H.C., 1973. Boundary Maintenance in Algonquian: A Linguistic Study of Island Lake, Manitoba. American Anthropologist 75:1305-23.