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INDIAN REMINISCENCES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
At the annual meeting of the society held in Kalamazoo, March 8th, a quorum being present, it was voted to amend the constitution so that the election of officers should take" place at the annual reunion instead of at the winter meeting as heretofore. I would suggest, therefore, that it would be in order to appoint a committee from those here assembled, without any formalities, to submit the names of proper persons to act as officers of this society for the ensuing year.
Hon. Stephen F. Brown was then called upon, and though surprised and
if
unprepared he made the most of his opportunity, and for fifteen minutes he held the closest attention of his audience.
Five little girls then sang "Bye Bye Baby, Bye Bye, " and were loudly
applauded.
A committee consisting of Mr. J. Lemon, Mr. J. M. Neasmith, Mr. A. D. P. VanBuren, Mr. Hackett, Mr. G. F. Brown, was appointed to nominate officers of the society for re-election. Mr. A. D. P. VanBuren then delivered the following carefully prepared and valuable papers:
the "indian" johnson, and some of the Pottawattomie bands to which
he belonged
The following sketch of the life of "Indian" Johnson I got from the old pioneer, William Harrison, of Climax, who not only knew Johnson, but was well acquainted with, and had lived for years a neighbor to his father, John Johnson, in Shelbyville, Shelby county, Kentucky. When William Harrison, or "Uncle Billy, " as he was familiarly called, came to Climax in 1830, he found among the Indians here this white man called Indian Johnson. He had four wives, and was a man of importance among the Pottawattomies in this region. Uncle Billy's log cabin, on Climax, was a kind of a rude Mecca, to which his early friends here, the Indians, were accustomed to resort with offerings of berries, maple sugar, venison, and so forth. He was always on good terms with them, and says that he and his family would have starved in those early days when they could find nothing to "browse on, " had it not been for the kindness of their Pottawattomie neighbors.
Michigan
Page 11
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