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INDIAN REMINISCENCES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
Sam-o-ka, and Johnson as interpreter, came to Stephen Eldred, Climax, with the bitter complaint that "Che-mo-ka-man had killed their dog. " The Indian dogs would kill the settlers' pigs, and then the settler shot the Indian dog, whereupon the owner of the dogs would come to the white man claiming from twenty to thirty dollars for every dog killed. Mr. Eldred, on the occasion referred to, told Sam-oka and Johnson that unless they kept their dogs from killing his pigs he would report them to the Indian agent at Detroit, and they would get no more presents from the government. There was no more annoyance, says Mr. E., of this kind. But the Indians were generally what might be called good, accommodating neighbors. Says Mrs. L. W. Lovell: "We could not have done without the Indians. They were our marketmen and women. They brought us venison, huckleberries, maple sugar and many other things that we in a new settlement needed. " Pe-ne-moo had a patch of land on Major Lovell's farm that he for many seasons cultivated. Here he raised corn, beans, pumpkins, and other vegetables; his wife, Johnson's daughter, being half white, seemed to have more energy and thrift than the other squaws. She was a member of the M. E. church, and a few years ago communed with its members at Climax. At the time of the removal of the Indians westward by the Government, Sam-o-ka and most of the Pottawattomie band known here went to Canada. Says Judge' Eldred: "While I was at the 'corners' a few years ago, a squaw came up to me, apparently much pleased, as she held out her hand and exclaimed, 'How do you do, Judge Eldred, don't you know me? Me Pe-ne-moo's squaw!" The Judge was very happy, he said, to meet this good Indian woman. She and her husband had returned from Canada. About this time Not-a-wa, who also had returned from Canada, met an old settler on Climax.
Michigan
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