Nissowaquet (–1797, also known as La Fourche) was an

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

leader of the Nassauakueton

doodem The Anishinaabe, like most Algonquian-speaking groups in North America, base their system of kinship on patrilineal clans or totems. The Ojibwe word for clan () was borrowed into English as totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no o ...

. His father was chief Returning Cloud Kewinaquot and his mother was Nesxesouexite Neskes Mi-Jak-Wa-Ta-Wa. He grew up in

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire regio ...

and moved to

L'Arbre Croche L'Arbre Croche, known by the Odawa people as Waganagisi, was a large Odawa settlement in Northern Michigan. The French called it L'Arbre Croche for the large crocked tree that marked the center of the settlement and was visible for many miles. It c ...

with around 180 warriors in 1741. One of his sisters was Domtilde, who was twice married to French traders and gave birth to the

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

leader

Charles Michel de Langlade Charles Michel Mouet de Langlade (9 May 1729 – after 26 July 1801)''Dictionnaire Généalogique Tanguay'' was a Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important in protecting French territory in North America. His mother was Ottawa and hi ...

Through his sister and his nephew, Nissowaquet developed strong ties to the French in the

pays d'en haut The ''Pays d'en Haut'' (; ''Upper Country'') was a territory of New France covering the regions of North America located west of Montreal. The vast territory included most of the Great Lakes region, expanding west and south over time into the ...

, and in the 1750s, Nissowaquet and his warriors went east with Langlade to fight with the French against the British. In 1764, Nissowaquet attended a peace conference at Niagara (near

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

, N.Y.), where he promised allegiance to the British.

References

Odawa people 1715 births 1797 deaths 18th-century Canadian people 18th-century Native Americans {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub