Chief Beautifying Bird or Dressing Bird (Nay-naw-ong-gay-be, Na-naw-ong-ga-be, or Ne-na-nang-eb (''Nenaa'angebi'' in the Fiero orthography of Ojibwe), meaning " ird thatFixes-up Its Wing-feathers"), (1794–1855) was a principal chief of the Prairie Rice Lake Band of the

Lake Superior Chippewa The Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe: Gichigamiwininiwag) are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior; this territory is considered part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. They ...

, originally located near

Rice Lake, Wisconsin Rice Lake is a city in Barron County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 9,040. The city is located mostly within the Town of Rice Lake. History Rice Lake was named in 1870 after nearby Rice Lak ...

. He served as the principal chief about the middle of the 19th century. He was noted chiefly as an orator, and as the father of

Ah-shah-way-gee-she-go-qua Hanging Cloud (known in Ojibwe as ''Aazhawigiizhigokwe'' meaning "Goes Across the Sky Woman" or as ''Ashwiyaa'' meaning "Arms oneself") was an Ojibwe woman who was a full warrior (''ogichidaakwe'' in Ojibwe) among her people, and claimed by the Wi ...

("Ashaweia"), who was the only Ojibwe woman ever to earn full ''ogichidaakwe'' (warrior) status. The Wisconsin Historical Society claims that Nay-naw-ong-gay-be is described as having been of "less than medium height and size," and having "intelligent features."

Family

Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'' was of the ''Nibiinaabe-

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. The clans, based mainly on animals, were in ...

'' (Merman Clan), according to the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

and the

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe ( oj, Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing) is one of six federally recognized bands of Ojibwe people located in present-day Wisconsin. It had 7,275 enrolled members as of 2010. The band is based at the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian R ...

. He was a twin son of Chief ''Ozaawindib'', sometimes recorded as being of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band. ''Ozaawindib'' gave away the twin brother of ''Nenaa'angebi'' to the community of the Snake River sub-band of the ''Biitan-akiing-enabijig'' ("Border-sitters"), an Ojibwa-Dakota group, in order to make peace with them and to provide them with a hereditary chief. That son became known as Chief ''Shagobay''/''Zhaagobe''. Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'''s wife was ''Niigi'o'' (recorded as "Niguio"). They had two sons and four daughters.

Life

Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'' was a treaty signatory to the 1842 and 1854 Treaties of La Pointe. His Band was consolidated with

after the 1854

Treaty of La Pointe The Treaty of La Pointe may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in La Pointe, Wisconsin between the United States and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American peoples. In addition, the Isle Royale Agreement, an adhesion to the first Trea ...

and assigned land to a common reservation. Before he could see the promises of the 1854 Treaty fulfilled, he died in 1855. Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'' was buried near the high hill at Prairie Farm. The

installed a historic marker nearby to memorialize this site. The Society also honored him with a portrait of Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'' in its library in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, according to a 1933 letter from the Society to his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Bracklin.

Legacy

"Wabashish", the eldest son, succeeded his father as Chief of the Prairie Rice Lake community of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band. However, shortly afterward, ''Shák'pí'' lead an ambush on the band. Chief ''Nenaa'angebi'''s wife ''Niigi'o'' was seriously injured in this raid, and later died. ''Niigi'o'' was buried near the west bank of the Red Cedar River on the north end of

. Wisconsin Highway 48 was constructed a few feet away from the site. In defending her village during the ambush, ''Aazhawigiizhigokwe'' killed ''Shák'pí'''s son, her own cousin.

Quotation

:: — Nay-naw-ong-gay-be, late summer of 1855, in reference to

References

* Morse, Richard E. "The Chippewas of Lake Superior" in ''Wisconsin Historical Society Collections'', v. III, pp. 338–344 {{DEFAULTSORT:Beautifying Bird 1794 births 1855 deaths People from Rice Lake, Wisconsin Native American leaders Ojibwe people