In a message dated 7/9/04 7:39:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
leisa(a)netonecom.net writes:
Hi, I am looking for any information on Mota or Weesau or
Weesaw/Wesaw,
Potawatomi Indian from the Kosciusko County area. I would like most to find out
HOW he died. I believe it was around 1836 but that could have been another
family member. Please send me a note at:
leisa(a)netonecom.net
Thanks!
Cindy
Cindy--
I have no idea about the individual you are describing, and I haven't lived
in the state of Indiana since I was a kid nearly 50 years ago, but I think
it's "way cool" that you are researching him.
In American history, there's a huge void which hasn't been adequately
addressed by historians.
That is, the lives of Indians who lived "amongst us" throughout our history.
NOBODY is researching this!
What about the Indian friends of the Plymouth colony?
What about the Cherokees, the Delawares, the Potawatomis?
What about Pocahontas and John Rolfe, in Virginia?
What about William Penn and his compact with the Delawares?
What about Peter Stuyvesant and the Dutch New Yorkers?
What about Conrad Weiser, Indian agent for Pennsylvania in the 1760s?
What about Pontiac and Tecumseh, and the white woman he nearly married,
prior to his rebellion?
The early relations with Native Americans are, to me, one of the most
fascinating and least investigated aspects of American history.
If you are doing research on these topics, I'd like to stay in touch with
you. I'm amazed and embarrassed that historians have never adequately covered
this topic, and while I have never published, I would be happy to volunteer to
collaborate on a book on this topic.
I honestly believe that Hispanic immigration from Mexico may eventually
trigger some academic interest in our Amerind heritage, because in Mexico, everyone
is made aware of their Indian heritage in the schools.
Meanwhile, in our own history, we have ignored the Indians, even when they
made enormous contributions to our public life, such as the Iriqois Confederacy
as a model for our federal constitution.
Not to mention the Cherokees. What happened to them, and all the eastern
tribes after 1828, is a crime of Holocaust proportions.
President Andrew Jackson effectively erased our connection with Native
American heritage; he was the most evil president in our history, and I'm ashamed
that I've got to look at his rotten face on the $20 dollar bill every time I go
to the ATM.
Let's stay in touch.
---Bob