100 Years Late

Pokagon Family Gets Riverside Memorial

Family and Others Gather

About thirty people gathered at Saugatuck's Riverside Cemetery the day after Thanksgiving to unveil a memorial on the previously unmarked plot of two grandsons of the famous Pottawatomi leader Simon Pokagon. Exactly one year earlier, a group of volunteers had been there to plant daffodils on the graves of various "orphans" in our local cemeteries. One of the gardeners, Doreen Tubergen, thought it was just terrible that the family of this prominent man lay unmarked and unremembered. Over the past year, she arranged with Curt Pieper at Hamilton Block to donate a boulder for the marker. Tool work for the plaque was provided by David Meengs and Skylark Machines Inc. in Holland. Gil Elsinga arranged for the movement and placement of the marker. The Saugatuck-Douglas Rotary Club paid half the cost of the required cement foundation.

This plot is the final resting place for John Waugon, husband of Cecelia Pokagon, daughter of Simon Pokagon, their two sons, Benjamin and Frank, and John's second wife Mary Snay Shashaguay Waugon.

The marriage of Cecilia (also called Hazeleyes) and John Waugon was recorded in the Allegan County records 1 Feb 1887 although it had occurred prior to that date. The story of her drowning can be read in Simon Pokagon's book "Queen of the Woods" where he writes: "Hazeleyes, without any fault of her own, while fishing in the lake was thrown therein by drunken men, and, though long we searched, her body never could be found." Simon had also lost a son to alcohol and was to be a staunch opponent of liquor.

The Pottawatomi Census of 1895 lists them all. The father John Waugon was then living in Saugatuck- he was described as the son of Waw-o-gun, of Lake City, MI. John's sons Benjamin age 12 and Frank age 10 are listed by the father but it's written for each of them "lives with Simon Pokagon at Lee, MI". No wife is shown with John, but the widowed Mary Shashaguay is listed separately with two Shashaguay children - Joseph and Frances.

Son Frank Waugon, died in 1907 from pneumonia, age 21, at an Indian school in Arkansas and his remains were returned to Saugatuck for burial

Father John who had lived with his family for many years at Indian Point died in 1909 following an illness.

Son Benjamin Waugon, age 35, died of pneumonia at Lansing in Nov. of 1916. His obituary lists him as "the full-blooded grandson of Chief Pokagon of the Pottawattamies, whose father Leopold ceded to the Government in 1833, over one million acres of land on which Chicago now stands. His death brings to a close the distinguished family of Pokagon, all of whom lived in the vicinity of Saugatuck and are buried here, with the exception of Chief Pokagon---" (buried at the Rush Lake Indian Cemetery near Hartford in Van Buren County). Benjamin Waugon, who was unmarried, was educated in the Saugatuck School and finished at the Haskell Institute in Kansas. He "spent his young manhood with his parents at Indian Point." He had training as a machinist and at time of death worked for the Reo Automobile factory in Lansing.

Mary Snay Shashaguay Waugon was the daughter of Fabian Snay who is buried in an unmarked grave at the Douglas Cemetery. She died in 1915 at the home of a daughter in Holland. She had been the widow of John Shashaguay. They were the parents of a daughter Frances, and sons Pean, Joseph and William. William is the ancestor of the living Shashaguays in this area. Mary's obituary in the Commercial Record said that "her latch string was always out at her home at Indian Point and that no one ever went away from her door hungry."

A newspaper article of 1977 said of Simon Pokagon "During his lifetime he became known as the best-educated full-blooded Indian in North America attending both Notre Dame and Oberlin College. He was called "the Redskin Bard," "the Longfellow of his Race." He visited President Lincoln on two occasions and smoked a pipe-of-peace with President Grant." "A pauper at the time of his death, he was 69 years old. Simon Pokagon - lived in slab shanties around 60th and 109th Avenue, near Pullman." This seems likely to be where his grandsons lived with him in 1895. Simon Pokagon died in 1899.

A short dedication program was conducted, included prayers, and playing of traditional native drum and flute by Nance Plantinga and Nancy O'Donnell. The youngest person in attendance, Miss Paige Christ, uncovered the marker at the beginning of the program. Among those gathered were three generations of the Shashaguay family (Tom, Joe and Courtney) and representatives of the Gun Lake Tribe.

Courtney, Joe and Tom Shashagway

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-contributed by Chris Yoder