Burnett Family
French fur trader William Burnett settled on the St. Joseph River near Niles, Michigan, after the Revolutionary War. He established two successful trading posts and eventually married Kaukima, daughter of revered Bodéwadmi leader Nanaquiba and sister to Topinabee. Kaukima and William had seven children: James, Abraham, John, Isaac, Jacob, Nancy and Rebecca. Abraham attended Choctaw Academy in Kentucky, which the U.S. established to educate future tribal leaders. In 1826, he received three sections of land near Logansport, Indiana, and a community 13 miles west of it bears his name — Burnettsville. Although Abraham never married, he adopted his younger cousin, Nanweshmah. After the child’s parents died, Nanweshmah took his adopted father’s name and became known as Abram Burnett. Abram’s mother Conezoquah was the daughter of Bodéwadmi headman Chebaas and a cousin to Abraham. His father Shauquebe was a warrior and leader among the Wabash Potawatomi.
Following in his adopted father’s footsteps, Abram studied at the Carey Mission under the administration of Baptist missionary Isaac McCoy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. The skills Abram obtained while in school proved important in the trying years to come, and he worked as an interpreter for church and governmental purposes. Burnett married a wealthy Bodéwadmi woman named D’mooshkeekeeawh. English artist George Winter captured sketches of Bodéwadmi and kept written records on his experiences. He wrote, “She was an Indian woman of much personal attraction. She excited the admiration of white men as well as that of the Indians. … Abram Burnett appeared always proud.” As more settlers wanted land in the Great Lakes region, Bodéwadmi and other Native American tribes lost most of their ancestral homelands. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, granting the government authority to remove tribes west of the Mississippi River. Federal officials called a meeting with the Bodéwadmi in the fall of 1838 as a guise to get the Tribe and its leaders together. Instead of an opportunity for council, volunteer militia detained as many Bodéwadmi as possible, including Burnett. On Sept. 4, 1838, the Bodéwadmi began their forced removal, walking 660 miles from present-day Indiana to present-day Kansas known as the Trail of Death. More than 40 Tribal members perished on the journey, mostly women and children. Because of Chief Burnett’s background, he also served as an interpreter on the Trail of Death. Jesuit priest Benjamin Petit joined the Bodéwadmi on the removal and fell ill once arriving on the new reservation. Burnett took it upon himself to take Petit to the nearest Jesuit seminary in St. Louis to receive care, but Petit died February 10, 1839.
Adapting to the new lands in present-day Kansas proved difficult. The lack of provisions promised by the federal government hindered the Bodéwadmi tribe’s ability to successfully settle on the new reservation. Many more perished, including Burnett’s wife D’mooshkeekeeawh in 1842. Burnett represented the Bodéwadmi in Washington D.C. on numerous occasions, and on one trip, he met his second wife Mary Knofflock. They wed in 1843 and had six children: Joseph W., Mary J., Mary A., Catherine, Clara and Abraham Lincoln. Although the prairie lacked many of the resources familiar to them, Burnett and others established successful businesses and took advantage of the Oregon Trail that cut through the Bodéwadmi Reservation. In 1848, he settled on what remains the highest elevation in Topeka, Kansas, and became a successful farmer and sold livestock. During this time, the community had several factions of Bodéwadmi with varying views. He supported efforts to create a community-approved business committee. This ideal continues today with tribally elected legislators and executive body members. While in Kansas, he also wrote and spoke on behalf of the Tribe, and Burnett’s signature appears on the Treaty of 1846, Treaty of 1861 and Treaty of 1867. Burnett died in 1870. Afterward, Mary and the children relocated to present-day Oklahoma where the Burnett children carried on the family legacy of leadership and entrepreneurship.
Image Identification:
1 William Joseph Joe Burnett
2 Clarisa Beaubien, Joe Burnett
and Abrahm Burnett (Back LTR)
Cathryne Burnett Greiffenstein,
Mary Jane Burnett Pierce, Mary
Ann Burnett Peyton (Front LTR)
3 Charley Wesselhoft, Kate
Burnett, Della Platt Martin
Halsas, Clara Burnett Beaubien,
Birdie Burnett Martin, Mary
Burnett Wesselhoft and Virgel
Beaubien (Unknown Order)
4 George Wesselhoft and Mary
Burnett Wesselhoft (Back LTR)
Jess Wesselhoft, Ruth
Wesselhoft, Charlie Wesselhoft
and Emma Wesselhoft
(Middle LTR)
William Wesselhoft and
Anna Wesselhoft (Front LTR)
5 Emma Fletcher
6 Abrahm Burnett
7 George Hamilton
8 Paul Wesselhoft
9 Mary Burnett Wesselhoft
10 Mary Jane Burnett Pearce
11 Frank A. and Glenn Allen
Burnett (LTR)
Citations
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center Archives. 2005. Burnett Family Manuscripts
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Public Information Department. 2020. Hownikan, Vol. 41 No. 10
