Maungwudaus, 1811-1888

Born in 1811 along Forty Mile Creek in Ontario, Canada; father was Chief Mesquacosyl; mother was Tuhbenahneequay, or Sarah Henry, was Chief Wahbanosay's daughter; he attended a Credit River Mission school; attended the mission school from 1830 to 1831; He served at multiple missions and he was a teacher at Muncey during the winter of 1835 which was to the north of Brantford, Ontario. He also taught in Sarnia, Ontario. In 1837, Maungwudaus was elected to be the third chief of the Credit River Band. He moved to Walpole Island during the 1930s and was a preacher. In 1840, Maungwudaus was a government interpreter at the Saint Clair Mission. He helped James Evans translate Methodist hymns into Ojibwe and was later recommended to be an assistant missionary by a Methodist church committee. Also in 1840, his withdrawal from the Canadian Methodist Conference began with the reaction of his half-brother Peter Jones to his translations of Methodist hymns. Despite his withdrawal, Maungwudaus became a government interpreter. During this time, he kept his role as a Methodist interpreter and translator although he did not have enthusiasm for the job. During the late 1930s, he decided to go by his Ojibwe name Maungwudaus and relinquished his prior religion for Ojibwe culture. He later favoured the Church of England. In July 1844, he became an interpreter on Walpole Island for a short period of time; Maungwudaus organized a dance troupe, which included his family and some non-Christian Ojibwe from Walpole Island, during the summer of 1844 to tour across England. After deciding to go by the name Maungwudaus instead of George Henry, his troupe was entertained by noted people and he joined the Roman Catholic Church. From 1845 to 1848, his troupe traveled throughout Europe to put on dances and exhibitions. They later traveled throughout Canada and the United States. During their time in the United States, Hannah and three of their children died from smallpox. During the spring of 1851, Maungwudaus gave up on Roman Catholicism. His dance troupe continued traveling and in 1852, he married Taundoqua after meeting her in Michigan in 1851. In 1854, he moved to the Grand River Reserve and wrote a pamphlet about his experiences in Europe.

In London, Brussels, and at the Louvre in Paris, he packed houses with his “Wild West” show. He hired local actors to whoop in feathers and war paint and pose in tableaux vivants. In time he was joined by several groups of Indians (21 Ojibwe and 14 Iowa) who were touring Europe with promoters. Such luminaries as George Sand, Victor Hugo and Charles Baudelaire admired Catlin’s artistry. But general audiences preferred the live Indians, especially after Catlin convinced the Ojibwe and the Iowa to reenact hunts, dances, even scalpings. In 1843, Catlin was presented to Queen Victoria in London, and two years later, to King Louis-Philippe in France. But renting halls, transporting eight tons of paintings and artifacts, and providing for his Indian entourage—as well as his family, which by 1844 included three daughters and a son—kept the painter perpetually in debt. In 1845, in Paris, Clara, his devoted wife of 17 years, contracted pneumonia and died. Then the Ojibwe got smallpox. Two died; the rest went back to the plains. The next year his 3-year-old son, George, succumbed to typhoid.

<p>Following a telephone enquiry regarding a possible visit by Chief Maungwudaus to Shakespeare’s Birthplace during the 1840s, it was revealed, by a member of staff, that he and four members of his troupe from the Chippewa tribe had signed the Visitors’ Book in February 1848. They were, at this time (1845-1848), touring Britain and the continent putting on shows and exhibitions sponsored by George Catlin (1796-1872), an artist and entrepreneur. Catlin had made five trips to the western United States to document and paint portraits of the North American peoples and their way of life. He created an ‘Indian Gallery’ which he brought to London to be exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.<p/> <p>Maungwudaus, meaning “the great hero” or “courageous”, also known as George Henry, was born circa 1811 at 40 Mile Creek on the North West shore of Lake Ontario. He was one of eight children born to Sarah Henry and Chief Mesquacosy. Sarah was the first Mississauga woman to be baptised a Methodist. George Henry received his education at Methodist mission schools and seemed destined to take up a role in the church as a translator and interpreter. He served at several missions during the 1830s, including Munceytown where his wife Anna gave birth to his second son Abraham, baptised in 1831. He later became the government interpreter at the St Clair mission, but resigned his post in 1840, finding Methodism too controlling an influence on the natives. In 1844 he formed a First Nations dance troupe which included members of his own family and several Walpole Island Ojibwa. The troupe performed through North East America before travelling to London in 1845 where, according to the London Times, he was feted by the ‘upper crust’, taking tea with Sir Augustus d’Este (cousin of Queen Victoria), visiting the mansion of the Duke of Wellington, and taking a tour of the Cathedral at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Later that year the troupe entertained royalty in Paris, where King Louis Philipe I presented Maungwudaus with a gold medal, and other members of the troupe received medals in silver. From France, the troupe travelled to Belgium, where several members contracted small pox. Vaccination, at the behest of the Society of Friends, protected Maungwudaus, his family, and the one Ojibwa who had accepted inoculation.</p>
<p>The depleted troupe returned to England touring provincial towns. From Liverpool, they crossed to Dublin, then returned to England via Scotland. Sadly, three of his children died during this tour: two in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. In November 1847, the Leeds Intelligence reported the death of Uh-wus-sig-gee-zhig-goo-kway, wife of Maungwudaus at Newark, Norfolk, aged 41 years. They had recently been performing in Leeds.<p></p> <p>After his return from Europe where the troupe had not thrived ("‘They had pined for their wigwam homes and native woods and had found the mode of livng & diet preyed upon their health"), Maungwudaus married Taundoqua, a part French Anishinabe woman in 1851. She toured with him and his sons giving lectures on Ojibwa manners and customs. By 1860, he re-invented himself as Dr. Maungwudaus, informing his clients of his credentials as an herbalist ("descended through an unbroken lineage of Great Medicine Men of the Chippewa nation"). He appeared for his consultations dressed in Indian costume, ornamented with porcupine quills, beads and a necklace of Grizzly Bear’s claws. He had, in fact, as a boy, been taught by his father about roots and barks which would heal the sick.</p>
<p>The last newspaper reference to Maungwudaus at Carthage in the Black River Valley was in the Carthage Republican in 1877 reporting his participation, in full Indian costume, in a canoe race in which he came second.</p>
<p>During his later years, he wrote many pamphlets about his experiences in Europe and his observations of the different nationalities he encountered. Not all of them were flattering.</p>