The Grandsons of Chief Pokagon at Riverside Cemetery

Daffodils Blooming at Waugon Gravesite

One of the local gravesites visited last fall by a band of bulb planters was the unmarked plot of Benjamin John Waugon and his family. Benjamin Waugon, age 35, died of pneumonia at Lansing Nov. 11, 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---" who is 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 (an Indian school). He was raised in the Saugatuck area and "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.

His brother Frank Waugon, age about 21, died Feb. 24, 1907 from pneumonia, and the obituary notice in the Commercial Record reported "John Waugon who lives near the bayou received a message Monday announcing the death of his son Frank, who had been attending school in Arkansas the past year". Frank's remains were returned to Saugatuck for burial. Their father John Waugon (1850-1909) and his wife Mary Snay Shashagquay Waugon (1848-1915) also rest in this unmarked plot.

What were the details of the Waugon family and its connection to Chief Pokagon? As with most things dealing with local history, you can't dig far without coming upon the work already done by our master historian Kit Lane. She writes of the Waugon and related Indian families in her book "Saugatuck Visitors". The Pottawatomie Census of 1895 lists John Waugon age 36 living in Saugatuck, as the son of a Waw-o-gun, b. about 1820 of Lake City, MI. His sons Benjamin age 12 and Frank age 10 are shown, and it's written for each of them "lives with Simon Pokagon at Lee, MI". No wife is shown for him, but Mary Shashagway age 60 is listed separately with two Shashagway children - Joseph and Frances.

Chief Simon Pokagon

A HERALD-PALLADIUM newspaper article of 1977 said of Simon Pokagon "During his lifetime he became known as the best-educated full-blooded Indian in North America and 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. Chief Pokagon ---- lived in slab shanties around 60th and 109th Avenue, near Pullman, Lee Township Allegan County Michigan." This location seems likely to be where his grandsons lived with him in 1895. Simon Pokagon died in 1899.

Kit Lane writes "Simon Pokagon and his first wife Lonidaw (or Angela or Angelique) Sinagaw had four children: Cecilia, William, Charles and Jerome and the mother died at the age of 35 --Another source says that the lone daughter Cecilia (also sometimes called Hazeleyes, Teresa, or Sarah) "died young" in accident that had something to do with two drunken white hunters and a boat, but I am beginning to wonder if she, perhaps, had two children before she died -- Ben and Frank". Her speculation seems confirmed by the marriage records on file in Allegan County which show:

CACEILIA - POGAGON ----- m ----- JOHN - WAGON ----- 01 FEB 1887

The date appears to be a "recording" of the marriage as both sons were born before this time. The story of Cecelia's drowning can be read in Chief Pokagon's book "Queen of the Woods" which can be read on-line at the SDHS web site (Thanks to Google books).

The wording of Benjamin's obituary makes it seem like he was the last of the Pokagon line. Kit Lane writes "After his first wife died Simon Pokagon married again. His second wife was called Victoria, and the two had an indeterminate number of children -- some accounts say as many as four." His death certificate records that he had 9 children, only 1 of whom was living as of 1899. While we have not succeeded in putting together a complete tree for Simon Pokagon, we know that an obituary for WWII veteran Frank Shagonoby (Shagonabe) refers to him as having been a grandson of Chief Simon Pokagon. Frank died in 1971, age 56, and is buried at Oakwood cemetery in Allegan. One Michigan death certificate gives a hint. It shows a stillborn baby born/died Jan. 2, 1916 to John Shagonaby and Mary Pokagon of Paw Paw Twp, Van Buren Co, MI. A number of Shagonaby family members are buried at the Douglas Cemetery.

--contributed by Chris Yoder

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