My Potawatomi family. One of the honored families this year.

 

2024 Honored Families: Darling

Elizabeth Ouilmette married Lucius (Louis) Ripley Darling on July 15, 1836. Elizabeth was one of eight children born to Antoine Ouilmette, known as one of the first residents of Chicago, and Archange Chevalier Ouilmette. Archange’s mother, Chopa, was the daughter of Potawatomi warrior and headman Naunongee from the Calumet River Potawatomi.

The family removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1837 and Lucius joined Waubansee’s Potawatomi band, serving as a trader. Their son William was baptized there on June 9, 1838. They had 13 children total: William, Francis L., Eliza, Lucius, Louis Oliver, Charles Nathan, and the remaining children died while infants.

The Treaty of 1846 required all the Potawatomi removed west to relocate on one reservation in Kansas, and the Darling family made their way there in 1847. Due to pressure from incoming settlers and business, the Potawatomi signed a treaty in 1861 that offered an opportunity to become U.S. citizens and receive land allotments. Although Elizabeth passed away before the process was finalized, Lucius and their children chose to receive individual plots of land and became members of the Citizen Potawatomi.

Every year at the CPN Family Reunion Festival, the Nation honors a group of families that moved to Oklahoma and eventually formed the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The 2024 Honored Families are Darling, Hardin, Higbee, Levier, Lewis, Nadeau, Negahnquet, Pambogo and Smith. Read more at https://www.potawatomi.org/.../2024-honored-families.../.

Pictured: Eliza M.Darling Smith Eldridge Meloch Bressman and daughter Alice Smith Tescier See less