Chief Alexis Bobtail Piche

BOBTAIL (aka KISKIYEW, OR ALEXIS PICHE)

Chief of the Bear Hills Cree

Bobtail is the biological Brother of Marguerite Utinawasis Songab Okivhita, Techomehgood Ah-Dik Songab Okicheta Bottineau, and Techomehgood Ah-Dik Songab Okicheta Bottineau were the matriarchs of The Dakota Nation, The O'Jibway Nation, and The Cree Iron Confederacy as the family of Chief Delonaise Atetaŋkawamduška Wáȟpe Šá and King of the Loons Mamaangĕzide. His stepbrother Red Bear Miscomaquah, Chief Noka Nokay Kadwabida Broken Tooth, and Chief Alexis Bobtail Piche skinned the white men who abused them. A man Charles Chartier once took their money and sold them. Briefly, this incited Chief Kaŋgidaŋ Mdokečiŋhaŋ, Little Crow I to start a war to rescue them. Modern history has ignored the story of the family of the three Starwoman sisters manipulated by greedy European businessmen to obtain access to their trading routes including The NW Trading Company, XY Trading Company, and Hudson Bay Trading Company.

Bobtail (aka Kiskiyew, Kiskiy, or Alexis Piche) is the son of Chief Pesew. He is noticed as Chief of his own Band of Mountain Cree in 1850 [Joachim Fromhold, The Western Cree (Pakisimotan Wi Iniwak) - Ethnography (Heritage Consulting, Canada, 2010), pp. 7 et seq.

Bobtail, whose Cree name was Keskayiwew, was born along the North Saskatchewan River, the son of Alexis Piché Sr. and Opeh-tah-she-toy-wishk, Magdeline O'pitaskewis (a Plains Cree woman). Bobtail died on 25 September 1900, at Hobema, Alberta. [American Tribes} http://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/305/bobtail-cree-chief

Kiskiyew (Otherwise Kiskiy or Bobtail, also known as Alexis Piche) became Chief of the Bear Hills Cree after the death of his father Louie Piche also known as Pisu) who was the chief of the Rocky Cree (Asini Wachi Wi Iniwak or Asinīskāwiyiniwak) and later became head chief of the Western Cree (‘Pakisimotan Wi Iniwak’) and soon after head chief of all the groups of the Upstream People: Natimiw Iyiniwak or Natimiyininiwak. [Wikipedia: Ermineskin Cree Nation] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ermineskin_Cree_Nation

Chief of the Bear Hills Cree, brother of Ermineskin. Was elected chief by 1844? to the chieftainship of the Rocky Cree and later became head chief of the Western Cree and head chief of all the groups of the Upstream People. By 1874 Bobtail had 15 lodges totaling 120 people. A respected leader, warrior and guide whose family were seasonal residents of the area of lake Minnawanka near Banff, Alberta. [American Tribes} http://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/305/bobtail-cree-chief

Bobtail’s desired a reserve near Pigeon Lake and on September 25, 1877 Chief Bobtail and two of his Councillors signed an adhesion to Treaty Six. After the 1885 Resistance Bobtail, his wife and his children took Metis Scrip (1886). He had Metis scrip claim # 179 and Catherine’s was # 171. Later he applied to return to Treaty status. The Bobtail group then spent several years with the Cree of Montana. After the government campaign to oust the Cree from Montana, this group became the Montana Band in Alberta. [American Tribes} http://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/305/bobtail-cree-chief

Freighter for the Hudson's Bay Company, 1886-87

Between June 1886 and June 1887 Bobtail (aka Alexis Piche) was occasionally employed in freighting for the Hudson's Bay Company [Gerhard J. Ens and Joe Sawchuck, From New People to New Nations: Aspects of Metis History and Identity from Eighteenth to Twenty-first Centuries (University of Toronto Press, 2016), page 212]

His Metis Script Application

ALEXIS PICHE alias BOBTAIL; address: Peace Hills; born: 1826 on Saskatchewan River; father: Piche (Métis); mother: Opeh-tah-she-oy-wishk (Métis); married: 1849 at Pigeon Lake to Catherine Pierre; children living: Cecile, Francois, Angele and Alexis; children deceased: Marguerite, Marie and Nancy; scrip for $160.00; claim no. 179. 19uu. File. [Library and Archives Canada, Metis Script Applications, reference RG15-D-II-8-c. Volume/box number: 1363. Copied container number: C-14997. NO IMAGE PRESENTLY AVAILABLE]

Metis Script Application in the name of his deceased daughter Catherine Piche

ALEXIS PICHE alias BOBTAIL; heir to his deceased daughter, Catherine Piche; address: St.Albert or Battle River; born: 1850 at Lac Ste Anne; died: Fall, 1870 at Saddle Lake; father: Alexis Piche or Bob-Tail; (Métis and deponent); mother: Catherine Cardinal (Métis); scrip for $240.00; claim no. 290. 19uu. File. [Library and Archives Canada, Metis Script Applications, reference RG15-D-II-8-c. Volume/box number: 1363. Copied container number: C-14997. NO IMAGES PRESENTLY AVAILABLE]

Meis Script Application for his deceased daughter Angele Piche

ALEXIS PICHE alias BOBTAIL heir to his deceased daughter ANGELE PICHE; address: Battle River; born: 1863 at Victoria; died: Fall, 1870 at St. Paul des Cris; father: Alexis Piche alias Bob-Tail; (Métis and deponent); mother: Catherine Cardinal (Métis); scrip for $240.00; claim no. 289. 19uu. File. [Library and Archives Canada: Metis Script Applications, reference RG15-D-II-8-c. Volume/box number: 1363. Copied container number: C-14997. NO IMAGES PRESENTLY AVAILABLE]

Marriage

In 1849 Bobtail (aka Alexis Piche) married Catherine Cardinal (Pierre)dit Mustatip at Pidgeon Lake. Her father’s name was Pierre Cardinaldit Eia-io-wew and her mother was Marie Catherine Cardinal.

Children

Bobtail (aka Alexis Piche) and Catherine Cardinal had four children [American Tribes} http://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/305/bobtail-cree-chief Their names follow

1. Coyote (aka Francois Piche) b. 1847 at Fort Pitt
2. Catherine Piche b. 1850 d. 1870
3. Cecile Piche b. 1852 at Lac Ste. Anne
4. Angele Piche b. 1864 at Metis Crossing
5. Victoria Piche
6. Alexis Piche b. 1866 at Metis Crossing
7. Moise Piche
8. Suzanne Piche
9. Marguerite Piche
10. Marie Piche
11. Nancy Piche

Biographical Summary

The First Nation took its name from Ermineskin Kosikosowayano also known as Baptiste Piche), Chief of the Bear Hills Cree. He was the son of Peechee (Pisu - "Mountain Lion", also known as Louis Piche), Chief of the Asini Wachi Nehiyawak (Cree groups of the Rocky/Mountain Cree) and later head chief of the Rocky Mountain Cree (Asini Wachi Wi Iniwak or Asinīskāwiyiniwak)[3] and also brother-in-law of Pitikwahanapiwiyin (′Poundmaker′), Chief of the River Cree (Sipi Wi Iniwak or Sīpīwininiwak). Ermineskin was the younger brother of the well-known Kiskiyo - Bobtail, also known as Alexis Piche), who became Chief of the Bear Hills Cree after the death of their father Louie Piche also known as Pisu) who was the chief of the Rocky Cree (Asini Wachi Wi Iniwak or Asinīskāwiyiniwak) and became later head chief of the Western Cree (‘Pakisimotan Wi Iniwak’) and soon after head chief of all the groups of the Upstream People (Natimiw Iyiniwak or Natimiyininiwak).