Chief John Tebbassang Tobie, Sr.

Chief John Tobie of Honey Harbour (probably Beausoleil Island First Nation which is opposite the mainland hamlet of Honey Harbour), Ontario is listed as # 1549 on the 1907 Wooster Roll where he is identified as the son of "Chief Assaganashkam" (mistransctibed on the 2014 Wyckoff Transcription as "Assagauashkam" probably because the handwiritten original Wooster Roll has some atypical letter formations so the handwritten "n" looks like "u". Assanaganshkam is a key personality in the overall Wooster Roll since his name appears (with various mistranscriptions) as the grandfather, great grandfather and "relative" of several personalities on the roll.

Chief John Tobie's traditional name is recorded as "Tebbassang" reportedly meaning "Lightning" although Anishinaabemowin has quite a different word for lightning. In Anishinaabemowin a word close to the same sound as "Tebbassang" is "Tekassing" meaning something cool or cooling, peppermint (Baraga 1880:385). Sometimes speakers of Anishinaabemowin juxtapose consonants. If Tebbansang really starts as "Tessab" it is interesting that "Tessab" literally means "shelf" but also means "sitting on horseback" or "sitting in the saddle". More research is required on John Tobie's traditional name. To gain a fuller understanding of "Tebbassang" scrutiny and comment are required by those with expertise in nuances of the Anishinaabemowin language and Potawatomi culture.

Since Chief John Tobie is the only person on the Wooster Roll to identify Assaganashkam as his father he is a "gateway" personality to help solve the relationship of others listed on the Wooster Roll who have a more distant relationship to Assaganashkam. This is particularly relevant since the spellings of 1907 and earlier are phonetic in nature and vary slightly from one reference to another. Assaganashkam also is relevant since he was Signatory #62 on the 1833 Treaty of Chicago on which his name was recorded using the spelling "Ah-sag-a-mish-cum".

In 1907 when Chief John Tobie was age 88 he is documented as living in Honey Harbour where he held NO rights in Canada..

John Tobie's wife, Suzanne Tobie, at age 93, is the oldest person listed on the 1907 Wooster Roll where she is # 1550 and is the daughter of Ogimawadj, another gateway personality.