Ogi Bic 'Jack' Root

Jack was a Chippewa (Ojibwe) from the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe

Madeline Island, part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

Bad River’s Missing Creek
Under the Treaty concluded at La Pointe Sept 30th, 1854 the United States set apart a tract of Land as a Reservation “for the La Pointe Band and such other Indians as may see fit to settle with them” bounded as follows: “Beginning on the South shore of Lake Superior a few miles west of Montreal River at the mouth of a creek called by the Indians Ke-she-se-be-we-she, running thence South &c.”

March 30th, 1855 map from the U.S. General Land Office of lands to be withheld from sale for the La Pointe (Bad River) Reservation from the National Archives Microfilm Publications; Microcopy No. 27; Roll 16; Volume 16. The northeast corner of the Reservation along Lake Superior is accurately located at the mouth of Ke-che-se-be-we-she Creek (not labeled) on this map.

Detail of the Bad River Reservation from GLIFWC’s Gidakiiminaan Atlas. This map clearly shows that the northeast boundary of the Bad River Reservation is not located at the true location of Ke-che-se-be-we-she Creek by the 1854 Treaty. Red highlights were added for emphasis of discrepancies.

1861 resurvey of Township 47 North of Range 1 West by Elisha S. Norris for the General Land Office relocating Bad River Reservation’s northeast boundary. Ke-che-se-be-we-she Creek was relocated to what is now Graveyard Creek instead of its true location at the Barber Brother’s Ironton townsite location. Red highlights were added for emphasis of discrepancies.

Asaph Whittlesey was appointed to serve as the Indian Agent at the La Pointe Indian Agency from 1861 until 1869. We have not yet found any evidence that Whittlesey addressed any discrepancies about Bad River’s northeast boundary corner not being the true location of Ke-che-se-be-we-she Creek in accordance with the Treaty.

Source: https://chequamegonhistory.com/2018/10/03/wheeler-papers-bad-rivers...

The Bad River Band is one of six Ojibwe bands in Wisconsin that are federally recognized tribes, four set aside reservation treaty lands in the Treaty of 1854. These four are Bad River, Red Cliff, Lac Du Flambeau, and Lac Courte Oreilles; the other two bands are St. Croix and Mole Lake. Linguistically the band is listed as being of the Algonkian language stock; the native language is known as Ojibwe Anishinaabemowin.

Biography:

born c. 1851 to unknown parents, Jack lived on The Bad River Reservation (aka The La Pointe Reservation) which is the largest Indian Reservation in Wisconsin, until 1920 when he was admitted to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.

Admitted by the Lac du Flambeau Agency before January 30, 1920, when he was 69 years old and married at the time to Rosh Kin (Maggie), records do not show Jack was diagnosed with a mental disease. He was treated for a dislocated shoulder in 1930.

Jack died on October 27, 1933, at the age of 82, and according to Dr. L.L. Culp's letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated February 23, 1934, he was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery, tier 2 plot 67 on October 30, 1933.

His profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

Research Notes:
-it is unknown why Jack Root is in the 1934 census of the Luc de Flambeau Reservation, Luc de Flambeau, Wisconsin on April 1, 1934, after his reported death on October 27, 1933.

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Sources:

1916 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-JB4V : Tue Oct 03 23:19:36 UTC 2023), Entry for Ogi Bik, 1916, pg. 232/549, line 523-524, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1917 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-DKHT : Wed Oct 04 11:04:57 UTC 2023), Entry for Ogi Bik, 1917, 255/549, line 533-534, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1918 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-VCDZ : Thu Oct 05 10:27:11 UTC 2023), Entry for Ogi Bik, 1918, pg. 281/549, line 533-534 (wife Maggie b. 1841), census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1920 Jan 30 - "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J7-FFL : Fri Dec 22 23:50:26 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1920, pg. 652/1130, line 54, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians Canton, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1920 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-2QZV : Thu Oct 05 17:17:29 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1920, pg. 335/549, line 548-549, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1921 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-6D8J : Fri Oct 06 04:49:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1921, pg. 368/549, line 734-735, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1921 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:688C-J4XJ : Thu Oct 05 19:14:32 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1921, pg. 508/522, line 33, male census 1921, Canton Insane Asylum

1922 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-2XZY : Fri Oct 06 18:32:27 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1922, pg. 397/549, line 746-747, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1923 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-XCHJ : Fri Oct 06 15:27:58 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1923, pg. 425/549, line 758-759, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1924 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGCN-P84P : Fri Oct 06 21:54:42 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1924, pg. 452/549, line 761-762, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1924 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:688Q-XG23 : Fri Oct 06 08:37:18 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1924, pg. 515/522, line 39, male census 1924, Canton Insane Asylum

1925 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-87PX : Thu Oct 05 14:13:03 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1925, pg. 478/549, line 776-777, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1925 - "South Dakota State Census, 1925", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM46-J37 : Wed Oct 04 06:41:02 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1925, pg. 579/3325/ card #682, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1926 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP5G-7V95 : Thu Oct 05 18:11:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1926. pg. 504/549, line 776-777, census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1927 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGR1-WCJB : Thu Oct 05 21:40:00 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1927, pg. 542/549, line 717 (Insane), census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1928 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG2Y-72RZ : Tue Oct 03 22:13:45 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1928, pg. 54/653, line 717 (Insane), census of the Chippewa Indians, Luc de Flambeau Agency, Wis.

1929 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7W6T-1WW2 : Tue Oct 03 10:47:29 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1929, pg. 279/653, line 757 (Insane), census of the Chippewa tribe, Luc de Flambeau Reservation, Luc de Flambeau, jurisdiction

1931 Apr 1 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPLQ-KLZJ : Fri Oct 06 01:12:52 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1931, pg. 60/708, line 570 (Married but no wife shown, at Candon, S.D.), census of the Luc de Flambeau Reservation, Luc de Flambeau, Wisconsin

1933 Apr 1 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QRTF-FRZM : Tue Oct 03 15:58:21 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1933, pg. 60/825, line 573 (age 82, Head, living by himself, in Canton Asylum, S.D.), census of the Luc de Flambeau Reservation, Luc de Flambeau, Wisconsin

1933 Oct 30 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14493936/jack-root: accessed 25 January 2024), memorial page for Jack Root (unknown–30 Oct 1933), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14493936, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1933 Oct 30 - Hilton, M. (Ed.). (2023, July 10). Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians Historical Marker. Historical Marker. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486 Photo by Ruth VanSteenwyk, July 10, 2023, courtesy of HMdb.org

Herbert Conley 3-17-33 · Jack Root 10-30-33 · Charlie Clafflin 3-2-14

1934 Apr 1 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QYM4-1ZW2 : Wed Oct 04 00:46:34 UTC 2023), Entry for Jack Root, 1934, pg. 365/825, line 578, census of the Luc de Flambeau Reservation, Luc de Flambeau, Wisconsin