The Bourbonnais and Potawatomi link begins with Catherine — Catish — Chevalier, a French-Potawatomi woman, and French-Canadian Francis Bourbonnais Sr.
Nearly 5,000 recently attended the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Family Reunion Festival held June 29 – July 1 at the Nation’s headquarters. This year’s event honored nine founding Citizen Potawatomi families: Anderson, Beaubien, Bertrand, Bourbonnais, Ogee, Pettifer, Toupin, Wano and Yott. Following tradition, the Tribe honored the wisest, youngest and farthest traveled member in attendance. Bob Read More »
ANDERSON Marie (Mary) C. Tremble was the daughter of Therese Archange Morin Tremble Mann and Toussaint Tremble. She married John Anderson Sr. In the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, Marie received $500. John and Marie had three children: John Jr., Peter and Marie Anna Anderson. John Jr. married Elizabeth Hardin, and his brother Peter Anderson married Read More »
Every year during the Family Reunion Festival, a few Citizen Potawatomi Nation employees set up cameras and invite all ages of Honored Family descendants to volunteer information about their lineage on video. This year’s Honored Families are Anderson, Beaubien, Bertrand, Bourbonnais, Ogee, Pettifer, Toupin, Wano and Yott. This process documents Potawatomi people’s stories, expands Tribal Read More »
This month, Citizen Potawatomi Nation welcomes Potawatomi tribal members from across the United States to Tribal headquarters near Shawnee, Oklahoma, for the annual Family Reunion Festival. Byé bidgek Bodéwadmik gdewigwamem, roughly translated, means “Welcome to your home, Potawatomi people.” Between June 29 and July 1, an expected 5,000 Tribal members will participate in cultural activities, Read More »
The Bourbonnais Cabin is a culturally significant home located on Tribal land near the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center. The Nation usually allows tours and welcomes visitors inside during the Family Reunion Festival each summer, but this year it is closed. Given the cabin’s cultural significance, Tribal staff are reviewing repair suggestions and maintenance Read More »
Peter Bourbonnais was an entrepreneur. He owned a saw mill, trading post and toll bridge that crossed a creek along the Oregon Trail in north-central Kansas. That same creek still runs today between the towns of St. Mary’s and Rossville in Shawnee County, Kan., and was named in honor of the nineteenth century Potawatomi ancestor. Read More »
The United States has been engaged in combat operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan since 2001. Tens of thousands of service men and women have been deployed to these areas of operation since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and yet the War on Terror continues. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Veteran’s Wall of Honor Read More »
Just off the north edge of the FireLake Golf Course’s driving range, near the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center, sits a log cabin that looks as if it has appeared straight out of an old Western movie. Built in 1881,outside of what was then called Shawneetown, the cabin was first owned by store owner Read More »