The Potawatomi Crumbo family is full of stonemasons, Navy members, artists, filmmakers and more.
According to family records, “Joshua E. Clardy, also known as ‘Judge’ Clardy, was with his family one of the first settlers of Potawatomi County, Oklahoma.”
The Bourbonnais and Potawatomi link begins with Catherine — Catish — Chevalier, a French-Potawatomi woman, and French-Canadian Francis Bourbonnais Sr.
In the early 17th century, brothers Jean and Gabriel Bertrand left the Province of Poitou in western France for North America, seeking the opportunity for a new life.
Each month leading up to June, the Hownikan will feature the history and background of each scheduled honored family selected for the 2021 Family Reunion Festival, including the Bruno, Darling, Hardin, Higbee, Lewis, Nadeau, Slavin and Smith families. The first in this series is the Bruno family. Like many French-Canadian settlers with ties to the Potawatomi, the Brunos were once successful fur traders and trappers.
The Bergeron Potawatomi family roots begin along the Kankakee River in Bourbonnais Grove, Illinois, with Watchekee, the daughter of Potawatomi/Odawa Chief Shabonna and Monashki.
Some records indicate the Acton Potawatomi family connection begins with Chief Ashkum (More and More) — Christian name James Acton Sr. — and his two marriages to first wife Madeline Oscum and second, Angeline Bellaire, Azhnick.
Like many French who came to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Bourassa family played a role in the development of both the fur trade and French-Native American relations.
The Anderson family’s Potawatomi roots began in 18th century Peoria, Illinois, when a Potawatomi woman named Mary C. Tremblay married a blacksmith named John Anderson.
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 2019 Honored Families are Johnson, Lafromboise, LaReau, LeClaire, Melott, Rhodd, Tescier, Weld and Young.