Arthur Nowgeeshig Henry (1892-1969)

Exploring the post-settlement history of the local Native American population is a subject of considerable interest, but one that I have avoided delving further into on account of the enormous amount of time required to do the subject justice.

However, a reader recently left the following comment on the article Indian Sites of Chesaning:

I seek information on a Native American man, whom my father referred to as Chief Art Henry. I believe that my father’s only brother was named in honor of Chief Art Henry, because my father told me that his grandfather was a neighbor and friendly to Chief Art Henry, whom he admired very much. My father and his brother were born on one of their family’s former farms in Fergus, north of Chesaning. Many years ago, when I began my genealogy research, I drove to what was once Fergus and located my great-grandfather’s farm on Marion Road, where other relatives had also owned farms before the Great Depression. That Marion Road location places them near a Native American site mentioned in this article. So, I’m wondering if the man in question could have lived near the Graves family’s farms, as I always believed, based on my dad’s recollections of having lived close to a well-respected Native American named Chief Art Henry.

I thought I’d do a quick survey and find out what I could about Chief Arthur Henry.

Arthur Nowgeeshig Henry was born on October 12, 1892, to parents Peter Henry (1861-1917) and Sarah Waindawbun David (1864-1931).

Both parents appear to have residents of what was once the village of Angwassag, an Ojibwa village that stood near Bear Creek, close to where the stream emptied into the Shiawassee River.

The area later became known as Indiantown after the arrival of European settlers, and was centered around what is today the intersection of Fergus Road and Turner Road in St. Charles Township.

Peter Henry’s presence in Indiantown is recorded by Harlan Smith (1872-1940), a prominent archaeologist from Saginaw who began his career studying the history of local tribes here in Saginaw County.

Peter was an important source of native folklore, serving as both a storyteller and interpreter.

Quewis is known to the white men of the neighborhood as Peter Henry. He is a manufacturer of hand-shaved axe handles and lives at Angwassag, the Ojibwa village, near the Shiawassee River in St. Charles Township, Saginaw County, Michigan. The word Quewis is probably for kwiwis, which in turn is a shortened form of kwiwisans; it means little boy, and is a common name. It does not necessarily mean that it is a man's only name ; it often becomes attached to a boy who carries the name throughout life, while his real name may never be used except perhaps on rare occasion.

Some Ojibwa Myths and Traditions, Harlan I. Smith (1906).

Even though Peter may indeed have used Quewis as his personal name, it also appears to have served as the family name, since his father is recorded as Henry Quewis (1812-1899).

Henry Quewis was the owner of a twenty acre plot of land near Indiantown, on the south side of Birch Run Road, between Stuart Road and Turner Road. This was later passed down to this son Peter, and is presumably where Arthur Henry was also born and raised.

Details on the life of Arthur Henry are difficult to come by, and much of his personal history must be inferred from the existing records.

He was born on October 15, 1892, in Pinconning, Michigan, although he grew up on his family’s farm St. Charles Township.

He appears to have also been given the name Nowgeeshig in his parents’ native tongue, and strongly identified with his Indian heritage throughout the rest of his life.

He grew up working on his father’s farm, and it can be assumed that he also attended classes at the local Indian school that was built on the northern edge of his father’s property.

As an adult, he worked on a local horse farm for a time, but eventually became an assistant to a stone mason and bricklayer named Ray Mead (1886-1946), and this remained his primary trade for several more years.

He was married to Ella Lyons (1896-1916) at some point, and the couple had one child together, a daughter named Pearl Henry (1914-1987). Ella had developed a heart condition of some kind, which sadly led to her death at a young age.

He later married a woman named Katherine Wheaton. This marriage ended in divorce, but not before producing two more daughters, Glendora Henry (1921-1993) and Caryl Henry (1925-1994).

Katherine may have been a relative of his first wife, as Ellen Lyon’s mother’s maiden name was Wheaton. Both women were also full-blooded Native American.

Arthur was married for a third time, to Alice Beechum, a miner’s daughter from Bay City. This marriage took place on October 5, 1928, and it appears that both were living and working down in Flint around this time.

This marriage produce two more children, sons Arthur Roland Henry (1929-2015) and Robert Henry (1930-1997), although I don’t think this marriage proved any more successful than his first two, as neither the 1940 nor the 1950 census shows Alice and Arthur living together as a couple.

Arthur seems to have spent much of the rest of his live alternating between living in Flint and St. Charles, and eventually started his own contracting business, working as a paper hanger.

He finally passed away on December 16, 1969, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in St Charles.

Even though he was born, grew up, and lived for much of his life in St. Charles, he does appear to have been a well known figure in Chesaning. He was a player on the Chesaning baseball team for a time, and also took on the role of Indian Chief Offocaw-Ke for the history pageant during the village’s centennial celebration in 1946.

It seems that he also played baseball in a semi-professional capacity, at least for part of one season.

It's Another Scalp

Chippewa Braves Humble The Local Pale Face Aggregation at Ball Game

Arntz's Chippewa Indian base ball team met the local Banners on the home war path, yesterday afternoon, and defeated them with the score of 5 to 1.

Thayer pitched the first five rounds in good style and Kratz was substituted with little improvement.

Arthur Henry, once a Goebel for Chesaning in the old days, was in ambush for the duskies and held the local sluggers to four hits. We understand that Arthur has signed for the remainder of the season and left today for Springport, Mich., for the next engagement. Chingwah caught Henry in perfect form and these two men with Geo. Eagle Eye, the short stop, showed classy stuff in base ball.

Chief "Cold Owl" on first was O. K., and it is said that he once adorned the lists of the Phillies of the National League. The aggregation was no cull assortment.

In the 5th inning Kratz was substituted for Thayer, who took Guy Chilton's place at shortstop, and, after his stage fright had worn off, Moose tossed fairly good ball. The locals were weakened badly by the absence of Walser through the toll of matrimony and none of the boys seemed to play their best for some obscure reason, doubtless the weather.

Albert Bradfish, of St. Charles, who is filling vacancy in the redskin nine occupied center garden and is accountable for three of the Indian's runs, poling out two hits and drawing a passport on five trials.

A number of sore heads from St. Charles were present rooting for the reds because of the defeat given the miners by the Banners, Decorations Day.

The Chesaning Argus, June 11, 1914.

Glen Arntz was a college baseball coach from Detroit who organized a barnstorming team consisting entirely of Chippewa Indians that toured throughout the Midwest.

One of the players that was signed on the for the 1914 season was Ed Pinnance (1879-1944), who was the first full-blooded American Indian to ever play in the majors. He pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1903.

The “Chief Cold Owl” mentioned in the article may have been referring to Pinnance. It’s interesting to think that he may have once played a game here in Chesaning.

Do any of our readers have their own memories of Arthur Henry?

The Chesaning Argonaut

Arthur Nowgeeshig Henry (1892-1969)

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