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- Modern era
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- anishinaabeindigenous-historysettlementlandtoponymy
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- Beaver Island
- Media
- Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision
Summary
Angeline Wab-nin-kee was an Anishinaabe woman who held land on Beaver Island’s west side. A federal trust patent issued on May 11, 1909 identifies her as the widow of John Wab-nin-kee and records an 80-acre holding in Township 38 North, Range 10 West, Section 18. That primary record independently places her in the same area where later island sources locate Peshawbe’s Town and Angeline’s Bluff.
The twenty-five-year trust instrument promised a later fee patent. Fee Patent 1148427, issued in 1954, repeats that Angeline’s claim had been established and duly consummated but grants the tract to purchaser Kenneth W. Greene under a Bureau of Indian Affairs order dated June 21, 1954. The document does not say how the purchase arose, whether Angeline was then living, or who her heirs were.
An April 1905 newspaper item reports the death of a lumber-company worker it prints as “John Wabininsky (sic).” A falling limb fractured his skull in the woods on Friday, and he died Sunday. The resemblance to John Wab-nin-kee and Angeline’s later status as his widow make the item a strong research lead, but the held sources do not prove that the two names identify the same man.
Name and bluff tradition
The federal document spells her name Wab-nin-kee. The 1978 Historical Map uses Wabaninkee, while Peaine Township’s 2024 recreation plan uses Wabanimkee. The map is the earliest held source explicitly saying the bluff was named for her. That attribution is plausible and geographically consistent with her patent, but no earlier deed, survey, newspaper, or first-person account has yet been found to establish when the name arose.
The township plan also describes her as a leader of the settlement, an employee of the Beaver Island Lumber Company, and a friend of Ina Redding. Those are valuable local-history leads, not facts supplied by the 1909 patent. They remain qualified pending a tribal archive, payroll, census, family, or oral-history record.
A separate person from Marian Oliver
An early Helen Collar note wondered whether John Oliver’s wife was Angeline. Collar’s 1975 interview with Oliver’s grandson instead identified that woman as Marian, also known as Chawon Chanoodin, and explicitly called the Angeline identification incorrect. Angeline Wab-nin-kee is therefore not merged with John Joseph Oliver’s wife.
See also
The page
Rendered from the held scan.
The page
Rendered from the held scan.
Sources
- Primary federal record identifies “Angeline Wab-nin-kee, Widow of John Wab-nin-kee, an Indian,” and places an 80-acre trust holding in T38N R10W Section 18. It establishes her identity, widowhood, and land claim, but not community leadership, lumber-company employment, or the origin of Angeline Bluff. The holder's public portal is searchable but does not link this record directly; the archive holds a copy of the file and can provide it on request.federal · glo · patents · 17113869873279326119-patent-ser-60307
- Indexes the 1909 trust patent and its two 40-acre aliquots; nearby 1908–1909 Indian trust patents provide settlement context without proving a named village boundary. The holder's public portal is searchable but does not link this record directly; the archive holds a copy of the file and can provide it on request.federal · glo · beaver_island_patent_locations
- Primary fee patent repeats that Angeline's claim to the same 80 acres had been established and duly consummated, then records a 21 June 1954 Bureau of Indian Affairs order directing issue to purchaser Kenneth W. Greene. It grants the tract to Greene and his heirs and assigns. It does not explain the sale, identify Angeline's heirs, or account for the interval after the trust term.federal · glo · patents · 9781287680262517459-patent-ser-1148427
- Joyce Bartels, “One Hundred Years Ago,” Beaver Beacon, April 2005, pp. 28–29, reprinting April 1905 newspaper items.Reports that “John Wabininsky (sic), an employee of the Lumber Co.” died after a falling limb fractured his skull in the woods. The similar name and date make this a lead concerning Angeline's husband, not proof of identity.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.Says Angeline’s Bluff was named for Angeline Wabaninkee “of Peshawbe’s Town.” This is the earliest held explicit namesake statement, but it is a retrospective map annotation.
- Repeats that the bluff was named for Angeline Wabanimkee and calls her a Peshawbestown leader, lumber-company worker, and friend of Ina Redding. The plan supplies no citations for those biographical details, so they remain later local tradition.planning · beaver_island_master_plan · 2024-2028-beaver-island-recreation-plan-fa1f69af
Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Angeline Wab-nin-kee”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/angeline-wab-nin-kee/, accessed [date], citing U.S. General Land Office, Indian Homestead Trust Patent 60307, Angeline Wab-nin-kee, 11 May 1909. (and 5 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
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