Watseka

For the city, see Watseka, Illinois.

Watseka or Watchekee (c. 1810–1878) was a Potawatomi Native American woman, born in Illinois, and named for the heroine of a Potawatomi legend. Her uncle was Tamin, the chief of the Kankakee Potawatomi Indians.[1]

In 1824, at age ten, she became engaged to Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard, whom she married at age fourteen or fifteen. Hubbard and Watseka had two children, both of whom died in infancy. They mutually dissolved the union in 1826.[2] Watseka married Noel Le Vasseur at age eighteen, and was described as "beautiful, intelligent and petite."[3] She had three children with Le Vasseur, who learned to speak the Potawatomi language. In 1836, she left for Council Bluffs, Iowa, where her tribe had been removed in 1832 following the Treaty of Camp Tippecanoe. She died in Council Bluffs in 1878.[3]

a city in East Central Illinois may have been named in her honor.

References

  1. ↑ "History". Village of Bourbonnais. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
  2. ↑ "Hubbard Trading Post marker - Iroquois, IL". Illinois Historical Markers on Waymarking.com. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
  3. 1 2 "Obituary for Noel LeVasseur". Watseka Republican. 1879-12-25. Retrieved 2012-12-10.


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