Saugeen (Ojibwa) Reservation - Southampton, Ontario
Carl Ahrens and family adopted into tribe in 1896
September 28th, 2004
After visiting Owen Sound and Leith, my cousin Chris and I decided to take the short trip over to Southampton to see what remains of the Saugeen reservation Carl and his first family once lived on. In the summer of 1896 Carl and his family lived just off the reservation, but the children of the tribe became fascinated by Carl. They would stand a few feet away and stare at him and then run away as if frightened. Carl spoke a bit of the Anishinaabe language from his earlier experiences with native tribes, and he asked the chief's wife about the unusual behavior. She explained that it was because he so closely resembled the son she had recently lost. Not long after this Carl, his first wife (Emily), their children (Carl, Robert and Pauline), and his cousin Eleanor Douglass were all adopted into the tribe. They moved onto the reservation and remained there for several months.
I have no historical photos of this time, as it was before Carl met my great-grandmother, Madonna. However, I know that the tribe was camped close enough to the Saugeen River for Carl's youngest, Pauline, age four at the time, to go down to the water's edge and play with the river otters daily. There was a church on the reservation at that time (still there) and when I saw this site I knew in my gut that the view was a familiar one to Carl. It would have been a logical place for the tribe to make their camp, with lots of flat ground right by the river and high ground near by to keep an eye out for trouble on the way.
The church on the left is called the Wesley Centenary Church
and it was erected on the reservation in 1891, just five years before Carl lived there.
This was easily one of the most peaceful places I have ever been.
All of these photographs of the Saugeen reservation near Southampton, Ontario were taken by Chris Keith in September of 2004, with the exception of the one
in the middle of the bottom row. That one was taken by Wendy Miller in May of 2007, when Kim returned to the site.
We had to backtrack a bit to get on Bruce Highway 10 so we could get back to Highway 6 without having to go all the way back to Owen Sound. It was a LONG drive to Tobermory, which is at the very tip of the Bruce Peninsula. There was not a whole lot to see on the way up there. Most towns were only a couple of houses and that was it. There was nothing at all but straight road for 30 km at a time. We were rather in a hurry to get there, though, as I was supposed to meet Wilmer Nadjiwon, who was the Ojibwa chief from the Cape Croker reservation for fourteen years. (This is an elected position now.) There was no specific time I was scheduled to be there, but I wanted to make sure I caught him before he left the campground for the night.
When we arrived, it turned out that he had already left but was expected back very early in the morning. We elected not to stay in a teepee, seeing that it was expected to dip down to just above freezing that night, and happily accepted the key to a small cabin. Then we rushed in to town, hoping to get a bite to eat. I needed to be back to the campground by 7:30 so I could take part in the full moon ceremony, a women's only event that is celebrated every full moon. Chris said he would hang out at a bar in town until I was done.
There was only one restaurant open, as it was off-season, and we wolfed down our food. Unfortunately, there was still no time to see the sunset over the water, and that was a disappointment, as I had heard that the sunsets over Lake Huron are among the best in the world.
I joined in the ceremony slightly late, as they had moved it to a ceremonial teepee back further in the woods and it took a bit to find them. We finally heard a very distinctive drum and saw a campfire. There were a couple of women in the teepee who were clearly native, and there were about six other women as well, some possibly native. All were in their fifties or sixties with the exception of one in her seventies! Then me, the baby of the group. All of the other women had attended a class a few days before about how to make your own native drum and were anxious to test out their handiwork.
The first thing I had to do was take a length of cloth and then four small squares of cloth. In each square we were to place a small offering of tobacco. The squares were then knotted up and tied onto the long strip of cloth. One knot was supposed to represent yourself, another represented your children, a third represented your ancestors and the last represented anyone you wanted it to - perhaps a special friend.
Each woman took turns standing in front of the fire and said a sort of prayer for the things and people she was grateful for. Some addressed the prayer to God, others to the Great Spirit. Some said their prayer out loud and others were silent. Once each woman was finished she was to drop her tobacco offering onto the fire. Then she would add a few cedar boughs, which smelled heavenly. Next came a water offering. First a spoonful of water to the ground, then one to the fire, then one to the rock, then one to herself. The last thing was a buffalo call - a very haunting high pitched cry that I botched entirely.
The next part of the ceremony involved more cloths and tobacco that was apparently supposed to represent an umbilical cord. As I had no drum to attach it to, I was not given an umbilical cord. Before the tobacco could be used in the ceremony it must be made to "dance" on the drum. This was accomplished by placing the tobacco on a horizontal drum. The leaders of the ceremony then banged their drums next to everyone else's until the tobacco appeared to dance. I was amazed that this actually worked.
Next we sat in a circle and sang songs. Several were in the Anishinaabe language, which sounded nothing like anything I had ever heard before. I wondered how difficult it was for Carl to learn the language, as he must have. His son, Robert, spoke it even into adulthood.
The drums were included in this part of the ceremony, and I will never forget that sound. It is repetitive, yet moving, makes the listener feel like she is living centuries ago. In order to get the "right" tone, the drum, made of buffalo hide, must be held close to the fire in order to warm it. I imagine this causes the hide to tighten. The middle of the drum makes nearly no sound at all and the drummer must tap around the edges to find the "sweet spots." The drum is very important in the culture of this tribe and is always used in a sacred way, not for entertainment.
September 29th, 2004 - Cha Mao Zah (outside Tobermory)
I woke at sunrise and forced Chris out of bed. One of the women at the Full Moon Ceremony told me that Chief Nadjiwon usually got to the campground very early in the morning, and I needed to catch him before we left on our day's adventures.
On the way to the bathroom I caught sight of the moon, which was stunningly bright surrounded by pink clouds. I ran back for my camcorder and camera. Chris later told me that after one glance at that moon he was wide awake, and he usually requires about a pot of coffee to function at all in the morning.
We were the only campers from the night before and there was no need for me to look for the chief. He found me.
He told me that adoption ceremonies were quite common, more often with children than adults. Generally they were done out of necessity. For example, if one family had many children they might give one to a family who had very few. When I told Nadjiwon the story about how Carl had resembled the late son of the chief, and that the chief's wife began to call Carl "son", Nadjiwon nodded vigorously. He said that likely what happened is that the chief's wife believed Carl was the reincarnation of her son. Likely Carl reminded her of her son in more ways than just a physical resemblance. There may have been something about his mannerisms or life that led her to believe this. Perhaps her son had also been artistic.
Nadjiwon said that the first thing that would have occurred after the adoption ceremony would be
a move onto the reservation and a period of language immersion. Very few Ojibwa in that area spoke any English, which is why the treaties were such a joke. Not only were they in English, but they were in convoluted English that no one understood. Everyone in Carl's family would have been expected to learn the dialect of the area.
Nadjiwon said that there would have been plenty of ways that Carl could have contributed to the tribe, even as a lame man. He likely would have been in charge of the arts and crafts, and may also have been given such responsibilities as picking berries or making tools.
May 3rd, 2007
I returned to Tobermory with my mother and my friend, Wendy. We caught the sunset this time, and it was well worth the wait!
Reservation church
Stairs leading from the rock garden
Inside the church on the reservation. Note the native symbols
mixed in with the Christian ones.
Signpost to the world
Kim just outside the rock garden
A view of the Saugeen River from the rock garden. Other than for
the 'friendship' sign, it likely appeared much like this when Carl lived
here in the summer of 1896.
A fitting tribute to a sacred place.
Kim and her mother, Deb, visit the reservation in 2007
