Theotis (Theotiste) Pisange (Aranwaiske)

Biography

Theotis (Theotiste) Pisange (Aranwaiske), a Nishnabe woman whose family lived in the Great Lakes region, was born on October 28, 1792, according to a certified copy of the Bourassa family record. In her reported testimony, she identified her father as Ojibwe and her mother as Odawa. Tribal histories describe her as a niece of Shabbona, a Potawatomi leader; a later family history also reports that her son Joseph Napoleon made that identification in an interview with the historian Lyman Draper.

The family record dates her marriage to Daniel Bourassa II to March 15, 1808. A Chicago historical compilation records another marriage entry for Daniel and Theotis on May 20, 1826, with John Kinzie officiating.

The family record begins with Joseph, born on March 19, 1810, followed by Mark on September 1, 1812 and Jude on April 19, 1814. Later accounts of the family’s testimony place Jude’s birth near the mouth of the Galien River, where New Buffalo, Michigan, later stood.

Their children’s chronology continues with Lazarus, born December 25, 1816; Stephen, October 31, 1818; Gabriel, February 2, 1820; a child entered as E., December 31, 1822; Alexander, June 25, 1824; Daniel junior, June 22, 1827; and James, April 8, 1829. It also contains an unnamed child marked as having died, then Jerome, born October 8, 1832, and Elizabeth J., July 12, 1835. These are the names used in the record; elsewhere in the family history, Joseph is identified as Joseph Napoleon Bourassa.

On July 22, 1830, Father Frederic Rese, a Catholic priest, baptized Theotis and eight of her children. The handwritten account calls her Théotis, wife of Daniel Bourassa junior, and names Marc, Jude, Lazare, Aikane, Gabriel, Alexandre, Daniel and Jaques. Later family sheets identify Aikane with Stephen.

The Treaty of Chicago in 1833 designated payments for Daniel’s children and named several of their sons, including Jerome. By 1837, Theotis and Daniel were living near the Yellow River in northern Indiana, in the American Midwest. A later family history suggests that they lived in the community of Menominee, a Potawatomi leader.

That year, Theotis testified in connection with Jude’s disputed land. Later accounts describe proceedings at South Bend on April 22 and at Bertrand on May 10. According to Donald E. Bourassa’s letter, an opposing party objected to her testimony because she was an Indigenous woman. She was nevertheless sworn as a witness. The letter describes her as speaking an Indigenous language and understanding some French.

On September 4, 1838, Theotis, Daniel and seven children began the forced journey from Indiana to what is now Kansas in the central United States, known as the Trail of Death. The tribal account dates their arrival to November 4. Joseph Napoleon and Jude traveled separately: the family history places Joseph’s departure in 1837 and Jude’s on August 17, 1840.

Daniel and Theotis both died at Sugar Creek in 1840. A typed extract from the burial records of St. Mary’s Mission, a Catholic mission community, dates Daniel’s entry to February 28 and Theotis’s to August 10. These are burial dates.