Daniel Bourassa II

Biography

Daniel Bourassa II was living in Chief Menominee's village on the Yellow River in northern Indiana when removal overtook his household. In September 1838, he and eight family members were among the Potawatomi forced west on the journey remembered as the Trail of Death. The tribal history identifies his name on the removal muster roll.

Daniel was born on June 22, 1780, the son of Daniel Bourassa and Marguerite Bertrand. He married Theotis Pisange on March 15, 1808. Their children included Joseph Napoleon and Jude Bourassa. His work as an agent for the American Fur Company connected him with the commercial world of the Great Lakes and Potawatomi communities.

The Citizen Potawatomi account dates the forced departure to September 4, 1838. The party reached what is now Kansas, west of Missouri, on November 4. The promised shelter and supplies were not ready for them. Daniel and Theotis subsequently lived at Sugar Creek, in what is now Linn County in eastern Kansas, where both died in 1840.

Their children's removals followed different chronologies. Joseph had gone west in 1837; Jude's removal came in 1840. Daniel's own final years are tied to the 1838 party, its arrival in present-day Kansas and the household's short time at Sugar Creek.

Theotis’s name also appears as Theotiste Pisange or Aranwaiske. The tribal account describes her parents as Odawa and Ojibwe.