Like everyone else, I get sidetracked!! A few weeks ago I wrote an article about Jude Bourassa and his wife, Marie Catherine (Sharrai) Bourassa. I want to continue to write about them because they are little known and yet they and their children had so much to do with the early history of Maple Hill Township.
Both Jude and Catherine were Native American. In fact, Jude Bourassa was the nephew of the great Potawatomi War Chief Wabaunsee, for whom our county is named. Jude was born April 19, 1814 on the Galien River in Berrien County, Michigan. That puts his birthplace in middle of Potawatomi tribal territorn in southwestern Michigan. Jude was the son of Daniel Bourassa and Theotis Pisange Armwaske. Daniel Bourassa was descended from a long line of French Canadian furtraders. Theotis (Armwaske) Bourassa was also French and like Jude had Native American ancestry.
Jude had a brother, Joseph Napoleon Bourassa, and the two of them were taken under the tutelage of Baptist Missionary Issac McCoy, who during the 1820s and 1830s, was among the most important of the missionary educators in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. He established the Carey Mission School at Niles, Michigan and brought Native American children there to be educated and taught trades.
Since Jude and Joseph Bourassa were the sons of a prominent fur trader, Daniel Bourassa, and were also the nephews of an important Potawatomi War Chief, Wabaunsee, they were considered two of McCoy’s most important children. Therefore, they were given the best the Carey School had to offer and were then sent to two additional schools, the Baptist Theological Seminary at Hamilton, New York and the Choctaw Academy at White Sulphur Springs, Kentucky. By the time they finished with these three schools, they spoke, dressed and wrote like the best educated Europeans. As a result, they became spokespersons for the Potawatomi Tribe during the late 1830s, 1840s, and for Joseph Napoleon into the 1850s.
Jude’s wife, Marie Catherine Sharrai was also from an important European/Native American family. Catherine Sharrai was the daughter of Barthelemy Charette dit Beauregard, from Montreal, Canada. He was born in Quebec on May 26, 1790 and died about 1842 in Benten Harbor, Berrien County, Michigan.
As with many early French Canadian settlers, his name was either misspelled or changed deliberately. At birth, his family was known by the spelling Charette. However by the time of the birth of his children and certainly by the time he died, the spelling of his name had been changed to Sharrai. The “dit Beauregard” simply means his mother’s maiden name was Beauregard. Sharrai was pronounced “Sha-rye-ah.”
He married Louise Amable Poissant, who had French and Native American ancestry. Together, they were the parents of five sons and three daughters. The family journied by river boat to Detroit, and from that point taveled almost the entire distance to southwest Michigan on foot, arriving at Bertrand, Berrien County, Michigan where they settled in 1828. Within a few years they bought an 80-acre parcel of land in Section 8, Bainbridge Township, Berrien County, Michigan where they were the first pioner family in that area.
The family, known as the “French-Canadian Family”, lived together and spent a portion of their time clearing the land and cultivating crops, and boating on the St. Joseph River.
Shortly after settling in Bainbridge, Bartholomew became quite ill and was being taken to St. Joseph, Michigan for medical treatment, but died on the way. His sons did not remain in the township very long after other settlers began to come in. Peter, Luke and Tenos moved to Sodus Township in Berrien County. Peter, although considered a settler, spent much of his time in boating on the St. Joseph River. The son Louis drowned in the St. Joseph River when a young man.
The children of Bartholomy and Marie Louise Poissant Sharrai were:
1. Bartholomy Sharrai b: 30 JAN 1814 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
2. Pierre Sharrai b: 31 MAR 1815 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
3. Marie-Catherine Sharrai b: 04 NOV 1816 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
4. Luc SHARAI b: 07 OCT 1819 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
5. Scholastique Sharrai b: 03 JUN 1824 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
6. Athanase (Tannos) SHARAI b: 03 MAY 1818 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
7. Louis SHARAI b: 19 JUN 1822 in St-Philippe, Laprairie, Qubec, Canada
We will see that four of the Sharrai children and eventually their families are all settled in Wabaunsee County, Kansas during the 1850s.
Marie-Catherine Sharrai met the Jude and Joseph Napoleon Bourassa as a student at the Carey Mission School, Niles, Michigan. Marie-Catherine was married to Jude W. Bourassa at Bertrand, Berrien County, Michigan on Janaury 21, 1833 and after that time, she became a member of the Daniel Bourassa household. When her husband and his brother were traveling with Rev. McCoy or when they were representing the Potawatomi at various treaties and in Washington, DC Marie-Catherine (Sharrai) Bourassa lived with Daniel Bourassa and his family in Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana.
By the mid-1830s, it was clear that the Potawatomi and other Great Lakes Tribes were going to be removed from their homelands, either by treaty or by force. Rev. McCoy believed genuinely and strongly, that the Great Lakes Native American Tribes should be removed from their homelands and given new reserves far to the West. In removing the tribes, they would not be endangered by immigrants who were moving to the Great Lakes by the millions. Rev. McCoy also believed that Native Americans should be given a basic education in reading, writing and arithmetic and should also be taught some kind of trade. This education would then allow them to be assimilated into the European culture, which he was sure would quickly predominate.
The removal of the Potawatomi of southern Michigan and northern Indiana, came in what has become known as “The Trail of Death” which left Rochester, Indiana on September 4, 1838 and arrived at Sugar Creek in Miami County, Kansas on November 4, 1838. More than 800 men women and children began the march and more than 60 died and were buried along the way.
The families of prominent tribal chiefs and representatives were provided wagons in which to ride in and move possessions. Daniel Bourassa was among those who went West on The Trail of Death. According to the census taken by those who “guarded” the assembly of people, Daniel Bourassa’s family included nine members. One of those was Marie-Catherine (Sharrai) Bourassa, wife of Jude Bourassa.
Jude and Joseph Napoleon Bourassa, their wives and family members all lived at Sugar Creek Mission. It is not clear whether or not Jude and Joseph Napoleon Bourassa actually rode or walked with those on the Trail of Death. However they continued to increase in importance as Potawatomi Tribal representatives as time went forward.
I’m going to end this portion of the history of the Bourassa/Sharrai Family here and continue in another story. You will see how members of both families played an important role in the early history of Maple Hill Township and Wabaunsee County, Kansas.
