John Smith (Chippewa Indian)

(Chief) John Smith
(Chief) John Smith
	Smith c. 1915
Born	Between 1822 and 1826
Died	February 6, 1922 (aged 96–100)
Nationality	American, Chippewa Indian
Other names	Chief John Smith; Kahbe nags wens; Ka-be-na-gwe-wes; Ka-be-nah-gwey-wence; Kay-bah-nung-we-way; Ga-Be-Nah-Gewn-Wonce;
Citizenship	Cass Lake, Minnesota, U.S.
Known for	Longevity claimant, Indian tribal chief

Last updated November 10, 2024

Chief John Smith^[a] who lived in the area of Cass Lake, Minnesota. It is thought he was born between 1822 and 1826, and died February 6, 1922. Some sources place his birth as early as 1780. He was an American Chippewa Native American. His age got him in the 1918 French annual periodical Almanach Vernot for the day 6th September. In it his name is reported "Fleche Rapide" or "Rapid Arrow". It also said the Ojibwa called him "Ba-be-nar-quor-yarg". In 1920, two years before his death, he appeared as the main feature in a motion picture exhibition that toured the US, featuring aged Native Americans.

Biography

Chief John Smith lived his entire life in the Cass Lake area of Minnesota, and was reputed to have been 137 years old when he died of pneumonia. He was known as "The Old Indian" to the local white people.^[1] He had eight wives and no children, except for an adopted son, named Tom Smith.

Local photographers, notably including C.N. Christensen of Cass Lake, used him as a model for numerous stylized images of Ojibwe life, which were widely distributed as cabinet photos and postcards. Smith would carry cartes de visite of himself, selling them to visitors. He was known to travel for free on the trains running through the Reservation, selling his photo to passengers, and becoming something of an attraction or celebrity.^[2]

Smith converted to Catholicism in about 1914, and is buried in the Catholic section of Pine Grove Cemetery in Cass Lake.

The exact age of John Smith at the time of his death has been a subject of controversy. Federal Commissioner of Indian Enrollment Ransom J. Powell argued that "it was disease and not age that made him look the way he did"^[2] and remarked that according to records he was 88 years old. Paul Buffalo, who had met Smith when a small boy, said he had repeatedly heard the old man state that he was "seven or eight", "eight or nine" and "ten years old" when the "stars fell"^[2] in the Leonid meteor shower of November 13, 1833. Local historian Carl Zapffe writes:

"Birthdates of Indians of the 19th Century had generally been determined by the Government in relation to the awe-inspiring shower of meteorites that burned through the American skies just before dawn on 13 November 1833, scaring the daylights out of civilized and uncivilized peoples alike. Obviously it was the end of the world. . . .".^[3]

This estimate tied to the Leonids implies the oldest possible age of John Smith at just under 100 years at the time of his death.

Notes

↑ Also known as Gaa-binagwewe[ns] ("[little] which the flesh peels off")—recorded variously as Kahbe nagwi wens, Ka-be-na-gwe-wes, Ka-be-nah-gwey-wence, Kay-bah-nung-we-way or Ga-Be-Nah-Gewn-Wonce—translated into English as "Sloughing Flesh", "Wrinkle Meat", or "Old Wrinkled Meat"

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References

↑ "Obituary of Old John Smith in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune". Star Tribune . February 8, 1922. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
1 2 3 Cited in Roufs, Timothy G. (2008). When Everybody Called Me Gah-bay-bi-nayss, "Forever-Flying-Bird": An Ethnographic Biography of Paul Peter Buffalo. University of Minnesota Duluth., footnote 34
↑ Zapffe, Carl A. (1975). Kahbe nagwi wens: The man who lived in 3 centuries. Brainerd, MN: Historic Heartland Association. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-910623-00-1. in Roufs 2008 , p. footnote 35

External links

John Smith photographs at the Minnesota Historical Society

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[1] Also known as Gaa-binagwewe[ns] ("[little] which the flesh peels off")—recorded variously as Kahbe nagwi wens, Ka-be-na-gwe-wes, Ka-be-nah-gwey-wence, Kay-bah-nung-we-way or Ga-Be-Nah-Gewn-Wonce—translated into English as "Sloughing Flesh", "Wrinkle Meat", or "Old Wrinkled Meat"

[2] "Obituary of Old John Smith in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune". Star Tribune . February 8, 1922. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2017.

[Buffalo-3] 1 2 3 Cited in Roufs, Timothy G. (2008). When Everybody Called Me Gah-bay-bi-nayss, "Forever-Flying-Bird": An Ethnographic Biography of Paul Peter Buffalo. University of Minnesota Duluth., footnote 34

[4] Zapffe, Carl A. (1975). Kahbe nagwi wens: The man who lived in 3 centuries. Brainerd, MN: Historic Heartland Association. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-910623-00-1. in Roufs 2008 , p. footnote 35

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