John Smith (Chippewa Indian)

For other people with the same name, see John Smith.

(Chief) John Smith
Smith c. 1915
Born	Between 1822 (1822) and 1826 (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

Chief John Smith ^{[lower-alpha 1]} (likely born between 1822 and 1826, though allegedly as early as 1780; died February 6, 1922) was an American Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian who lived in the area of Cass Lake, Minnesota. 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

Smith in 1921

Chief John Smith
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society

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

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"

References

1. "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.
2. 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
3. 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

Further reading

• John Morgan Smith (1921). "Chief John Smith, A Leader of the Chippewa, Age 117 Years. His Life as Told by Himself. Being the Life History of Chief John Smith as Narrated by Himself and Interpreted by His Adopted Son, Thomas E. Smith". The Cass County Pioneer. Walker, MN – via Alexander Street Press.

External links

• John Smith photographs at the Minnesota Historical Society