MRHC Hosts Book Release: Biography of Chief Charles Kawbawgam

The Marquette Regional History Center is proud to host the book release:

Biography of Chief Charles Kawbawgam[2]

By: Local Author Tyler Tichelaar

November 1, 2020—Award-winning author Tyler R. Tichelaar is about to release his twenty-first book, Kawbawgam: The Chief, the Legend, The Man, a full-length biography of Upper Peninsula Ojibwa Chief Charles Kawbawgam, who was rumored to live in three centuries from 1799-1902.

A one-hour zoom presentation and slideshow about the book will be presented through the Marquette Regional History Center on Wednesday November 18, at 6:30 p.m. and online registrants will automatically be entered into a drawing for an original painting of Kawbawgam, by Dan Cook. Following the presentation, Tichelaar will have a book signing at the History Center on Saturday, November 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to allow the public to purchase books and get them signed while maintaining social distancing. Kawbawgam (ISBN 978-0-9962400-7-9) will also be available locally after the event at the Marquette Regional History Center, Snowbound Books, Michigan Fair, and Touch of Finland, and in paperback and ebook editions at online bookstores and www.MarquetteFiction.com.

Chief Kawbawgam is well known for having lived at Presque Isle Park in Marquette and being buried there, as well as for his friendship with Peter White and for his wife Charlotte’s famous lawsuit against the Jackson Mining Company, commemorated in the novel Laughing Whitefish by John Voelker (Robert Traver).

However, most details about Kawbawgam’s life have been overlooked and a lot of misinformation has been printed about him, including during his own lifetime. Tichelaar’s book explores not only the legend of Kawbawgam’s longevity but also his family origins among the most prominent clan of the Ojibwa. The largely unknown years of Kawbawgam’s childhood and early adulthood are discussed, including his living at the Sault and in Canada, and his role in Marquette’s founding.

Kawbawgam’s fascinating family is at the heart of the story, including two uncles who fought for the British in the War of 1812, a sister who married a US Congressman, a brother who lost his nose in a card game fight, a brother-in-law who visited the President of the United States as an interpreter, and another brother-in-law who committed Marquette’s first murder.

Tichelaar also places Kawbawgam in the context of his time, including the Ojibwa ceding parts of the Upper Peninsula to the United States government, their lamenting their sacred burial places being destroyed to build the Sault canal and locks, and continual fears of their removal. Tichelaar shows how Kawbawgam learned to walk a fine line to keep peace between the Ojibwa and white Americans, including befriending prominent white citizens in Marquette.

“I think people will be amazed,” said Tichelaar, “by Kawbawgam’s story. He is always mentioned in local history, but his influence and prominent role in Upper Michigan’s history has been largely ignored. He was just as significant in Marquette’s founding as Harlow, White, or Graveraet. By telling this story, I hope to correct the historical record, making more people aware of the Ojibwa’s contributions and sacrifices, often through coercion. Kawbawgam’s story reflects a forgotten side to U.P. history that needs to be told and reassessed, especially in this time of greater racial awareness and revisionist history.”

A seventh-generation Marquette resident, Tichelaar is the author of twenty-one books, including When Teddy Came to Town, Haunted Marquette, and My Marquette. His novel Narrow Lives won the 2008 Reader Views Best Historical Fiction Award. In 2011, he received the Outstanding Writer Award in the Marquette County Arts Awards and the Barb H. Kelly Historic Preservation Award. In 2014, his play Willpower was produced by the Marquette Regional History Center with a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. He also owns his own editing company, Superior Book Productions.

Publicity contact: tyler@marquettefiction.com. Review copies available upon request to reporters and professional book reviewers.

This live online presentation on November 18th will include time for questions. $5 donation to the History Center to join this program. Register ahead of time or during the online program at marquettehistory.org/things-to-do or scan the QR code and online registrants will automatically be entered into a drawing for an original painting of Kawbawgam, by Dan Cook. No registration necessary for the November 21st book signing, come anytime 10-1:00 pm.