Andrew Blackbird - Early Life

Early Life

Blackbird was born in the L'Arbre Croche area of Michigan (now Harbor Springs) around 1815. At least one account, though, places this date as late as 1821. His father was an Ottawa chief named Mack-e-te-be-nessy (Makade-binesi, "black hawk"). The name was mistranslated first by the French and from French to English as "Blackbird", which became the family's English name. Mack-e-te-be-nessy was chief of the Arbor Croche or Middle Village band. Mack-e-te-be-nessy was stranded on a small island by white traders he was helping, and was left to die. Although his father survived, this cruelty left a strong impression on his son. The death of his brother, William, in Rome, Italy on June 25, 1833, under suspicious circumstances as he was completing his studies for the Roman Catholic priesthood, left an indelible impression on Andrew and perhaps was the source of his intense antipathy for that religion from then on.

Blackbird frequently bemoaned his limited formal education. Because his father was a chief, Blackbird was solidly educated in traditional Ottawa culture and practices.

Blackbird was baptized a Roman Catholic by a priest called Father Baden in 1825, but later converted to Protestantism. He served as interpreter at the Protestant mission in L'Arbre Croche. Even though he was a Christian, he knew the traditional Ottawa religious beliefs well.

Blackbird was trained as a blacksmith at mission schools in the L'Arbre Croche area. He studied for four years at Twinsburg Institute in Twinsburg in Summit County, Ohio, but left without graduating. In 1850 his elderly father's health worsened. This forced Blackbird to leave school and return home to assist the old chief. Later he attended Eastern Michigan University (then called Michigan State Normal School) in Ypsilanti, Michigan, for two years, but again did not graduate. In June 1858 Blackbird wrote his Twinsburg Institute mentor Rev. Samuel Bissell: "...I continue to attend the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, but am getting somewhat discouraged as to ever being perfect in the knowledge of English Language. I have begun rather too late of attending those things. I shall always speak__indistinctly__ungrammatically__for being so deeply rooted or stained with my own language....I have begun a grammar in the Indian tongue__intended to write it upon the same plan in which our first books in Latin and Greek are written...And this I thought would be about as good that I can do for them, since I cannot personally do good among them, so at least, they can have my writings if not prohibited by their Priests...The last I heard of my father were still living but very old and feeble...Our school is let out on the 25th of July__and vacation will last 10 or 11 weeks. I should like to have gone to visit my people but I am considerable in debt, therefore I will have to work out somewheres here during the time, in order to pay up my debts."