Odawa

Francis Wakefield lived from 1902 - 1971 and is buried in the Merriman Cemetery in Alto. He was a great American, serving in both World War I and II, and represented his Odawa heritage well, striving to preserve the history of the Odawa and encourage Odawa young people to use the resources available to them, be successful, and continue to preserve their ancestral cultural history.

Wakefield married Betty Brannan in 1942 and moved to the Brannan farm on the north side of 60th Street in Alto, on the south side of McEwen Lake. Betty was the daughter of John and Catherine (Graham) Brannan. Catherine was the niece of Robert W. Graham, living with the family in the house that today houses the Lowell Area Historical Museum, while she attended high school in Lowell. Catherine lived with her daughter and son-in-law until her death.

While Wakefield worked for the U.S. Post Office and retired as the Assistant Postmaster at Grand Rapids. His real mission in life was seeking to preserve the Odawa traditions and history, and help other native people advance in life.

Wakefield began as a young man, collecting and displaying his artifacts, while educating audiences as to their meaning and use. In 1933, he displayed his collection at the Kent Scientific Museum and participated in educational sessions. Public educational displays were frequent occurrences for the rest of his life, as Wakefield partnered with other native educators and strove to educate native and non-native audiences.

The Wakefields had a son, Trombley “John” Wakefield who was an outstanding football star at Lowell High School. He received a scholarship to Dartmouth and shared his father’s passion to preserve their cultural heritage.

In July of 1956, Governor G. Mennen Williams started the Governor’s Study Commission on Michigan Indian Problems. Francis Wakefield was appointed as the president of the commission and was described as “a highly cultivated Ottawa who had worked among the state’s Native Americans.”

In addition to being the chair of the Governor’s Commission, Wakefield served on numerous boards. They included:
Northern Michigan Ottawa Association, Vice President
Member of the National Congress of Indians
United Tribes of Michigan, President
Grand Valley Ottawa Association, President
Grand Valley Indian Club, co-founder

In 1963, Wakefield helped open the Grand Rapids Indian Mission and the Indian Center in the former Burton Heights Church of God. The purpose was twofold, as the name indicates. First was to give the opportunity for area native people to worship with each other. The mission services were to be in the afternoons, to allow those who already had a home church to attend both. The Indian Center would be a home for preserving history and holding educational classes and events.

Wakefield was recognized as the leading authority on the linguistics and history of the Michigan tribes and the place names of Michigan and surrounding states. This fueled Wakefield’s desire to leave a lasting work chronicling the meaning behind place names and other discoveries he had made with his expertise. At the time he was the only known living person to speak and translate all three languages of the three fires: Odawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi. Wakefield tried to get grant funding for the project from Michigan Universities but only found closed doors.

The only known preserved work of Wakefield’s was his 1966 article published in the Michigan History Magazine Volume 50 titled “The Elusive Mascoutens.” In the article Wakefield solves the mystery of the missing tribe linguistically, through his comprehension of the native languages.

Wakefield was a patriotic American. He loved his country, and he worked to help his country repair mistakes from the past. He worked in the group of Ottawa and Chippewa people seeking reimbursement for the difference of what the government paid the native people for their land from the Treaty of 1836 versus the fair market price on the land. In a Veteran’s Day speech in 1969 Wakefield spoke from his heart. “As a veteran of World War I and II, I salute, honor and respect the Congressional Medal of Honor but there is an Indian story of the award of this medal which the Indians find hard to forget.” Wakefield was referring to the massacre by the U.S. Calvary of 250 women and children near Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890, for which there were 20 Medal of Honors awarded.

Francis Wakefield worked hard for both his country and his people. Though we use different terminology today, the headlines after his death summed up his life’s goals and successes. “Francis Wakefield, Indian Who Worked Hard for Red Man, Dies” and “Wakefield Strove to Preserve Indians’ Past”. Every generation needs their Frank Wakefield to continue to preserve history and culture, passing it along to each new generation.

Images:
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Frances Wakefield
Artifacts from Wakefield's collection