Marie MITE8AMEG8K8E Couc

An Algonquin Native American

The Algonquin woman, her heart weighing heavily with grief, fanned the embers of her fire covered with sage, sweetgrass, tobacco and cedar, sending billows of sacred smoke towards the Great Spirit as she sang a song of mourning. For days, she had prayed the same chant to Tabaldak, her Algonkin Creator, and to Nemitokusena, her Christian God the Father. She prayed that her mourning chant would give her a vision of what had happened to three people, her husband and two children, whom she loved and who loved her so dearly. Mite8ameg8k8e received comfort as she watched the sacred smoke rise towards the sky, bringing her prayerful pleas to the Great One, on this day of Spring (April 1652).

Respect for feelings, and for suffering.
Always show compassion.
Do not add to the suffering.

Before I continue my story about Mite8ameg8k8e, permit me to give you, the reader, some background on how I arrived at writing about this Algonquin Native American.

In my first articles in our magazine, I wrote how I was initiated into the world of genealogy and research. My sister Rita researched our Léveillée and Bélanger ancestry from 1975 to 1985, at which time she introduced me to our family heritage. I copied all the data from her pedigree charts onto my own, and eventually put the data into a computer program, Family Origins. After some five years of data entry of over 4500 persons and continued research, I converted the file into an html or web format. Around 1993 or so, I put all this data on my website at

www.leveillee.net

I proceeded over the last ten years to verify every single piece of data with existing resources: copies of parish registers, either in book format or on CD. I also went to several parishes in Québec to view and research the original parish registers.

I remember vaguely at the beginning that my sister told me that we had Indian ancestors. She chuckled at telling me this because our mother did not want to hear about these ancestors. There was a time in the early part of the twentieth century when our ancestors did not want to acknowledge any Indian roots.

I received an email from someone telling me that I was fortunate to be a descendant of Marie Mite8ameg8ke, an Algonquin Native American, who had married a French soldier/farmer by the name of Pierre Couc. Pierre and Marie lived in Trois-Rivières and St-François-du-Lac in New France (Québec, Canada) in the later part of the seventeeth century. This person pointed out that this Indian ancestor was found in my website at:

www.leveillee.net/ancestry/d296.htm

I reviewed that page and the follwing link in which were listed her marriage to Pierre Couc and their children:

www.leveillee.net/ancestry/d294.htm

At the beginning, the above two web pages were not as complete and accurate as they are at the present. For example, I had mistakenly given Mite8ameg8k8e parents as René Jetté had done incorrectly in his genealogical work. Her parents are unknown. I also did not have all the verified data on their seven children. I also did not have grandchildren of Pierre and Marie. Some information on the children was also inaccurate.

Thus, I began an intense research to revise and add data to this page. A cousin, Suzanne Boivin Sommerville, sent me emails with lots of verified data on Pierre Couc and Marie Mit8ameg8k8e. If you've been reading her articles on "All Sources Are Not Created Equal", Parts 1 through 9, you'll become very aware that her research focused on several of Pierre and Marie's children - the Montour line. With her data, I began to revise and verify the information on that d294.htm webpage. Another one of our writers, Jean Quintal, an email friend, began to send me copies of original documents pertaining to the Couc family. These data and copies became part of my webpage.

I continued my research into my Algonquin ancestry, specifically the Weskarini Band, whose chief

Sachem Carolus (Charles) Pachirini
had acquired a fiefdom just outside the fort of Trois-Rivières in Québec. I discovered that the Algonquin People had been pushed up from Michilimackinack (present day Mackinaw City, Michigan). One group went north and west of Ottawa. The other group, the Weskarini band was an Algonquian tribe that lived on the north side of the Ottawa river below Allumettes Island, Québec, with the people of which they appear to be closely associated in the Jesuit Relations. "Petite Nation des Algonquins."

The Weskarini Band, lead by Sachem Pachirini, headed towards Montréal, where most of the tribe were baptized by the Jesuits into the Catholic religion. Mit8ameg8k8e and her husband Assababich and their two children were part of this Weskarini Band. This Algonquin Indian band moved further to the northeast, finally settling in a village near Trois-Rivières. There, they were able to continue living the Algonquin way of life, as well as their newly-adopted Catholic religion. Their village was located near the fort which provided shelter in case of attacks by ennemies, especially the Iroquois.

During the summer of 2000, we visited Trois-Rivières and discovered a little park honoring Pachirini and his tribe.
We also found the corner Rue St-Pierre & Rue St-Michel on which Pierre and Mite8ameg8k8e's first home was built.
We also visited St-François-du-Lac, where Pierre Couc was granted land on the Île St-Joseph on which the Couc family finally settled.

As I was learning about the Algonquin cultures, I discovered that there was a story forming in my heart about my 8th great-grandmother. I am proud of my Native American ancestry as strongly as I am proud of my French-Canadian ancestry

I found the Respect for Life: The Seven Points of Respect and weaved these sayings into my story to reinforce the dignity and value that Mite8ameg8k8e, as well as all First Nations people, had for Life and for Mother Earth.

I liberally adapted the facts from my sources to weave a romantic version of my eighth great-grandmother's life during the colonization of New France during the latter part of the seventeeth century and the integration of the First Nations people and the French into this new world culture and into a new nation, the Métis. I have also added my interpretation of her feelings and thoughts that might have occurred during her life.

This is my gift to my children and grandchildren and to all our descendants. Gift-giving is a great Algonquin tradition which puts unselfishness and gratitude to the test. "Sharing and giving are the ways of God." When you "share the love of our Creator", you help things fall together

I present my work to you at:

Marie Mite8ameg8k8e Couc
I hope that you enjoy reading about her as much as I had in writing about my eighth great-grandmother..

Amitiés & Zôbi widôbaid & Métañdossañtz8añgan,

(= true friendship among friends and within the family, in French & Algonquin)

Norm "Dokkirann" = he who enlightens = l'éveillé

Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines
Copyright © 2003 Norm Léveillée
Created 1 Feb 2003