A Schoolcraft / Johnston
Family Tree

Henry Schoolcraft was a mineralogist whose exploration of lead deposits in Missouri kicked off the first mineral rush in US history. His fame led to an appointment as Indian agent for Lewis Cass in Michigan Territory. Schoolcraft married Bamewawagezhikaquay (Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing through the Sky), or Jane Johnston. Her stories were passed in corrupted form by Schoolcraft to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who corrupted them further in creating Song of Hiawatha. Jane’s brothers were employed as fur traders and as agents in the Indian Affairs bureaucracy that Schoolcraft ran, although they often feuded with Schoolcraft.