A passion for Potawatomis

MAGNOLIA — Some people are interested in the history of the area they live. Lonna Nauman is what some might call passionate.

In Nauman’s Victorian home just south of Magnolia, there a room devoted to the history of the Illinois Valley area, focused almost entirely on the Potawatomi Indians who were common throughout the Midwest. Senachwine Township was named after a Potawatomi chief, and large swathes of Illinois lands were owned by the tribe.

With the depth of her interest, one might think she had some Potawatomi blood in her ancestry, but that’s not the case.

“I’m 100 percent Swedish. Three of my grandparents were born in Sweden, and the fourth one was a Carlson, and her grandparents were born in Sweden,” Nauman said. “There was a Swedish Lutheran Church in Varna, so there’s a lot of Swedes around here.”

Nauman is a writing instructor at Midstate College in Peoria, and her master’s thesis was on the Potawatomi Indians.

“I wanted to just do it on the Potawatomis in this area, but that wasn’t academic enough to use. So my paper was actually on the effect of white contact on the Potawatomi Indians, and how they moved down from Michigan into Illinois in the late 1700s,” Nauman said. “I always thought that when I retire, I’d like to really research the Indians around Putnam County.

“George Wheeler lives in Putnam, and that’s where Chief Senachwine is buried. I’ve been to Chillicothe to find out about Chief Gomo (Senachwine’s brother),” Nauman said. “John Drury, a local artist, said Magnolia is the site of a large Potawatomi village. I’ve never found it.”

A small building near Senachwine’s grave serves as a local museum and has several artifacts and stories of the Potawatomis during Senachwine’s day.

Nauman’s collection includes numerous arrowheads, spearheads and reproductions of art and pottery of the local Potawatomis, as well as dozens of books on the history of Illinois and its former Indian residents.

“I just love studying the Indians that were right in this area,” Nauman said.