St. Ignace Community Invited To Celebrate French Heritage at Feast in Support of Museum
Genealogists Want To Highlight Satigo Project
By Ryan Schlehuber

Among artifacts at the Fort de Buade Museum are tintypes of Chief Satigo and his family. Local genealogists have listed 88 names linked to the Satigo settlement and are attempting to identify the people depicted.

The French Frog Feast Friday, October 19, will allow community members to enjoy an evening of local history and dishes inspired by early settlers in the Great Lakes region. They can also learn more about a new effort to establish a genealogy research center in St. Ignace.

The event, to be held at the Fort de Buade Museum and the Galley Restaurant, will include a tour of the museum, which was purchased this summer by the city, and raise funds for museum operations.

Dinner will include a choice of frog legs, whitefish, whitefish livers, and chicken and glissants, or dumplings.

Tickets are $20 a person. Seating is limited, so reservations are required by calling 643-7960.

The free tour of Fort de Buade Museum will be held before dinner, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dinner will begin at 7 p.m.

There are more than 5,000 historical artifacts in the Fort de Buade Museum, collected by the late Donald Benson, and the Michilimackinac Historical Society, under an agreement with the city, will catalogue and display the collection and operate the museum gift shops. The money to purchase the museum from the Benson family came from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

At right: Chief Satigo lived until he was 100, dying in 1911. A small group of local genealogists are researching the Satigo settlement north of St. Ignace, near the present-day junction of Mackinac Trail and M-123. (Photographs courtesy of the Michilimackinac Historical Society)

The tour, said Historical Society President Judi Engle, will allow patrons to see the extent of the collection.

The Fort de Buade Museum was reopened Friday, August 31, after the City of St. Ignace, with a pledge of financial support from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, purchased the museum from private ownership.

Aside from the museum, a small group of genealogy enthusiasts, including members of the Mackinac Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, are creating a nonprofit organization called the Mackinac Native Heritage and Genealogy Association to begin gathering information that will allow families to research their histories.

Judi Engle, president of the Michilimackinac Historical Society, displays an album from the Satigo collection. Other artifacts at the museum include handmade rugs, sugar camp tools, and a confessional door from the settlement's Catholic church.

One room within the museum is being cleared to create a genealogy research center.

St. Ignace may hold clues for many people seeking to know more about their family history, said Ms. Engle.

The genealogy group is hoping to establish a local center and a Web site where local residents can visit to find and store their family history and those living elsewhere can trace their families back to St. Ignace through the Internet.

"Mackinac is one of the oldest settlements in the United States and people will come through here to locate their history," said Ms. Engle. "Right now, there is no one central place for a person, especially someone living far away, to go to find out about family history in St. Ignace.

"Our concern is that we're losing Mackinac history with each elder that dies," she continued. "We need to get people to talk to their elders and gather information of their family before it is lost forever."

"The idea is to collect what we can and save it here at the center for everyone to use," said Ms. Engle.

The museum closed for the season September 31, however, Ms. Engle is attempting to keep at least the genealogy center open yeararound and is seeking funding to help pay anticipated utility expenses of $2,000 to $3,000.

Members of the Mackinac Native Heritage and Genealogy Association will be present during the tour of Fort de Buade Museum to answer questions.

Their first project is to identify the families comprising the Satigo Settlement north of St. Ignace, led by Chief Joseph Satigo (or Santigo).

Those interested in volunteering their time to the museum are appreciated, said Ms. Engle. Call the Michilimackinac Historical Society at 643-6627 for more information about volunteer opportunities.