Shabonna

[Robert Braun]

Northern Illinois University has a piece on Shabonna-- the Pottowatomi chief that warned the settlers at Indian Creek of impending attack. The study may be found my clicking www3.niu.edu/historicalbuildings/leaders_shabbona.html

One item caught my eye-- a discussion on the pronounciation of Shabonna's name. I have heard probably four different pronounciations of "Shabonna" over the years. The one I have latched on to--right or wrong-- was "Sha-bone-a." NIU offered a fifth:

The chief preferred to have his name pronounced as if there were only two syllables to it, and to pronounce it as if it were spelled Shab-ney, with the accent on the first syllable.

My question for the board is: since I didn't fare to well in my interpretation of the pronounciation of Ne-a-pope's name, how then should the name of Shabonna be correctly pronounced? Is the pronounciation as cited by NIU substantially correct?

My thanks for any clues...

Bob.

[Jeffrey]

I don't know anything about the author, but in 1906 Norman Wood published "Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs," with the American Indian Historical Publishing Company in Aurora, IL. On page 402 he says:
"The name of the subject of this sketch was spelled many different ways, but was usually pronounced as though spelled Shab-o-nay. Hon. George M. Hollenback, of Aurora, Illinois, say: 'I have heard 'The Old Settler' pronounce his own name so many times and it was always as though it was spelled Shab-o-neh."
The author then goes on for quite a bit about 17 different ways of spelling the name and how the small town in DeKalb County came to be named after him. He also notes "The French form of the name was Chamblee..." Currently there is a worry in Shabbona about descendants making a claim on the land around the nature preserve for purposes of a casino.

[Larry Koschkee]

Nind anicinabem, Kid ancinabem, Ancinabemo... I speak Indian. You speak Indian. He speaks Indian... but maybe not in this case.

Bob, I have tried "six ways, but Sunday" to sound out your spelling of the name and square it with the way the Chief preferred it and have failed miserably. Combinations of glottal stops and nasalized vowels keep coming up "French."

Sorry I can not be of help...

Larry K.

[Robert Braun]

Rats. Now I'm truly stuck!

I guess I will adopt Mr. Hollenback's interpretation for the time being:

Shab-o-neh

But which syllables or segments have the emphasis?
SHAB-o-neh? Shab-O-neh? Shab-o-NEH?


Bob.

[Larry Koschkee]

Bob,

As I am sure you recognize, the Potawatomi language is part of the linguistic family, Algonquian that is made up of several other Indian languages that are closely related. Each language has its own nuances that is not easily indentified or understood by the casual observer.
That is why I do not believe Mr. Hollenback actually got the pronounciation of Shabonna's name correct even if he may have heard it several times.

I have found that in most cases you must be culturally Potawatomi, Sauk, Kickapoo, etc. to understand or translate into English correctly. To be conversant in Potawatomi is not enough.

In addition, it is clear to me that there are far more differences between Algonquian and English than there are between English and French. Also, Algonquian is much further away from English than even Chinese or Russian.

At the least the language has conjugations that a pilgrim like me can grab hold of and make sense of.

I did not want to do this in the beginning, but I will skate out on to some thin ice here and offer this opinion.

Shabonna - Sha-BON-eh. The "a" being "ah" not "ay"

I will bet many of us looking at the name Shabonna thought of the French wine Chardonnay immediately. I know I did.

Larry K.

[Jeffrey]

An NIU geography student, Paul Bruchman, stopped by my office today and said he is hard at work on making a map of Shabonna's activities during the Black Hawk war for his capstone project. Several libraries are interested in acquiring it when he's finished. He's done quite a bit of research, including talking to descendants of pioneers relevant to the Indian Creek massacre. There may be more interest coming up, as Shabbona's descendants are making a serious move towards recovering land for the purposes of a Casino on the present nature preserve in Illinois. Maybe later I'll post a couple of articles about this, if people are interested. However, in the mean time, are there sources I should direct Mr. Bruckman to regarding Shabbona's movements?
---Jeffrey Chown

[Robert Braun]

Outstanding! I for one would be most interested in any articles or contributions to the board or website regarding Shabonna.

One resource, pointed out to my by Mr. Greg Carter of this board, is Memories of Shaubena by N. Matson (Chicago: Gassette & Loys, Printers, 1880.) A rather interesting study.

I would surmise it is available through inter-library loan, if your student hasn't consulted it already.

Warm regards, Bob.

[Jeffrey]

I just put up a gif of the most recent article on Shabbona's descendants and the possible casino in DeKalb county at:
www3.niu.edu/~tm0lrv1/blackhawk/index.html

---Jeffrey Chown