William Yellowhead
William Yellowhead, or "Musquakie" or "Misquuckkey", as he was known in Ojibwe was the "head chief" of the Chippaweans of Lakes Huron and Simcoe and leader of the Deer clan of that people from 1817 until his death in 1864. He led his people in taking arms in defence of Upper Canada in the Upper Canada Rebellion, oversaw the sale of the bulk of their territory to the provincial government, and led them in their first attempts to adopt an agrarian way of life. Although the claims of several other persons have been advanced, it is generally believed that Musquakie is the origin of the name of the District Municipality of Muskoka.
Early life and military service
Musquakie's father, Yellow Head, preceded him as "head chief". After Yellow Head persuaded the Ojibwe of the Home District of Upper Canada to side with the British during the War of 1812, Musquakie saw action under his father at the Battle of York in April 1813, where Musquakie sustained a facial injury from a musket ball. Yellow Head too was wounded at York, sustaining wounds of such severity that the remainder of his career was curtailed. Musquakie had taken over his father's duties by 1815, and in 1817 he formally succeeded Yellow Head as head chief.Land purchases
The early years of Musquakie's chiefship were dominated by treaty negotiations and land purchases. In 1815, as acting chief in his father's place, he participated along with John Aisance and another chief in the Lake Simcoe–Lake Huron Purchase, surrendering to the provincial government 250,000 acres of territory lying between the north shore of Kempenfelt Bay and Georgian Bay. In 1818, having succeeded his father the previous year, he and four other chiefs surrendered a further 1,600,000 acres of territory to the government. The area encompassed by this Lake Simcoe–Nottawasaga Purchase included the watersheds of the Holland and Nottawasaga rivers, as well as adjoining areas. Notwithstanding the surrender of this vast swathe of land, representing most of their remaining territory, Musquakie and his people reserved the right under the purchase agreement to continue to range and hunt there.Settlement attempt at Atherley Narrows
In 1828, Musquakie, Aisance and their people reportedly "expressed a strong desire to be admitted to Christianity, and to adopt the habits of civilized life". They converted to Methodism later that year. In 1830, Musquakie and Aisance were induced by Lieutenant Governor John Colborne and his agents to settle their people permanently in two purpose-built villages, one at Atherley Narrows between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching, where Musquakie himself settled, and the other at Coldwater, where Aisance settled. The house built for Musquakie by the government at the Narrows, like that of Aisance at Coldwater, was the only frame house in a village otherwise made up of log houses, in recognition of his chiefly status.As late as 1835, Colborne's agents considered that this settlement experiment was succeeding. However, Aisance was unhappy, and the change in government in 1836, which saw Francis Bond Head replace Colborne as Lieutenant Governor, soon brought the experiment to an end. Partly in response to petitions submitted by white settlers at Orillia and Coldwater, Bond Head opened talks with Musquakie and Aisance and persuaded them, along with three other chiefs including Thomas Naingishkung and Big Shilling, to leave the Simcoe-Coldwater corridor in return for one-third of the proceeds of the anticipated sales of lots there to European settlers. In 1842, Musquakie and Aisance, along with Naingishkung, Big Shilling, Joseph Snake and another chief, wrote to Governor General Charles Bagot protesting that Bond Head had not fully explained the 1836 purchase agreement, and had, in particular, not made it clear that it did not involve an upfront, lump-sum payment, nor that the Ojibwe would receive only one-third of the sale proceeds. At their request, the proceeds of the piecemeal sales of lots in the Simcoe-Coldwater corridor were subsequently banked so that the Ojibwe could receive an annual income from the interest, to be divided three ways between Musquakie's band, Aisance's band and Snake's band on the islands of Lake Simcoe.