The legend of Chief Sashabaw and Oliver Williams is well known in the Clarkston and Waterford area, but the question remains: how much of the legend is actually true and was there truly a Chief Sashabaw?
At least that’s what former Michigan resident Ken Bilderback wants to know.
‘A lot of people have the story of Sashabaw and Oliver Williams, but everyone seems to have gotten it from the same source originally and there has been very little independent research into it,? he said.
According to the Clarkston Community Historical Society’s book ‘Our Children’s Heritage, A history of Clarkston/Independence Township,? which is read in every Clarkston elementary second-grade class, the story is as follows:
‘The plains area of Clarkston-Independence Township was home to Chief Sashabaw. He belonged to one of the south-eastern Michigan tribes – Chief Sashabaw developed a special friendship with a white settler named Oliver Williams. The two men treated each other as brothers. They helped each other and worked well together. The children of Oliver Williams, Mary and Oliver, played with the Indian children. Mary and Oliver were given Indian names by the chief as a symbol of his friendship.
“Sometime before 1834, Chief Sashabaw became very ill and died. He was buried near Oliver Williams? home on the banks of Silver Lake, in Waterford Township.?
As a child, Bilderback said he and with his siblings and cousins thought perhaps a box of human bones in their grandparents’ garage was possibly the remains of Chief Sashabaw, since their grandparents’ house was on property owned by Oliver Williams.
‘As little kids, we’d go back into the garage and just stare at them sort of in awe because of the reverence in which my grandparents treated them,? said Bilderback. ‘I think, as very small children, we certainly believed the story that they belonged to a great Indian chief. It’s only since then, that the story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, looking at it as an adult.?
Sometime in the 1930’s, after his grandparents built their home, his grandfather had an excavation crew level part of the property. While working on the job, the crew came across the human remains.
‘By the time my grandfather had gotten home, the workers had pretty well already looted the gravesite,? said Bilderback. ‘They took the skull and whatever other artifacts they had found around the grave site.?
He said his grandparents had called museums, universities, and historical societies, but nobody was interested in the bones at the time, which never made sense to him. If Sashabaw was a prominent Indian chief, why did no one care, he thought.
After talking to archeologists, Bilderback found it was not uncommon back then for people not to care, especially if they were Native American bones.
‘We don’t know if they’re Native American. It could have been anyone buried. It fits with the legend. They were found in what appeared to be the grave of a prominent person, and in that sense it all fits together,? he said. ‘It just begs the question of who was Sashabaw and why is it that no one seems to know??
Bilderback said he wrote the idea of Sashabaw off as myth by the time he graduated from Utica High School in 1973. He went on to graduate from the University of Dayton and from there pursued his career as a journalist, working brief stints at Newsday and the Dayton Daily News, and then 24 years at The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash., before retiring in 2004.
‘I’ve always been kind of a history buff and, because of the personal connection to this, I’ve taken it a little more serious then I would have otherwise,? said Bilderback. ‘Just the whole mystery involved makes it intriguing for a journalist or a historian to keep tracking it down.?
As he started getting into the research. he started his own personal website, but as he began to dig further, he created a bigger website, TheSashabawProject.com.
‘The problem is that nobody I’ve been able to contact from the Native American studies programs at the local universities to the various tribes has any idea what tribe this was that Sashabaw supposedly led in that area,? said Bilderback.
‘No one can lay claim to this man who was supposedly one of the most prominent chiefs in Michigan, even though lesser chiefs and lesser members of tribes are very well documented.?
He noted many people believe that perhaps Sashabaw could actually be an Indian with a common name Sasaba.
According to Bilderback, Sasaba’s story parallels Sashabaw’s story closely, except for the fact that Sasaba despised white settlers and would have never befriended Oliver Williams. Also, Sasaba’s death was well documented, up near Sault St. Marie.
‘Anything is possible with these two men with very similar names,? he said. ‘It’s just odd to think that this Sasaba who had a much lesser position then that attributed to Sashabaw would have been so well documented but Sashabaw wasn’t.?
After his grandparents died and their home was sold, the bones were kept in hopes of finding the proper place for them at some point in the future.
‘I’ve decided at this point the only people I would tell the location of the bones to would be state or federal officials or legitimate tribal officials because I don’t want people trying to loot the new gravesite,? he said. ‘But they are still in Michigan.?
Bilderback currently lives in the Chehalem Mountains of Oregon, raising chickens with his wife, Kris.
He has a variety of websites, including mykittyseyes.com, which is about feline opthamology, and whapwhap.com, which is ‘dedicated to saving the dying American newspaper.?
He also does volunteer work for the local fire department in the public information office.
‘I think the story is intriguing and I think compelling, but I just don’t have the answers,? said Bilderback. ‘I’m hoping as the word spreads a little bit that other people can supply pieces of the puzzle and if nothing else figure out if Sashabaw really existed.?