Page "Homer Township, Calhoun County, Michigan" Paragraph 4

According to Dr William Lane, the Potawatomi natives were friendly and the children of settlers and natives often played together.

Chief Ne-au-to-beer-saw, called Leather-nose, and Chief Wopkezike, lesser chiefs of the Baw Beese band of Potawatomi, are mentioned in many stories of the founding era.

The native population was numerous until the U. S. Government forcibly removed the Indians to reserves west of the Mississippi under Authority of the Indian Removal Act and Treaty of Chicago.

Because of the peacefulness of the Potawatomi, they continued to co-exist with the settlers for many years after the Removal Act, until the autumn of 1840 when General Hugh Brady removed about 250 Indians of Hillsdale County and Homer to Miami County, Kansas in reaction to homesteader complaints to the Van Buren Administration.

Chief Ne-au-to-beer-saw drowned while crossing the Detroit River returning from his escape to Canada.