I Have Found My Lover

"I Have Found My Lover"
(Cat. no 286, no. 177, Bull. 53.)

Mrs. Julia Warren Spears, who recorded this and one other love song, was a sister of William W. Warren, a historian of the tribe [writer, newspaperman, and member of the Minnesota territorial legislature]. She was born in 1833 at La Pointe, the Chippewa village on Madeline Island in Lake Superior. When she was 17 years old her brother William was employed to escort the Chippewa that came to Minnesota [during the forcible relocations out of Wisconsin "at the pleasure of the President of the United States" - Article 6, Treaty of 1842]. They numbered about 800 and [as Mrs. Spears told ethnographer Frances Densmore in 1908] she was the only woman (Julia Warren Spears reminiscence written in 1921). She never returned to La Pointe to live, and in later years made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Charles W. Mee, at White Earth, where the songs were recorded, probably in 1908.

Mrs. Spears said that when she was a little girl on Madeline Island, about 15 years of age, her friend and playmate was a pretty Indian girl, the only daughter of a chief. This Indian girl "was always singing two songs." The writer heard Mrs. Spears sing them at intervals over a period of several years and the renditions never varied in any respect. One was a song of happiness and the other was a sad little song, said to be sung when the girl's lover was leaving on a long journey. The first song is presented and expresses the girl's joy at finding her lover. Attention is directed to the compass of the melody which includes 12 tones, beginning on the highest and ending on the lowest tone of the compass, a melodic pattern noted in many Chippewa love songs. Niä is a woman's exclamation of surprise.

Words 2:10 minutes
niä nin'denĕn'dŭm niä nin'denĕn'dŭm me'kawaiä'nin nin'imucĕn niä nin'denĕn'dŭm	Oh, I am thinking Oh, I am thinking I have found my lover Oh, I think it is so.

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background information

Julia Warren Spears

Pioneer Settler and Teacher of Becker County
Obituary, (Detroit (Lakes), Minn., Tribune June 25, 1925)

Mrs. Julia Warren Spears, who has been a resident of Becker County for the past fifty years and who for many years has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Alice Mee, died at her home Sunday morning, aged 92 years, 9 months and 18 days. Death was caused by the infirmities of age complicated by a mild attack of cerebral hemorrhage.

Mrs. Spears, whose maiden name was Julia Warren, was born September 3, 1832, at La Pointe, Madeline Island, Wisconsin, the daughter of Lyman Marquis Warren and Mary Cadotte. Through her father she traced he ancestry to Richard Warren, the Mayflower pilgrim and through him to William the Conqueror. Her mother, Mary Cadotte Warren was the grand daughter of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, the first white fur trader at Sault St. Marie, the daughter of Michael Cadotte and the grand daughter of White Crane, a Chippewa Chief. At six years of age she was taken to live in the family of her grandfather, Lyman M. Warren, until 1848, when she return to La Pointe, where she was placed in the family of Charles W. Borup, a well known fur trader and where she went to a private school and completed her education. In 1850, her brother, William W. Warren, was commissioned by the government to conduct the male Chippewas in the vicinity of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, to Sandy Lake Minnesota. As he was in poor health, his sister accompanied him. The journey was made by canoe up the Chippewa River to Lac Courte Oreilles, across to Lake Superior, up past the present site of Duluth, up the St. Louis River to Fond du Lac and thence to Sandy Lake. There were over 800 Indians and Miss Warren was the only woman in the party. A short time after she removed to Gull Lake. In 1852, she was united in marriage to Duncan Stuart at Swan River and one child, now Mrs. Mary Stuart Lambert was born. Mr. Stuart died in 1854 and in 1856 Mrs. Stuart married Andrew J. Spears of Swan River and of this union two children were born. Mrs. Alice Mee of Detroit (Lakes) and William R. Spears deceased. Mr. Spears died in 1861 and in 1862; incendiary fire destroyed the town of Swan River and Mrs. Spears was employed as a teacher at the agency seven miles from Crow Wing. This was closed in 1885 and she was given the position of matron of the school at Leech Lake. It was at this time that Hole-in-the-Day was murdered near Crow Wing and the next day the murderer appeared at Leech Lake. One of them who claimed to have fired the fatal shot, offered the dead chieftain's watch to Mrs. Spears for $5.00, but she refused and the watch disappeared. In 1890 Mrs. Spears removed to White Earth and in the fall began to teach school there, thus being the first schoolteacher in Becker County. This she continued for a few years until failing health obliged her to retire and make her home with her daughter, Mrs. Mee, with whom she has lived since that time.

For a number of years she has been in feeble health but has been active in mind and her reminiscences of early days, written from time to time, will be a valuable contribution to the history of the White Earth Reservation and of Becker County. Last week she suffered a paralytic stroke and the end came peacefully last Sunday morning at 10:30. Funeral services were held at the Episcopalian Church at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, Reverend H.N. Tragitt officiating and interment was made in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Two sisters survive Mrs. Spears, Mrs. Mary English, of Cass Lake, who was prevented from being present at the funeral by infirmities; and Mrs. Sophia Warren of White Earth, who was present. One sister Charlotte, died many years ago, one brother William W. Warren died in 1853 and another brother, Truman A. Warren, died in 1888. Two daughters mourn her departure, Mrs. Isaac Lambert, of Ogema, and Mrs. C.W. Mee, of Detroit (Lakes), besides whom there are eighteen grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren.

Mrs. Spears was a confirmed member of the Protestant Episcopal Church by Bishop Whipple at Little Falls in 1868 or 1869 and remained so till the time of her death. She was the oldest communicant of that church in Becker County and one of the oldest in the state. Her life was lived in conformity of the teachings of the great head of all churches and she was universally loved by all who came to know her.

Out of town attendants at the funeral were Mrs. Margaret Decorey, Valentine, Nebraska; Dudley Fairbanks, St. Paul; Dr. Oscar Davis, Minneapolis; George Stillwell and family, Brainerd; B.S. Fairbanks and family, Mrs. Grace Hull, George Warren of White Earth and Martin Blanchand of Waubun.

More about Julia Spears:
RootsWeb - "History of White Earth"
TurtleTrack - Fur Trade Letters
Wisconsin History - Turning Points
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