The following is an excerpt from “A History of Leelanau Township” published by the Leelanau Township Historical Writers Group.
The first native Americans were encountered by the early French explorers in what is now called Northern Michigan were the Chippewas (Ojibwas) and the Ottawas (Adawas). Both were of Algonkian stock, as were their close relatives, the Potawatomies, who inhabited southwestern Michigan. All three tribes spoke virtually the same language; they called themselves the Three Brothers. They were all on friendly terms with the Hurons, who were generally concentrated in east-central Michigan on Georgian Bay.
Centuries before the white men came, all four tribes had been driven from their ancient territory in the East by the Iroquois, fiercest, bravest and cruelest of all the Eastern Woodland Indians.
