General > Research Needed
Grace Dillon
cellophane:
Angus LaPonsie Sr. was born Augustin Lapensée. In the Ontario register of Catholic baptisms, marriages and registers it says he was born on Oct. 9th 1864, baptized Dec. 18th, in L'Orignal. His parents had also had a child named Auguste, in 1862, but he died and was buried on April 27, 1864. The father's name in the two baptism records and the burial record is Evangéliste. The mother's name is spelled differently between the three, all hard to read, something like Celinise Bercier/Felonise Mercier/Philanes Mercier. Augustin's godmother was Scholastique Mercier.
I couldn't find the source for Augustin having been born in Vankleek, but it's very near L'Orignal. In any case it's two-thirds of the way from Ottawa to Montreal, 500 miles east of the communities Grace Dillon purports to be of.
The 1900 US census:
Angus Laponsia, Head, White, Male, born Jan. 1866, Married 4 years, Born in Canada (French), both parents born in Canada (French), immigrated 1881 (19 years in the U.S.), naturalized, farmer, speaks English, doesn't read or write. His wife is listed as Bella.
The line above him, in a different household, has who must be his father: Vangeli (?) Leponsia, servant, white male, b. Jan or Jun 1849, age 51, French Canadian with French Canadian parents, immigrated in 1896 (4 years in the US), alien status, farm laborer, speaks no English, doesn't read or write.
The Michigan marriage record (June 30, 1892, Sault Ste. Marie) shows the marriage of August Lapensee (28 y.o., born in Canada, father A. Lapensee, mother F. Marcies) and Isabella Morris (18 y.o., born in Bay Mills, father Joseph Morris). Both are residents of Bay Mills.
The Indian Census rolls for Bay Mills School for 1909–1911 and 1913–1915 don't show any of the surnames I'd encountered in Grace Dillon's family tree.
It's not surprising that Grace Dillon's grandfather, Angus Jr., who'd grown up and lived in an area with a large (majority?) Indian population, knew something about Ojibwe culture and language, and later told his granddaughter about them. Whether he called himself Native is not known, but in any case he didn't tell the census that.
Advanced Smite:
I agree with the findings of Diana and Cellophane regarding the direct lineal ancestry of Grace Dillon (GD).
For the sake of thoroughness, I have worked through some of the extended branches of GD's family tree. I have found distant cousins that have married members of the Bay Mills and Sault Ste Marie Tribes. I'm not going to post the detailed information on these individuals as they are still living and not complicit in potential false claims made by GD. I'd be happy to provide the detailed information to a NAFPS board moderator for additional verification if they send me a message. By searching the Laponsie and Forgrave surnames with the tribe name, you will get results that seem to show a connection. The only connection is that GD has distant cousins that are tribal members through their mothers (unrelated to GD) but inherited surnames linked to GD through non-native fathers. I believe there could be more relatives of GD that have married tribal members that I haven't found yet. This information doesn't impact GD's direct lineal descent which has been shown to be from white settlers.
Maternal Side: 1st cousin, 2x removed (male Forgrave) married a Bay Mills Tribe member.
Paternal Side: 1st cousin, 1x removed (male Laponsie) married a Sault Ste Marie Tribe member
Paternal Side: 2nd cousin (male Laponsie) married a Sault Ste Marie Tribe member
Diana:
Here is Lou Laponsie's grandmother and Grace Dillon's great grandmother. This is her Marriage License. For some reason it mistakenly says Isabella's Birth place is Bay Mills Michigan. Also I'd like to point our that there are lots of other Laponsie family members that are on the Ancestry.Com message board that are looking for the mysterious Indian in their family. There must be over 50 messages going all the way back to 2000. Michigan is kind of like Oklahoma every white person has a great great grandmother that was Indian.
Isabella Morris
in the Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952
Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952
Purchase Certificate
Name: Isabella Morris
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 18
Birth Date: abt 1874
Birth Place: Bay Mills
Marriage Date: 6 Jun 1892
Marriage Place: Sault Sainte Marie, Chippewa, Michigan, USA
Residence Place: Bay Mills
Father: Joseph Morris
Spouse: August Lapensee
Record Number: 42
This is the 1900 census. Isabella's Birth place is Canada and gives her Immigration Year 1881.
Bella Leponsia
in the 1900 United States Federal Census
Bella Leponsia
[Bella Laponsie]
Age: 24
Birth Date: Feb 1876
Birthplace: Canada
[Canada English]
Home in 1900: Superior, Chippewa, Michigan
Sheet Number: 7
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 100
Family Number: 101
Race: White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year: 1881
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Angus Leponsia
Marriage Year: 1896
Years Married: 4
Father's Birthplace: France, Canada
Mother's Birthplace: Canada, France
Mother: number of living children: 4
Mother: How many children: 4
Years in US: 19
Can Read: No
Can Write: No
Can Speak English: Yes
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members Age Relationship
Angus Leponsia
34 Head
Bella Leponsia 24 Wife
Clara Leponsia
6 Daughter
Zellice Leponsia
4 Daughter
Regnald Leponsia
3 Son
Joseph Leponsia
1 Son
Lou Laponsie died in 1910 and Isabella briefly remarried a man by the name of James Cameron. They had a son James Jr. 2 years old at the time of this census. I've also have been looking at the Indian census for this time period and I did find a Cameron James with a brother named Angus on the census but the birthdate was much younger than the white James Cameron. This might be where the Laponsie family may think they're Indian. Stranger things have happened.
Della Cameron
in the 1920 United States Federal Census
Name: Della Cameron
Age: 47
Birth Year: abt 1873
Birthplace: Canada
Home in 1920: Superior, Chippewa, Michigan
Street: Cameron Road
Residence Date: 1920
Race: White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year: 1900
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: James Cameron
Father's Birthplace: Canada
Mother's Birthplace: Canada
Native Tongue: French
Able to Speak English: Yes
Naturalization Status: Naturalized
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members Age Relationship
James Cameron
50 Head
Della Cameron 47 Wife
Reginald Lapensie
23 Stepson (Step Son)
Joseph Lapensie
21 Stepson (Step Son)
Angus Lapensie
18 Stepson (Step Son)
Beal Lapensie
16 Stepson (Step Son)
Louise Lapensie
14 Stepdaughter (Step Daughter)
Edward Lapensie
11 Stepson (Step Son)
George Lapensie
8 Stepson (Step Son)
James Cameron
2 Son
In 1930 Isabella again remarried an Andrew J. Hill. Her son by her previous marriage James Cameron took Andrew J. Hills name. Also she names her parents who are also Canadian. Her mother's last name is Barrette, mis- spelled.
Elizabeth M Laponsie
in the Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952
Name: Elizabeth M Laponsie
[Elizabeth M Morris]
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 50
Birth Date: abt 1880
Birth Place: Staynor, Ont
Marriage License Place: Chippewa
Marriage Date: 6 Jan 1930
Marriage Place: Brimley, Mich, Chippewa, Michigan, USA
Residence Place: Brimley, Michigan
Father: Joseph Morris
Mother: Annie Borrette
Spouse: Andrew J Hill
County File Number: 232
State File Number: 17 846
Advanced Smite:
Grace Dillon and Elizabeth Lapensee were recently covered on "Fake Indians" blog. The blog post contains a link to a genealogical report that was commissioned by anonymous employees of Michigan State University (MSU) on 3 MSU faculty with questionable claims to Native American ancestry: Dylan Miner, Elizabeth Lapensee, and Malea Powell. I do not know who publishes Fake Indians blog or the writer of the genealogical report submitted to MSU. Their work on Elizabeth Lapensee appears to match the work done by Diana and myself in this thread.
Link to download MSU report: https://drive.proton.me/urls/G76687T8AW#Sus8ahOjP2iW
Link to Fake Indians blog post: https://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/2023/10/little-big-wasicu-white-pretendian-lies.html
Excerpt from Fake Indians blog:
--- Quote ---Here is the submitted report to Michigan State University concerning Grace Dillion’s Daughter. There was no connection to the claimed tribes.
For over thirty years, Michigan State University administrators have unethically allowed people who are not American Indians to claim American Indian ancestry as part of an institutional policy of allowing people to self-identify as Native. That institutional policy has opened the door to Pretendians, or fake Indians, who have no direct ancestral claims to the American Indian or Indigenous communities they claim. Further, those false claims have been maintained and supported through public website sites, university media, and promotional materials produced by the university. This means the university has been complicit with false claims of American Indian and Indigenous identity on the part of people who represent the university in classrooms, in public spaces and events, and in administrative decision-making on matters important to American Indian people and communities. Further, those falsely claiming Native ancestry and community belonging have profited, advanced, and been put in positions of leadership and authority based on those false claims. When university administrators were apprised of the false claims of the people included in this report and on the greater issues of the ways university policy allows for fraudulent claims of American Indian identity to proliferate at the university, the university administration at the top levels chose to support people making false claims.
--- End quote ---
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