About 1805, most likely in the Red River country near where North Dakota and Manitoba are now. This would have occurred while his father's band of Ottawas was engaged in the fur trade in that region. The father was called simply 'Waukazoo' and his children took his only name as the surname of the family, English-style. "Waukazoo was chief of an Ottawa tribe of great fur traders from the shores of Lake Winnipeg." LIFE AND WORK OF THE LATE REV. GEORGE N. SMITH, A PIONEER MISSIONARY by Etta Smith Wilson [30 Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections (1905). Etta Smith Wilson was a granddaughter of this Joseph Waukazoo's sister, Charlotte.
_14th_. [October 1835] Pendonwa, son of Wahazo, a brother of the Ottawa chief, Wing, [and brother to this Joseph] reports himself as electing to become "an American," and says he had so declared himself to Col. Boyd, the former Indian agent. p. 372, Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864)
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
[July 31, 1837] Wakazo, an Ottawa chief of Waganukizzie [now the area of Harbor Springs, Michigan], and his band visit the office, to confer on their affairs. He persists in his former determination to form an agricultural settlement with his people, on the North Black River, Michigan shore, and says that they will go down, to open their farms, soon after the payment of the annuities. p. 619, Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers. The implication is that the money from the annuities will be applied to buy land in the Black River region of Michigan (now the Holland, Michigan area).
Around this time Chief Joseph Waukazoo formed a long-term friendship with the Rev. George N. Smith, Sr., who became missionary to the Waukazoo band. It was not a case of a crusading missionary finding a struggling Indian tribe to rescue, but rather the other way around. Joseph recruited Rev. Smith. Smith kept detailed memoranda which document most of the key events from 1837 onward. Smith also submitted reports to the Indian Agency, which are now part of the public record. After visiting several sites on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, the band used some of their annuity money to buy land near Black River (what is now Holland, MI).
Wakazoo's band met in council early in 1840 and chose for his colony the name Old Wing Mission, in honor of his recently deceased older brother, Chief Ning-wee-gon, The Wing, who was a distinguished chief in his own right. The colony numbered 29 families and 118 souls, according to the Indian census of 1840 -- Old Wing Mission, Swierenga
While Smith maintained an upbeat tone in correspondence with his government supervisors, he often found ministering to the Indians discouraging work, given their nomadic lives, problems with alcohol, and general disinterest in Protestant worship. Throughout the entire year of 1840, Smith held Sunday services only eleven times, mainly in the winter months. -- Old Wing Mission.
Despite the rejections, the Smiths always saw glimmers of hope and persisted. In 1842 they managed to double the number of Sunday worship services for the year to twenty-two, and attendance reached a high of forty. But usually less than ten and as few as two came, plus the Smith family. This was out of a band of three hundred. Even Chief Joseph, who had recruited Smith, seldom attended. -- Old Wing Mission
A one-room schoolhouse was opened at the Mission in 1842, but attendance was sparse and results were few. By 1847 only two students could speak English fluently. -- Old Wing Mission
The members of the Waukazoo band were gradually 'becoming Americans', but not with a long list of problems and complaints by the Indians, the missionary, and the Indian Agent. The Indians did not relish the constant labor of farm work. They told Isaac Fairbanks, a white man with whom they were on very good terms, who was also the official Indian agent farmer, rather than "become slaves to their cattle and their hogs," ... they would rather when they wanted meat "take their rifles and get it; and when they returned to their wigwams, lie down and rest, instead of waiting upon and feeding their dumb brutes." (Old Wing Mission) There were also political problems for the Chief. He was opposed by Maksabe, a Potawatomie and a Catholic who had created a rival settlement near the outlet of Black River. The two leaders had a political showdown in early 1845, but Joseph won re-election as the band's chief. Rev. Smith and his wife were compelled to take a long vacation back to Vermont in the summer of 1845.
Chief Joseph came to an unfortunate end. In August 1845 his elderly mother died. In the fall of 1845 the government annuity was paid out at Grand Haven. Annuity payouts consulted of a lump sum of silver coins to each Indian head of household. Michigan in its early years was always starved for 'real money' and the distribution of same to naive Indians drew whiskey sellers in droves to separate the Indians from their cash. Indians with money to spend, and whiskey to spend it on, tended to end in tragedy. The Chief got drunk after the payout. While riding his horse back to Old Wing, he fell off & was either knocked unconscious or rendered insensible by the alcohol (Smith's record on the event doesn't make the distinction). George Smith and Isaac Fairbanks found the hypothermic Chief lying in a puddle of water, and brought him home, where he died on pneumonia on 18 October 1845. The band held another election to choose Chief Joseph's successor. Joseph's brother Peter, aka Pendunwan, was chosen over the troublesome Maksabe. Joseph left a widow, Choni, who inherited his property near Old Wing.
The Old Wing Mission lasts from 1838 to 1849, when the Waukazoo Ottawa band again uproots itself, after selling its farms and improvements, and moves to what is now Northport, Leelanau County, Michigan, to there found the town of Waukazooville. Rev. Smith and his family accompany the band to Leelanau County.
As Arvilla Powers Smith, George's wife, described the reasons behind the move: Now, the Hollanders came and bought land around the Indians [at Old Wing Mission] and soon a bitter animosity sprang up. The Indians began selling out and packing up for the north. They said they were going to Grand Traverse Bay, which the Dutchmen couldn�t find. Ogemaboninne, the old chief, [another name for Chief Joseph Waukazoo] had died trusting in Jesus, and Pen-do-wan, his brother, succeeded him. After several councils they decided to survey a locality on Grand Traverse Bay and move in the spring [of 1849]. The chief came to me with an earnest appeal. He said: "Your husband loves us and he is like our brother and you a sister. Where can be find any one that will do for us as you have done? You won�t say no, sister?" I told him I would go where my husband felt it was his duty to go. 17 March 1892, in the Grand Traverse Herald, Arvilla Aurelia Powers Smith.