MamenthoŘensa

Chief of the Illini Confederation

This is a captured drawing of a Kaskaskia warrior. If anyone knows its origin, please let
me know so I can give proper credit to the artist.

MamenthoŘensa, my 9-g-grandfather, was
Chief of the Kaskaskia ("Kaskaskahamwa") Tribe
and rose to the position of
Chief of the Illini Confederation.
He contributed much to the history of
this nation and certainly deserves his
own page in our family history.

I have found the name of my 9-g-grandfather spelled in a number of ways. Today, he is most often referred to simply as Rouensa. However, I have found him as Francois-Xavier Rouensa, Mamantouensa, Mamentouensa, and MamenthoŘensa.
Since the last spelling is from a letter written by other Illiniwek chiefs, I am going to use it, recognizing that any of the other spellings
may be correct.

NEW NEWS: From information gathered for theKaskaskia Tribal Descendants page, I have discovered
that there was a Kaskaskia village called Rouinsac.
I now suspect this was probably the home of MamenthoŘensa and explains his having been called
Rouensa. I will investigate further and post my
findings here.

Special thanks for my having found this information at all must be given to Jim Miller (Walkslowly), a Kaskaskia descendant, for having led me to the wonderful Helen Cox Tregillis, a professional genealogist who has written and published much history of the Native Americans
in Illinois. Without Helenĺs assistance, I would never have known that our Chief Rouensa was
MamenthoŘensa, Chief of the Illini Confederation. Helen may be reached at htrgftrn@ctnet.net

Please explore the following links to the history of the Kaskaskia and the Illini Confederation. The links to the Glen Black Laboratory of Archaeology even have excerpts from a letter MamenthoŘensa wrote to the French Court in 1725. The most extensive general history is in Bob Festerĺs : The Illini Confederation: Lords of the Mississippi Valley. Hopefully, it will
someday grow into a book.

The Mission to the Ouabache (1725)
Dunn, Jacob Piatt in: Indiana Historical Society Publications, vol. III, vol. 4, 1902, pp. 255-330. Also from the Glen Black Laboratory of Archaeology
The letter to the French Court is in this collection.