Figure 49. Tribal Members Posing at a Home on the Pine Creek Reservation, ca. 1915. Those Pictured Are as Follows from Left to Right: Albert Mackety, Steven Pamp, Elizabeth Mackety, Mary Ann Pamptopee, Charlie Thomas Pamptopee, Agnes Pamptopee, and Guy Mandoka. Reprinted from “Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi: A People in Progress,” by J. Rodwan & V. Anewishki, 2009, p. 24.
Chief Samuel Mandoka died at the age of 71. He was succeeded not by a chief but by a committee. Albert Mackety and Levi Pamp provided the key political leadership of Pine Creek for the next 40 years (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, pp. 334-335). Levi Pamp was of the Pamptopee family who dropped the “-topee” from their last name around this point in time. Both Albert and Levi had worked closely with Chiefs Stephen Pamptopee and Samuel Mandoka for many years in both secular and religious matters (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, p. 335).
At the time of Samuel Mandoka’s death, his second-oldest son, Grover Mandoka, told the local newspaper,
There is no need for a tribal head. We live and work as individuals, the same as any white family. If the time should come when, as a tribe, we should want representation in Washington or elsewhere, the surviving members undoubtedly would get together and designate one of their number to represent them. Until then, we shall continue as a chiefless tribe (Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc., 1995, p. 334).
References:
Rodwan, J., & Anewishki, V. (2009). Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi: A People in Progress. Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Environmental Department.
Summary Under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Huron Potawatomi, Inc. (1995). United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Acknowledgement and Research. https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/009_hurpot_MI/009_pf.pdf