Wanagapeth

Wanagapeth ("Sweet Breeze"), (?)-1808 was the eldest daughter of Chief Michikinikwa, known as Little Turtle. She married Apekonit, or Capt. William Wells. [Carter, pg 87 fn 20, estimates they were married late 1791, based on their life's circumstances.]

William Wells was captured and adopted into the Miami tribe. He had a wife and child who were captured in 1791 and presumed dead. William took Wanagapeth as his second wife, forging a strong family bond between Wells and Turtle that would last until their deaths.

Wanagapeth and Wells had three daughters and one son. Their son, William Wayne Wells, or Wapemongah, graduated fourth in his class at West Point in 1821 and rose to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. He died in 1832 and had no children. [Carter, 251] One daughter, Ann, married but also had no children. Daughters Rebecca and Mary both have descendants living today. [Carter, 250-252]

Little Turtle biographer Harvey Lewis Carter estimates that Sweet Breeze died during the Winter of 1805-1806, because after that year her children moved to Kentucky to live with their uncle, Samuel Wells. [Carter, 200]

References

* Carter, Harvey Lewis. "The Life and Times of Little Turtle: First Sagamore of the Wabash." Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. ISBN 0-252-01318-2.