Transcribed from volume I of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar.

Burnett, Abraham, an Indian chief of the Pottawatomie tribe, was a son of Kaw-kee-me, a sister of the principal chief of the Pottawatomies at the time the Chicago treaty was concluded in 1821, and in that treaty Abraham was awarded a section of land. He lived with his people in Indiana until 1848, when he came to the tribal reservation near Topeka, Kan. A few miles southwest of the city of Topeka is an elevation which is still known as Mount Burnett, or Burnett's Mound, where he had his home. Like many of the red men, he loved "fire-water" and on his frequent trips to Topeka, before the era of prohibition in Kansas, he sometimes imbibed more than was good for him. As he weighed over 400 pounds it was something of a task to get him into his spring wagon when he was in a state of intoxication. He married a white woman of German extraction, and it is said that when he went home drunk he would test her temper by throwing his hat in at the window. If it remained in the house he would follow it, but if it was thrown out he would retire until he was sober before attempting to enter his domicile. He drew his annuity from the United States government with great regularity, and generally spent the most of it in Indian fashion—for gewgaws and fire-water. It was Burnett's boast that he never missed attending a circus in Topeka during his long residence near that city. He died on June 14, 1870, and his remains rest in an unmarked grave near the mound upon which he had so long made his home.

Page 258 from volume I of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed May 2002 by Carolyn Ward.

For additional information on this individual, check out www.wiskigeamatyuk.com. Link submitted 6/29/09 by Gary Wis-Ki-Ge-Amatyuk Jr, gggreat grandson of Chief Nanweshmah, better known to you and most as Chief Abraham Burnett.