By Alan Ojiig Corbiere
This document was written on July 4, 1796 by Crown Surveyor, Augustus Jones (ca. 1757 – November 16, 1836). Augustus Jones was born in the United States, but fled to Upper Canada as a Loyalist. He attained the position of crown surveyor in 1787. As surveyor he established relationships with Mohawks and Mississaugas, eventually having an Anishinaabe wife named Tuhbenahneequay and a Mohawk wife named Sarah Tekarihogen. From his relationships with his wives and in-laws, he learned to speak both Ojibwe and Mohawk.
In 1796, when Augustus Jones recorded these 28 names for posterity, there was no standardized orthography for Anishinaabemowin. It is fortunate that he also recorded the meaning of each Anishinaabe toponym otherwise the majority of these Anishinaabemowin place names would be inscrutable. Since he provided the English translation, he has given us a clue to the actual Anishinaabe word so that his obsolete and idiosyncratic orthography can be decoded. This blog will demonstrate some issues and some techniques on restoring Anishinaabe toponyms from sources that utilize obsolete and idiosyncratic orthographies. This blog will also consider what place names can reveal to historians. These 28 place names can be categorized a number of different ways but generally speaking there are 9 hydrological toponyms, 5 geographical, 6 floral, 3 faunal, 4 positional (features word ‘last’) and 1 “socio-economic” (for lack of a more suitable label). The hydrological, geographical, floral and faunal can be used for environmental history purposes but this blog will focus on the socio-economic category.
In 1987, historian Donald Smith transcribed these place names and then created a map to include in his book Sacred Feathers: The Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Mississauga Indians. The published map (Smith 1987 p.18) used the obsolete spellings of Augustus and his son Peter Jones. Merely transcribing the words as written by Augustus and Peter Jones is helpful but does not necessarily increase our understanding, especially if the transcription is incorrect. For instance, Smith transcribes the Anishinaabe name of the Credit River as “Missinnihe ‘The Trusting Creek’” which I transcribed as Mes.sin.ni.ke because I knew the Anishinaabe word for credit does not end in an H but with a G (or K in this instance). The word is mazina’ige (mzin’ige in Manitoulin dialect). I also know that the letter g and k represent related sounds and many people often use these letters interchangeably when writing Anishinaabe words. Admittedly, the “k” as written by Augustus does look like an “h” but this just proves that some knowledge of Anishinaabemowin is required to restore these names.[1] A hint to aspiring historians working with handwritten documents, look at known English words to see how the author writes specific letters. In this case, look at the terminal “k” in creek and notice that it too looks like an “h,” ergo, Smith understandably transcribed the word as “missinnihe” instead of mes.sin.ni.ke.
The result of Augustus Jones’ spelling and Smith’s subsequent transcription, has led to people accepting the toponym as “Missinnihe.” This spelling has proliferated on Wikipedia and other online platforms. Furthermore, Augustus Jones listed the meaning of Missinnihe as “Trusting Creek – Credit” and now on some platforms the word credit has been removed and the river’s name Missinnihe is just listed as meaning “Trusting Creek.”[2]
In an effort to restore this Anishinaabe toponym, some may consult dictionaries and search for “credit” and “trusting.” Searching “credit” in the digital Ojibwe People’s Dictionary results in mazina’ige “s/he owes something, gets or has credit, buys on credit, charges to an account, goes into debt.”[3] Similarly, searching “credit” in the Nishnaabemwin Online Dictionary, results in “1. Buy on credit, 2. get credit and, 3. owe money.”[4] Consulting Bishop Frederic Baraga’s Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language (originally published 1878) reveals various words about giving credit (nin masinamâgos), taking credit (nin masinaige), collecting credits (nin nandoshkamage), thus debunking the belief that Indigenous people had no concept of monetary exchange in the mid-nineteenth century. Baraga specifically lists “Masinaige, (nin). I make debts, I take on credit” (Baraga 1992, p. 224). All three dictionaries consulted had definitions that were more or less the same. Neither modern dictionary provided an etymology of the word mazina’ige/ mzin’ige, but Bishop Baraga added an additional definition of “masinaige, (nin). I make marks on s.th. [emphasis added].” This definition references the etymology of the word which is composed of two morphemes (word parts), the initial morpheme mazina’– refers to image, figure, and picture. The final morpheme –ige is s/he acts upon an object. “Making marks on something” refers to the practice of marking the paper at the fort to indicate that one had accepted a certain amount of goods on credit. The name of the river dates back to the time when the French established a post at the mouth of the river in 1720 and customarily extended credit to the Mississaugas in the fall, to be repaid in furs in the spring. By 1757 the cartographer La Broquerie listed “R. au Credit” on his map.[5] The name of the river prior to the establishment of the fort is, at this time, unknown.
The purpose of this blog was to decode Augustus Jones’ rendition of the Mississauga name for the Credit River. Most of the toponyms on Jones’ list refer to flora, fauna, geographical and hydrological features. The previous name of the Credit River was likely in one of these categories but changed once the fort was established and the fur trade practice of “marking paper” to receive credit became common practice. Synchronically, the river would have been “Making Marks/ Figures River” but the literal meaning of the word diachronically morphed to mean “give/ receive credit.” This succinctly became Credit River. It is interesting to see that Donald Smith’s transcription of Jones’ rendition, Missinnihe, has become the ‘official’ rendition of the Anishinaabe toponym supplanting the actual word mazina’ige. Also currently occurring is the removal of ‘credit’ in some English translations resulting in just ‘Trusting Creek.’ If some adventurous person were set on renaming the river as “Trusting Creek,” they would find totally different Anishinaabe words in the dictionaries, such as “Trust, trusting, apénimowin” (Baraga 1992, p. 270) or “waan’kiiyendaagot/ waan’kiiyendaagzi: it/ he/she seems trustworthy” or “waan’kiiyenmaa/ waan’kiiyendaan: Trust someone/ something” (Nishnaabemwin Online Dictionary), resulting in Apenimowin-ziibi or Waan’kiiyendaagod-Ziibi, far different from Jones’ Missinnike Sippi or Mazina’ige-ziibi, as the Credit River would be spelled in the current double vowel orthography. Place names change throughout time, Rivière au Credit, to Credit River, to “Missinnihe Sippi,” “Trusting Creek,” perhaps it is time the Credit River can be officially named Mazina’ige-Ziibi.
[Appendix 1: Transcribed Document]
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Names of the Rivers, and Creeks, as they are Called by the Mississagues and the meaning there of explained in English, beginning at Niagara, and extending along the shore, Burlington Bay,[6]
| Names by the Messissua [sic] | Names by the English | Explanation |
| y.on.noahe. Sippi [Wayaanag-Ziibi] | Niagara River | Whirl Pool River |
| Mes.qua.wauke [Miskwaawaak] | 4 mile creek | Red Cedar __ |
| A.to.be.conces [Adoobiikaans] | 5 – do – | Small Alder |
| Kesich.e.con [Giizhigikaan] | 8 – do – | White Cedar Place |
| Me.kis.e.wau.ce.nonk [Migizi-waziswaning] | 10 – do – | Eagles nest Place |
| Es.que.sink [Eshkwesing] | 12 – do – | Last Creek – in going [Down] |
| Nau.swau.sink | 15 & 16 – do – | Two Creeks near together |
| Che.bet.to.be.gonh [Gichi-biitoobiigong] | 20 – do – | Large Pond or marsh |
| Mos.squa.waunh [Nooskwaawang] | 40 – do – | Salt Lick – where deer resort |
| Nesin.ne.ce.conh [Nesiniinskaang] | 50 – do – | Small stone or gravily [sic] Place |
| [Y]atquatanh | Creek at A. Jones | Last creek at leaving Sandy B[each] |
| Carry.g.us.e.gun.e.ce.coning | Creek at Carrying Place | Place where a Small kind of [Turtles] laids their eggs |
| Wequatetong [Wiikwedong] | Burlington Bay | A Bay |
| Atobecoake [Adoobiikaag] | Creek Near Mordons | Black Alder Creek |
| Pim.me.be.tong.gonh | Outlet B. Bay | Creek [running] thro the sand |
| Esqui sink [Eshkwesing] | 12 mile Creek N.S. | Last out creek |
| Ne.sau.[g]a.y.onh | 16 from B. Bay | Having two outlets |
| Mes.sin.ni.he [Mazina’ige] | River Credit | Trusting Creek – Credit |
| A.to.be.coake [Adoobikaag] | Ato.be.Coake | Black alder C. |
| Co.bec.he.nong [Gabekanaang] | Humber | Leave their Canoes and go Back |
| Won.sco.t[a].onach | Don | Back Burnt grounds |
| Y.at.qui.[t].be.no.nick | 1st Creek below high land | Creek Comes out [under] high lands |
| Che sippi [Gichi-ziibi] | [Nen] | Large Creek |
| Sin.gua.tuh.de.qui.[och][7] | Duff[ins] | [Pine] wood a long side |
| Min ce nau quach | Creek west of Wilsons | Name of a Pennilsula [sic] about a mile below [wilsons] |
| Min.ce.nau.quach | Creek east of Wilsons | Pinnilsula [sic] almost an Island |
| Paw.me.sco.te.onh [Bimidashkodeyaang] | Smiths Creek | High burnt plains |
| Sauge.che.wi.gewon [Zaagijijiwan][8] | Trent | Strong waters rapids |
* Anishinaabe Words in brackets are written in the modern double vowel orthography by Alan Ojiig Corbiere. A blank space indicates that the word remains unrecognizable.
[Appendix 2: Place Names Categorized]
Hydrological feature [9]: Wayaang Ziibi (Whirlpool), Nauswausink (Two Creeks near together), Gichi-biitoobiigong (Large Pond or Marsh), Wiikwedong (Bay), Bimibiitoogong (creek running through sand), Nesaugayonh (having two outlets), Yatquitbenonick (Creek comes out under high lands), Gichi-ziibi (Large Creek), Zaagijiwijiwan (Strong waters rapids)
Geographic feature [5]: Nesiniinskaang (small stone or gravelly place), Wonscot[a]onach (back burnt grounds), Mincenauquach (Name of Peninsula – about a mile below [wilsons]), Mincenauquach (Peninsula almost an island), Bemishkodeyaang (High burnt plains)
Positional [4]: Eshkwesing (Last Creek in Going [Down]), Eshkwesing (Last Out Creek), [Y]atquatanh (Last Creek at Leaving Sandy Beach), Gabekanaang (Leave canoes and go back)
Floral [6]: Miskwaawaak (Red Cedar), Adoobiikaans (Small Alder), Giizhigikaan (White Cedar Place), Adoobiikaag (Black Alder Creek), Adoobiikaag (2nd Black Alder Creek), Singuatuhdequioch (Pinewood along side)
Socio-economic [1]: Mazina’ige (Trusting Creek – Credit)
Faunal [3]: Migizi-wazisoning (Eagles Nest Place), Nooskwaawaang (Salt Lick – where deer resort), Carrygusegunececoning (Place where a small kind of turtles laids [sic] their eggs)
Bibliography
Baraga, Frederic. A Dictionary of the Ojibway Language. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1992. Originally published as A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language. Montreal, PQ: Beauchemin & Valois, 1878.
Smith, Donald. Mississauga Portraits: Ojibwe Voices from Nineteenth-Century Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2013.
Smith, Donald. Sacred Feathers: The Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Mississauga IndiansToronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
Wilson, Reverend Edward F. The Ojebway Language. Toronto, ON: Roswell and Hutchison, for the Venerable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 187[4].
[1] In fairness to Donald Smith, he did consult the late Ojibwe linguist, scholar, author Basil Johnston about these place names and included Basil’s interpretations in an appendix in “Sacred Feathers” (1987). However, Smith reproduced the map without using Basil’s spellings in Mississauga Portraits: Ojibwe Voices from the Nineteenth-Century Canada (Smith 2013, p. 14) – which I believe was missed opportunity..
[2] See for instance the Port Credit Wikipedia page, accessed 14 June 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Credit Also refer to the Credit River Wikipedia page, accessed 14 June 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_River
[3] Ojibwe People’s Dictionary, accessed 14 June 2025, https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/mazina-ige-vai
[4] Nishnaabemwin Online Dictionary, accessed 14 June 2025, https://dictionary.nishnaabemwin.atlas-ling.ca/#/results
[5] Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Digital Collections, Accessed 14 June 2025, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:hx11z323c
[6] Augustus Jones, “Names of the Rivers, and Creeks, as they are called by the Mississauguas…” dated 4 July 1796, RG 1-2-1, vol. 32, MS 7433, 103-5, Archives of Ontario.
[7] The first part of the word “sinqua-” is likely Shingwaak, the word for white pine. The rest is currently undecipherable.
[8] Mississauga Gaagigegaabaw, aka the Reverend George Copway, wrote the name of the mouth of the Trent River as Zaagidajiwanong. Bishop Baraga wrote “The place in the lake round the mouth, sâgida [zaagida],” and the medial morpheme -jiwan, refers to flow or current of water. Bishop Baraga also included the phrase “oma sâgidjidjiwan sibi, Here is the mouth of the river” (Baraga pt. 1, p. 175).