Olathe is Beautiful
I learned something new this past weekend. The word “olathe” is the Shawnee Indian word for “beautiful”. I should have known, because there is evidence of the Shawnee everywhere around here. There’s a town named Chillicothe, which was the name for a specific clan of Shawnee from which the chief always originated. There is even a town simply named “Shawnee”.
Since someone felt Olathe was nice enough to be called beautiful, perhaps I should try to see things that way.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:10 am
There have been several Chillcothe towns because they were the “Capitol” of the Shawnee villages, the Chillicothe being the civil leaders of the five Shawnee divisions. For instance, the Pekowi division supplied the war chiefs and my fifth great grandfather, Blue Jacket, was the last principal war chief of the Shawnee Tribe of Indians. The last Chillicothe council house of the tribe was at the edge of the City of Shawnee prior to the time they removed to Indian Territory in 1871. Tecumseh was from the Kispoko division and Blue Jacket was a mentor of his. Tecumseh’s father was killed in the Battle of Point Pleasant when the boy was abour seven years old. Blue Jacket and other Shawnee leaders stepped in and their teachings gave Tecumseh the background to become the famous champion of Shawnee life in Northwest Territory before he was killed in the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.
February 27th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Thanks for the great information! I’m trying to immerse myself in some of the history of the area, so I can try to see past the urban sprawl (I’m not much for big cities). It turns out that there’s a lot more to learn about than I realized.