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The treaty era
The nation of this ground, in the instruments that touch it, is the Potawatomi. Every treaty that cedes, bounds, or reserves land in this part of the St. Joseph valley treats with the Potawatomi — the treaties of 1821, 1826, 1828 and 1832 printed in the land section are Potawatomi treaties, the 1821 instrument jointly with the Chippewa and Ottawa — and the county histories that follow them describe a Potawatomi country: the valley's villages named in those instruments stand on the St. Joseph river to the north and on the Elkhart to the east, and the hunting, gathering and travel country between them, Potato Creek's valley included, was the nation's ground in use whether or not any town stood on a given quarter-section. No other nation is named against this ground in any instrument or history: the tests that follow are run nation by nation because a build that does not run them inherits its attributions, and inherited attributions are how cessions get misassigned in this county.