Chief Bemidji, whose real name was " Shay-Now-Ish -Kung," received his new name from Lake Bemidji which was called Bay-me-ji-ga, or "lake with cross waters." He was born near Inger, Minnesota, in 1833 or 1834 and lived in the Leech Lake and Cass Lake area. In 1860, he married a Leech Lake Pillager Indian woman and they had eight children, three boys of whom died at early ages. Four daughters and one son grew up and lived to older ages. In 1882, Chief Bemidji's wife died. Saddened by her death, he loaded all his possessions and children in his birch bark canoe and paddled up the Mississippi River to settle on the south shore of Lake Bemidji. He was the first permanent settler of Bemidji (from p. 107,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" 2004).