OUAGIMOU (Oagimont), chief of the neighbouring Indians when Du Gua de Monts and Champlain established their settlement on Île Sainte-Croix in 1604. He was described as an Etchemin chief but the Indians of that region are now called Passamaquoddies.

Ouagimou is mentioned in connection with the Indian warfare and diplomacy of early Acadia. He petitioned the Armouchiquois (Penobscots) for the body of Panounias, who had been slain in revenge for a Souriquois (Micmac) attack on some of their tribe, and brought it to Port-Royal for burial in 1607. He then joined Membertou and Secoudon with his warriors to attack the Armouchiquois in New England and the next year returned, at the request of Asticou, the new chief of the Armouchiquois, and with the assurance of French protection, as the representative of the Etchemins to make peace with them.

Lescarbot records that Ouagimou gave some sea-biscuits to Jean de Biencourt de Poutrin court in 1610 when he put in to Sainte-Croix after being driven out to sea by a storm. Lescarbot also refers to a daughter of Ouagimou about II years of age whom Poutrincourt wished to take to France and present to the queen but her father refused to consent to this.

It is considered highly probable that the head carved in relief on a slab of red granite found near Lake Utopia in 1863 represents Ouagimou and was carved by one of de Monts’s stone-cutters at Île Sainte-Croix in the winter of 1604–5. This slab, known as the Utopia Medallion, is in the New Brunswick Museum at Saint John.

W. Austin Squires

Champlain, Works (Biggar), I, 442–43. Lescarbot, History (Grant), II, 359–60, 367–69; III, 42. JR (Thwaites), II, 145.

Cite This Article

W. Austin Squires, “OUAGIMOU (Oagimont),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 2, 2024, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ouagimou_1E.html.

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Permalink:   https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ouagimou_1E.html
Author of Article:   W. Austin Squires
Title of Article:   OUAGIMOU (Oagimont)
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1966
Year of revision:   1979
Access Date:   October 2, 2024