Sturgeon Family
Winnie Sturgeon preparing Black Ash strip and Levi Sturgeon weaving a basket.
Levi Sturgeon (born 1897) and his wife Winnie (born Osahgee, 1904) were the first Walpole Island basket makers who agreed to show Volney Jones the detailed process of making baskets. The first type of basket that they demonstrated was what Levi called a "melon basket." Over several days, Levi and Winnie also demonstrated the process of preparing the strips of black ash for basket making, including pounding a black ash log and creating strips with a shaving horse. Jones also watched Winnie make the corn basket and collected black ash baskets that she had made with different types of weaves, including this one with a diagonal weave and the sieve basket. Levi also showed Jones how he made a broom from a hickory log, and Winnie demonstrated how to make a small basket out of sweetgrass.
Although Jones commented in his notes that several of the basket makers on Walpole Island were reluctant to have their pictures taken, Levi was not. When Jones returned to Walpole Island in 1934, he sought out Levi to ask him about the names of plants in Anishinaabemowin and their uses, including medicinal ones.
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