DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
For many in Z-Land, very little thought is given on how most of our ancestors got here.
For perhaps just as many, even less thought is given to how the land we now call home was prepared for European settlers.
Sure, we have a basic understanding. Native Americans were cleared from the land, sometimes through enticement, sometimes through violence, and sometimes even through war.
One man in our area has spent a lifetime pondering these questions and has turned his fascination with the answers he’s found into a book.
Jim Pickett is a native of Northeast Indiana and he has written four books on the subject of Fort Wayne, Decatur and the surrounding areas during the time before the region was widely settled by European settlers.
Kekionga, a word that exists in the vernacular of nearly every resident of Z-Land without much thought to its origin, is the key term in all of Pickett’s novels.
Pickett was born in New Haven and went to school there. Always a great student in history class, Jim was also an exceptional athlete for the Bulldogs. He went on to Saint Francis across town and graduated with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, which led him to a full and successful career as a history teacher in DeKalb County. After 36 years of teaching, Pickett retired in 2011.
Pickett recalls fondly his experiences as a young man in Decatur.
“Back in the day I played amateur baseball for Ferd Klenk of Decatur,” he says. “During the summers our home games would be played at Worthman Field.”
Since retirement, Pickett has written four related books, beginning with “The Bones of Kekionga.”
Feeling his work was a success and enjoyable, Pickett followed it up with “The March to Kekionga” and “The Siege at Kekionga.”
His works of historically-authentic fiction are summed up in his fourth work, “The Taming of Kekionga.”
Much of the inspiration for the books comes from an intrigue Pickett could not shake from his mind about a battle that happened in what is now the Lakeside neighborhood in Fort Wayne.
“It happened in 1790,” says Pickett, “and it was between the Native Americans who had been here and likely the first real American army after the Revolutionary War.”
Six years after retiring from teaching, he finished his research and wrote the first book. It was published in 2017. At the beginning of 2023, the fourth novel was released.
“It was a complicated and combative time that few people around here know about,” Pickett told WZBD at the recent Hoagland Days. The author was stationed at the festival for several days to showcase his work and talk to readers.
The adventure stories include characters that are likely familiar to most: Chief Little Turtle, General Anthony Wayne, Tecumseh, William Henry Harrison and Chief Winamac. For more information on Pickett’s work, visit his website at www.jimpickettbooks.com. All four adventures can be purchased on his website for just $66.
About the Author
