HEADLINES
	2003 Shareholders Meeting
	Honesty And Integrity
	A Moment In Time With Henry John Billie
	Unveiling Of Dorothy Scott Osceola Portrait
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A Moment In Time
With Henry John Billie

By Libby Blake
BIG CYPRESS — Seminole Wind Clan elder and master dugout canoe builder Henry John Billie was born Oct. 13, 1925 near what is now called Chokoloskee, FL. He is one of seven children born to Johnny and Margaret Billie.
Henry John learned the craft of canoe building from his father, grandfather and uncles. He learned how to choose the cypress tree, fell and clean it, work it, finish it and pole it through the Everglades. His knowledge includes the making of the short individual canoes and the longer ones used by entire families in the earlier days of Seminole history.
Mr. Billie is one of the four Seminole recipients of the Florida Folk Heritage Award – established in 1985 to honor outstanding folk artists and folk culture advocates who have made long-standing contributions to the folk cultural resources of the state. Henry John received the award in 1998 for being a “master dugout canoe builder.” He also served as a master artist in the Florida Folklife Apprenticeship Program that same year.
Other Tribal recipients include Susie Billie (1985 – Medicine woman and authority on Tribal heritage), Betty Mae Jumper (1994 – Traditional storyteller and advocate of Seminole culture), and Bobby Henry (2001 – Dugout canoe builder and keeper of Seminole tradition).
When nominating Henry for the award Dr. Pat Wickman wrote, “Henry John Billie is a unique individual whose knowledge and talents are undisputed among his own Seminole people. He commands respect both because of his membership in Wind Clan and also because of the quiet and humble way in which he transmits his critical information and uses his prodigious skills ….. His skills (sic) are based upon a natural talent for understanding wood and for surviving successfully within the unique and demanding environment of the ‘river of grass’ that is the Florida Everglades. Further, he is a natural teacher whose patience and good humor only add to his reputation and respect.”
Besides his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Henry grew up with siblings Alice, Frank, Johnson, Watts, Nigel, and Elizabeth and half-siblings Ali and Richard Tiger at their camp in the southwest Florida wetlands.
When Henry was about 15 years old, his father passed away. This was around the same time that he started making the daylong trip (in the dugouts) with his clan members to the Smallwood Trading Post at Chokoloskee Bay. It was on one of these trips that he saw his “first white man.”
In 1940 or ’41, he can’t remember the exact date, Henry moved to the Big Cypress Reservation. He does remember that it took him, sometimes accompanied by brother Frank, all day to pole his canoe to the old Dania reservation where he would come looking for work and supplies.
Taking jobs with the U.S. government, Henry John built many of the roads crossing the Everglades – including Snake Road. He laughs about poling his dugout to build roads – the irony of it not lost even today. He’s saddened by the fact that, maybe, because of the roads he built none of his children – or his children’s children – wanted to or needed to learn his craft.
The undisputed master dugout canoe builder has no one to pass his knowledge – a major part of Seminole culture and tradition – on to. Therein lies the irony. Wind clan, one of the founding clans of the Seminoles, is responsible for keeping and transmitting core traditions among the entire Tribe.
It was during his adult years that Henry wrestled with alcoholism. Whether it was caused by the mere presence of the “white man” or from the pressure of trying to survive in an evolving, non-Native world, Henry doesn’t know. But he does know that his recovery didn’t begin until he returned to Big Cypress, where he took up the old, traditional ways of his people.
After moving back to Big Cypress, Henry John Billie embraced the “old ways” and immersed himself in his canoe building. Before a disabling stroke in 2000, Henry continued to work displaying his craft at the Billie Swamp Safari and Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum four days a week.
Henry lived with his companion of many years, Juanita Fewell, until her death last year. Together they had six children – Rubin, Wayne, Marlon, Edmund, Scott, and Evelyn. Juanita was, according to Henry, “cat clan.”
While the stroke prevents Henry from physically building canoes, his mind remains sharp with all that knowledge stored and waiting for someone, anyone, willing to learn. He still spends most afternoons sitting at the counter at the Swamp Water Café waiting for someone, anyone, to stop by.