It was Hortensia Hayes, daughter of one of the town's first businessmen, that suggested the name of Wauseon, Chief  of the Ottowas to the early town leaders.

 

According to  the Wauseon Centenial Official Publication, "She recalled that Col. D. W. Howard a few days earlier had pointed to a nearby gently rising knoll and declared that it was on that spot that the Maumee Indians sixteen years earlier had held their last council with the United States government and in which they conveyed all their lands in the Northwest territory to the United States government.  Their Chief was "Waseon" ( the u was added later). Why not adopt that name? She asked." The name of the chief means "far away."

 

According to Col. D.W. Howard’s recollections, Chief Wauseon was a large, imposing man. Howard found Chief Wauseon not quite as talented an orator as his brother Ottokee,“but an intelligent man and a good speaker.”

Chief Wauseon eventually settled in Kansas.