John Okemos was a Ohioan Ojibwe (Chippewa) chief. He participated in Tecumseh's War and was a signatory of the Treaty of Saginaw. "Okemos" was the anglicised form of his Ojibwe language name ogimaans meaning "Little Chief". "John" was an adopted name.

The Treaty of Saginaw, also known as the Treaty with the Chippewa, was made between Gen. Lewis Cass and Chief Mash Kee Yosh, Chief John Okemos, Chief Wasso and other Native American tribes of the Great Lakes region in what is now the United States, on September 24, 1819, proclaimed by the President of the United States on March 25, 1820, and placed in law as 7 Stat. 203.