|
Articles about Mary Decorah and the Decorah Family Article transcribed August 2010 from a newspaper article. The name of the newspaper and date of paper is unknown at this time.
BERLIN- There was wailing and singing all night in the Winnebago Indian encampment in the woods near his home. New morning the boy, Henry Morrow, saw them bury the body of a young woman named Mary Decorah, born 1884 died 1911. He remembers nothing else about her, but her grave beneath an old elm tree is still marked by a marble headstone. In later years his children used to place spring flowers on the grave each Memorial Day. The spot was clear until the large trees were cut for the power lines to go through and then the brush grew up to obscure the grave from the view, Morrow said. A visit to the place recently necessitated scrambling through heavy brush and weeks, as well as some cutting of the tall growth in order to bring the headstone into the open. The headstone, which had probably fallen over, is placed slightly away from its original location. Morrow recalled that the grave was on the opposite side of the four-foot-thick stump of the elm tree which had been cut to make way for progress. Now the stump provides a prop for the modest marked of the grave of a member of a long line of Indian chieftains. Documented in History
The name "Decorah" is well documented in history, as well as romanticized
in novels.
He said the Winnebagoes had come a hundred strong to gather cranberries
for market and their own use. Morrow says the grave is located at the fenceline east of the road on what he knew as the Wid Fralish farm and across the road from the home of Earnest Heise. It is about three miles west of the Trinity Lutheran Church on County Trunk XX - an area now a blaze of autumn color because of the happy mixture of oaks, poplar, maple, elm, sumac, cedar and other native plants and vines. Looked Much The Same It must have looked much the same as far as color goes at the time of the funeral of Mary Decorah in 1911, commented Morrow, although he noted that what used to be a woods of large trees is now smaller second growth and a plowed fields is between the grave in the roadside hedge and the remnant of the woods on the east. This was land that belonged to his grandfather, Pat Morrow and his parents, the Phillips Morrows. He pointed northwestward from the grave site to the small red house where he and his wife lived until they moved to Berlin. All around are the prosperous lettuce farms of the Gatzkes and the lush celery farms of the Leach Company-on land that once was prosperous because of the million-dollar cranberry industry. Always a mecca for the Indians because of the rich natural food supplies obtainable there, it is not surprising that a member of the widely distributed Decorah family should be in the area. Line of Chieftains The line of famous chieftains of the Winnebagoes originated in the Indian Village on Doty Island at the outlet of Lake Winnebago. Sister of the head chief was Glory of the Morning or Hopokoekau, mother of the creole chiefs known to history under a variety of spellings. Facts from Volume Six, No. 3, July 1907 "Wisconsin Archaeologist" booklet include the fact that she became the wife of Sabrevoire De Carrie, an officer in the French army. In 1699 he resigned to become a trader among the Winnebagoes and to marry the beautiful Indian daughter of a chief. During an eight-year period they were known to have two sons and a daughter. Later he left his wife, taking with him his daughter and leaving behind the two sons. During the French and Indian wars he returned to military duty and was mortally wounded at Quebec. He died in the hospital at Montreal April 28, 1760. Glory of the Morning refused to go to him in Montreal, but remained at her island home with her two sons. Her daughter, reared among the whites, married Sieur Larent Fily at Quebec. He was a merchant who later moved to Green Bay and has many descendants in the Fox River Valley. The historian Captain Johnathan Carver visited the lonely queen on Doty Island in 1766, was received graciously and entertained sumptuously for four days. He recorded that the village had some 50 homes at that time. Described "The Queen" In her book "Waubun," Mrs. J.H. Kinzie described "the queen" whom she judged to be about 100 years old. She said her eyes were almost white and her face dark and wrinkled like a baked apple. She was not strong enough to walk erect and went around on all fours. On the day of the payment from the government Mrs. Kinzie watcher her received her allotment, place it in a corner of her blanket, and go crawling along to her doorstep where she counted her treasure. Henry Merrill, who came to Fort Winnebago in 1834, again wrote of the queen whom he now judged to be about 143 years old and still able to walk six to eight miles to and from Portage. She was living with her grandson, Old Gray-headed Decorah, and died soon afterward when her wigwam caught fire. This was about eight miles below Portage on the west side of the Wisconsin River, where she is probably buried. This ancient queen was said to be a descendant of chiefs on her mothers side also. Oldest Son of The Queen
The oldest son of the queen and Sabrevoire De Carrie was called Spoon or
Ladle Decorah. Augustine, Grignon, as area trader, knew him as on old man
at Portage. At his own request Ladle Decorah was buried in a sitting
position in his coffin. Over his grave a cabin was built and a fence was
placed around it. Another geneology lists seven sons and five daughters for Ladle Decorah; White Pigeon, Black, Raisin, Star Walker, Young, Rascal, Thunder, Hearer and White Wolf. This source says of the sisters that three married Indians, one married Perrish Grignon and later on a trapper named Dennis De Bievier and the fifth married John Le Cuyr, the father of Madam Le Roy. In the next generation of great-grandchildren of the old queen were the sons of Old Gray headed Decorah; Little Decorah, One Eye and Spoon. The second son of Glory of the Morning and Sabrevoire De Carrie was called Buzzard. He settled in LaCrosse in 1787 and was killed by his own son in a drunken row. The son, One-Eye or Waukon, was forever after despised by his own people. A Famed Orator A brother of One-Eye was called Snake Skin, also commonly called Washington Decorah because he was a famed orator of his tribe. He lived in Minnesota in 1868. Also born of this famous line of Indian royalty was Angel Decorah who studied at Smith College in Northhampton, Mass under the celebrated Howard Pyle. She practiced her art in New York City and was in charge of the art department at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. through the midwest in many forms: Day Kau Ray, Decorra, DeKora, De Korra (the name of a town and post office in Columbia County) and Decorah, the name of a city near the former Indian reservation in northwestern Iowa. However, the proper spelling is De Carrie, for the French Army officer who wedded the beautious Glory of the Morning so long ago. ______________________________________ Article transcribed from a newspaper article. Date and name of original newspaper unknown a this time. Transcribed August 2010. For Berlin Woman - Story of Mary Decorah Brings Back Memories
BERLIN-Mrs.
Ben Blanc of Berlin, after reading in the Oct. 12 Daily Northwestern about
the grave of Mary Decorah in Borth, said she knew the woman and that she
did die of lung trouble, probably tuberculosis. She said the same group
that camped at Borth often camped near Auroraville in Mattice's Woods.
To still
further bring to life the Winnebago Indians of 1911, when Mary Decorah
died, Mrs. Blanc recalled that the Indians were still cooking outdoors
with kettles hung on tripods and had woven mats in their tents as floor
coverings. She remembers their passion for collecting photographs and the
boxes of family portraits one woman kept under her bed. She said her
father had to call a halt to their stripping hickory bark for baskets when
the activity threatened to kill the trees. Fascinated By Indians She remembers being fascinated by the Indians when they came for their fall encampments, but her parents would not let her go down to the camp area. She recalls hiding in the thick foliage of the crab trees and making odd noises to puzzle them as the Indians passed below. This was on the road to the post office at Auroraville where the Indians called for their mail.
Although most of the Indians were slim and tall, she remembers one short
stout one who skinned the muskrats her father trapped. He knew how to
skin them and remove the musk so they were edible. The meat was then dried
for winter food. In addition, she said some of the younger Indians came to
her home to play croquet. Among the ones she remembered by name was Eli
Whitewing who was a graduate of Carlisle, but had returned to live with
his people in traditional ways. Return to homepage Return to Mary Decorah burial page
Copyright © 2006-2012 Paula Vaughan |