John Nojǫpka Blackhawk (1883 - 1951)

Born 20 Dec 1883 in Humbird, Clark, Wisconsin, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Lizzie Mąxixetewįga (Mike) Blackhawk — married 1910 in Wisconsin, United States

Descendants

Died 1951 at about age 67 in Black River Falls, Jackson, Wisconsin, United States [uncertain]

John was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Birth

His WWI draft card says that he was born in Dec. 1883, but his WWII draft card says that he was born on 20 Dec. 1884 at Humbird, Clark County, Wisconsin. His tombstone, however, gives the year as 1883. (Find a Grave) He was the son of James Wągᵋnaroskaga Blackhawk and Wihąnįka (Winneshiek) Blackhawk.

Name

Nojumbka is for Nojųpka (variant Nojǫpka), from no, an old form of ną, "tree"; jųp, "lightning"; and -ka, a definite article used in personal names. So the name, a Thunderbird Clan name, is literally, "Tree-Lightning."

In the 1910 Federal census and the 1911 Indian census at Tomah, Wisconsin, he has the birth order name HaGahKah, for Hagága, "Third Born Male."

Lineage

“The sons of Wanknaroskaka or James Blackhawk were Nojumbka, meaning The thunder who strikes the tree or John Blackhawk and Wakjagohoyka, (Returning with victory), Albert Blackhawk, died July 1912, at age 20. The daughters are Chimkananewinka (She who goes on the village) born 1875 married Edwin Greengrass; Ahosojwaywinka (She whose feathers are worn) born 1881, married Arthur Cas[si]man, and Wakanjapinwinka (The good thunder woman), born 1886, married Charles Greengrass and lives at Trempealeau, Wisconsin.” (Jipson, 241)

Appearance

His WWI draft card describes him as having black hair, brown eyes, and being tall and slender in build. Van Schaick made a photographic portrait of him around 1904.

Warbundle

"An Indian Chief's war bundle — one of the few owned by museums in the country — was recently given to the Wisconsin State Historical museum, by John Blackhawk, of Greenwood, Wisconsin, great grandson of "Winnebago Blackhawk," an Indian chief of the Mississippi River Valley tribes. Most of these bundles are kept in the possession of the family and are handed down from generation to generation. The entire bundle is wrapped first in matting and then in skin and is worth about $200. It contains several ermine, the sacred animal of that tribe, medicine, herbs of various kinds, charcoal tied in a skin bag, three war clubs, several flutes, fire-hearths and dagger sheath. The only other bundle of this kind that is in the Wisconsin Museum at the present time belongs to the same tribe but to a different clan." (Owen Enterprise)

Academic Contributions

Barge described John as, "an intelligent and well-educated Winnebago." (Barge, 29) Not surprisingly, therefore, he has a number of academic contributions.

1898 — an informant for Barge on Hochunk (Winnebago) culture and language. (Barge, 29)

1923 — a source for Jipson (Winnebagoes of Rock River, 133)

“Words and Expressions Pertaining to War,” (Jipson, Story).

Supplied the translation of names found in Kinzie's census rolls

(Jipson, Story, Ch. 11)

1926 — author of "Wazunka," a Hochunk traditional story. (Blackhawk, Wazunka)

1927 — contributed the following account from his family history of the 1863 removal from Crow Creek Reservation:

There are some few survivors of the band of that time still living,

who went through those terrible days and shudder at the thought

of them, when they were the helpless prey of the ruffian soldiers.

Women and girls raped, men murdered, and all subjected to every

insult and indignity that brutal men could invent. These outrageous

things were inflicted upon the hapless victims for no other crime

whatever except that they had been unfortunate enough to be born

Indians. (Hughes, 179 = van Schaick, 19)

Death

John died in 1951, and is buried in the Decorah Cemetery, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin, USA. (Find a Grave)

Sources

• John Blackhawk, "Wazunka," The Wisconsin Archeologist 7, #4 (1926): 223-226.
• Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923). This is an unpublished typescript.
• Dr. Norton William Jipson, "Winnebago Villages and Chieftains of the Lower Rock River Region," The Wisconsin Archeologist, 2, #3 (July, 1923): 125-139.
• William D. Barge, Early Lee County, Being Some Chapters in the History of the Early Days in Lee County, Illinois (Chicago: Barnard & Miller, 1913).
• Owen Enterprise, January 6, 1921.
• Registration State: Wisconsin; Registration County: Jackson; Roll: 1674736. Draft Card: B. United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.
• 1910 Federal Census for Brockway, Jackson, Wisconsin; Roll: T624_1713; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0074; FHL microfilm: 1375726. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA.
• 1911 Indian census; Roll: M595_570; Line: 12; Agency: Tomah Indian School. Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• 1913 Indian census; Roll: M595_570; Line: 13; Agency: Tomah Ind School. Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• 1920 Federal Census for Winnebago, Thurston, Nebraska; Roll: T625_1002; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 217, Winnebago Precinct including Winnebago Village. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City).
• 1923 Indian census; Roll: M595_168; Page: 5; Line: 15; Agency: Grand Rapids. Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• 1940 Federal Census for Komensky, Jackson, Wisconsin; Roll: m-t0627-04484; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 27-20; Description: KOMENSKY TOWN. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.
• U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942. The National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) for the State of Wisconsin; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Series Number: M2126; Box or Roll Number: 25.
• Tom Jones, Michael Schmudlach, Matthew Daniel Mason, Amy Lonetree, and George A. Greendeer, People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942 (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011).
• Thomas Hughes, Indian Chiefs of Southern Minnesota: Containing Sketches of the Prominent Chieftains of the Dakota and Winnebago Tribes from 1825 to 1865 (Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, Inc., 1969 [1927]).
• Find A Grave, database and images (accessed 03 February 2020), memorial page for John Blackhawk (1883–1951), Find A Grave Memorial no. 202961692, citing Decorah Cemetery, Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin, USA ; Maintained by kmapp (contributor 46799577).