Charles Wąwąracąkega Blowsnake (abt. 1844)

Born about 1844 in Wisconsin Territory, United States

Husband of Lucy Nąwazógᵋwįga (Goodvillage) Blowsnake — married about 1868 (to about 1916) in Wisconsin, United States

Died [date unknown] in Wisconsin, United States

Charles was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Birth

Charles was born about 1844^[1] in Wisconsin Territory.^[2]

Name

The censuses give his Hocąk name as WaWaRahChunkKaKah, which is for Wąwą́racą́kega from wąwą́, "to call out, to holler, to bellow, to whoop, to cry, to yell"; racą́k, "to praise"; -ke, a frequentive suffix: "often"; and -ga, a definite article suffix used in personal names. So his name means "He Often Whoops with Praise". Charles belonged to the Thunderbird Clan,^[3] so this may be taken as a name from that clan.

Marriage

He married Lucy Goodvillage.^[4]

Children

Lucy had the following children with Charles Blowsnake^[5]:

Annie White Thunder Woman (Wakajaskawiga) (b. 1867)

Jasper Crashing Thunder Blowsnake (b. 1869)

Wīhą́gā (Bald ?) Eagle Woman (Caxšebᵋwiga)

Will Hénaga Strikes Standing Wojįną̄žįga Blowsnake (d. Dec 1899)

Sam Hágaga Hočą́gᵋxetega Blowsnake (b. 1874)

Aksígaga Third Daughter (died in infancy)

Stella Aksígaxų́nųnįka Xehacíwįga Mountain Wolf Woman Whitepine Stacy (b. Apr 1884)

Occupation

The family led a traditional lifestyle of hunting and camping according to his son Sam Blowsnake:

My father went out hunting continually. The lodge in which we

lived was covered with rush mattings, with reed mattings spread

over the floor. After hunting for some time in one place we would

move to another. My father, mother, older sisters, and older brothers

all carried the packs. Then we would spend our time until the

spring of the year and then in the spring we would again move

in order to live near some stream where father could hunt muskrats,

mink, otter, and beaver. In the summer we always returned to Black

River Falls, Wisconsin. Here all the Indians gathered after they had

given their feasts. Then we picked berries.^[6]

In April they made maple sugar.^[7]

The Precepts of Charles Blowsnake

Charles raised his children under the Hocąk traditional culture. Jasper Blowsnake gave Paul Radin a long rendition of the teaching of his father (who was unnamed). We may now identify these precepts as being those of Charles Blowsnake. Many of them are common sense and universal, but what stands out as Hocąk is the admonition that it is not good to die in the village, but for a man the only proper death is that on the warpath. His advice to girls is to be conventionally dutiful to their parents and future husbands.^[8]

Residence

1844 — his father usually camped on the East Fork River in the Black River Falls area.^[9]

ca. 1864 — after his marriage, he typically camped along Levis Creek, also near Black River Falls.^[10]

1884 — he began the construction of a log cabin at Levis Creek which took several years to complete. That remained their residence thereafter.^[11]

1886 — Mountain Wolf Woman says,

Once when I recalled that we camped at a place where the

country was very beautiful, Mother said, "You were then about

two years old." ... That beautiful country where we were camping

was at Black River Falls at the old depot in back of what is now

G.W.'s general store. There was not a house around. We lived

there in the spring of the year and my father fished. ^[12]

Death

He died sometime between June 1910 and June 1911, at which date his wife is listed in the census as a widow.^[13]

Sources

Footnotes

1. ↑ censuses.
2. ↑ 1900 census.
3. ↑ Lurie 5.
4. ↑ Social Security.
5. ↑ Lurie.
6. ↑ CT 2.
7. ↑ Lurie 1.
8. ↑ Dieterle.
9. ↑ Lurie 1.
10. ↑ Lurie 1.
11. ↑ Lurie 1.
12. ↑ Lurie 5.
13. ↑ 1911 Indian census.

Bibliography

• 1900 Federal Census for Wittenberg, Shawano, Wisconsin; Page: 24; Enumeration District: 0175 (Wittenberg Town, Wittenberg Village); FHL microfilm: 1241817. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.
• 1905 Indian census; Roll: M595_671; Line: 5. 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.
• 1910 Indian census; Roll: M595_671; Line: 5; Agency: Wittenberg. 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.
• 1911 Indian census; Roll: M595_570; Line: 15; Agency: Tomah Indian Ind'l 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.
• Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1922; Iowa Department of Public Health; Des Moines, Iowa; Volume: 434 (Muscatine - Wright); Microfilm. Record Group 048. #12079, County of Woodbury, 14 January 1909. State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.
• Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007. For Stella Blowsnake Stacy.
• CT — Sam Blowsnake (ed. Paul Radin), Crashing Thunder. The Autobiography of an American Indian (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983 [1926]).
• Nancy O. Lurie (ed.), Mountain Wolf Woman, Sister of Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian (U. Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1961).
• Richard Dieterle, The Encyclopedia of Hocąk (Winnebago) Mythology > The Precepts of Charles Blowsnake, by Jasper Blowsnake.