Jasper Blowsnake (abt. 1869)

Ancestors

Husband of Kate W. Mą̄xíhanąžįwįga (Whitebear) Blowsnake — married 14 Jan 1909 (to before 1917) in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa, United States

Died [date unknown] in Wisconsin, United States

Jasper was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Birth

Jasper was born about 1869. He is the son of Charles Wąwąracąkega Blowsnake and Lucy Nąwazógᵋwįga Goodvillage. (Iowa Marriage)

Name

His Hocąk name was given as WauRooChawJayKah (1905 census), which is for Warujáxega, "Comes Making a Noise", or "Crashing Thunder", an attested name in the Thunderbird Clan. (Crashing Thunder) The /j/ is an attempt to render /x/, the palatal /k/. Warujáxega is from wa-, "(to) them"; rujáx, "to make a loud flash (lightning), to make the sound of thunder, to make the sound of thunder or lightning, to make the sound of lightning hitting something"; he, "to arrive"; and -ga, a definite article suffix used in personal names. So the name means more literally, "Arrives Crashing Thunder at Them".

Marriages

In 1905, he was married to Jane (b. 1880), and had a three year old daughter named "Florence". Jane either died or separated before the beginning of 1909.

His marriage to Kate Whitebear on 14 January 1909 in Iowa was this third marriage. (Iowa Marriages) In the 1910 census (and thereafter), his wife is Annie W. This is apparently the name under which Kate chose to go, the /W/ standing for "Whitebear". They had a son John (b. 13 October 1913). (1914 census)

Cultural Achievements

Jasper, in his youth, had been admitted to the Medicine Rite, all of which – the procedures, the timing, the speeches of each participant – he had committed to memory and reproduced for Radin's book. (Road)

In addition to Medicine Rite material, he contributed numerous stories found in several books and notebooks of Paul Radin (Dieterle):

| The Birth of the Twins, V2 | The Creation of Man (v. 8) | The Creation of the World (v. 12) | Death Enters the World | The Difficult Blessing (?), Earthmaker Sends Rušewe to the Twins (v. 2) | The Father of the Twins Attempts to Flee (v. 2) | The Fox-Hočąk War (v. 1) | Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches | Great Walker's Medicine (v. 2) | The Journey to Spiritland (v. 4) | The Journey to Spiritland (v. 5) | The Lost Blanket (v. 2) | Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 3) | Tobacco Origin Myth (v. 4) | The Twins Get into Hot Water (v. 2) | The Twins Visit Their Father's Village (v. 2) |

Death

He appears to have died sometime in 1915 or 1916. His brother Sam revealed that he had been murdered, but no details were given. (CT 134)

Sources

• 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.
• 1914 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.
• 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.
• CT — Sam Blowsnake (ed. Paul Radin), Crashing Thunder. The Autobiography of an American Indian (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983 [1926]).
• Paul Radin, The Road of Life and Death: A Ritual Drama of the American Indians. Bollingen Series V (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973 [1945]).
• Paul Radin, “Personal Reminiscences of a Winnebago Indian,” The Journal of American Folk-lore, 26, #102 (October-December, 1913): 293-318.
• Richard Dieterle, The Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology > Contributors.