John C. Decorah (abt. 1883 - 1960)

Died 4 Jul 1960 at about age 77 in Wisconsin, United States

John was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Birth

John was born in 1883. (1940 census)

Marriages

His wife was Lucy C. White. However, their relationship appears to have been rather informal. In 1901, John had an affair with Lena Johnson who was 18 at the time. (1903 census) She bore his son Jim, but appears to have died in 1904 where the census of that year lists Jim Decorah as an orphan. Jim was raised by John's mother. In censuses of the early 1920s, John's first wife is called "Lucy C. Hindsley", but just below the entry it reads, "(Mrs. John C. Decorah)". It seems that simultaneously her husband was also Henry Hindsley (b. 1885), as she lived with him or at least next door to him. (1917 census) Henry and Isabel are present in the 1917 census, but are absent in the 1919 census, where Lucy is now found to be the co-wife of Annie White Eagle (b. 1879) with Charles Hindsley (b. 1885). Charles died in 1931. By 1940 she had reunited with John C. Decorah. (1940 Fed. census)

Death

He passed away in 1960. (Death Index)

Sources

• 1903 Indian census; Roll: M595_313; Page: 21; Line: 2; Agency: Omaha & Winnebago. 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.
• 1904 Indian census; Roll: M595_663; Line: 2; Agency: Winnebago. 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.
• 1917 Indian census; Roll: M595_168; Page: 32; Line: 13; 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.
• Iowa Department of Public Health; Des Moines, Iowa; Series Title: Iowa Marriage Records, 1923–1937; Record Type: Marriage. Volume: 7 (Scott County Thru Worth County). :Iowa Department of Public Health. Iowa Marriage Records, 1880–1951. Textual Records. State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa Department of Public Health. Iowa Marriage Records, 1923–37. Microfilm. Record Group 048. State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.
• 1940 Federal census for Wittenberg, Shawano, Wisconsin; Description: WITTENBERG TOWN OUTSIDE WITTENBERG VILLAGE, OLD PEOPLE’S HOME; Roll: m-t0627-04525; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 58-40. 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.
• Wisconsin Vital Records Office. Wisconsin Death Index, 1959-67, 1969-97. Madison, Wisconsin, USA: Wisconsin Department of Health.