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Contents |
Biography
Birth
Four Deer was born about 1812, which is purely speculative. In 1887, Four Deer, living in Adams County, claimed to be 90 years old (b. 1787) (Pauquette), but age exaggeration was common among frontiersmen and Indians. In testimony before the United States Senate, his son Moses gave his place of birth as being in Portage, Wisconsin. At the time this was part of Illinois Territory.
Name
His Hocąk name was Cajopka (Kinzie), "Four Deer," which is from ca, "deer"; jōp, "four"; and -ka, a definite article suffix used in personal names. His son Moses gave is name as "Four Deer Decorah," so his surname was also in use.
Residence
1832 — had a lodge at the Lake Kongonsa village occupied by himself, another man (a son ?), three women, and three children. (Kinzie Rolls)
1887 — Adams County, Wisconsin. (Pauquette)
Land
In Preston Township in Adams County, Wisconsin, Four Deer is shown on the plat map to own 88.55 acres of land in T18N R6E N½ of the NE¼ of Section 5. (Preston plat map)
Death
He passed away after 1887, since he was part of the 1887 delegation to see the governor of Wisconsin. (Spoon Decorah) He died sometime before 1905, since in the census of that year, his wife is listed as a widow.
Sources
- Winnebago Village List, by John H. Kinzie.
- Moses Pauquette, "The Wisconsin Winnebagoes," Wisconsin Historical Collections XII (1887): 399-433 (430).
- "Narrative of Spoon Decorah," Wisconsin Historical Collections, XIII (1895): 448-462 (462 nt. 4).
- Preston Township, Rocheacri PO, from Adams County 1900, Wisconsin; Published by C.M. Foote in 1900.
- 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.
- Condition of Indian Affairs in Wisconsin: Hearings before the Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, [61st congress, 2d session], on Senate resolution, Issue 263 (1910): 1163-1164.