Kenoko (Ho-Chunk) Whirling Thunder (abt. 1796)

Descendants

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Kenoko was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Name

Inasmuch as all personal names end in -ka or -ga, the name Kenoko should be minimally revised as Kenoka. The nearest attested name to this is Kenáx-ka, kenáx meaning "Mud Turtle." (Foster, v. 1) The god of war is often referred to as "Mud Turtle," so the name might appear in any clan. Humorously enough, the word kenąx is said in the Zepsicon (207, s.v.) to mean, "smelly, snapper-like turtle."

Lineage

“His daughter married John Dougherty an Indian trader. Dougherty’s affidavit made in 1836 stated that she was the daughter of a Winnebago woman named Kenoko and the granddaughter of a Winnebago chieftain known in Washington as the Winnebago General.” (Jipson, 236)

“Dougherty, who being duly sworn according to Law doth depose and say, that in the year 1831, he was married to Mary, a half blood Winnebago, who was the daughter of Kenoko, who was a full blooded Winnebago woman, and sister to the principle Chief — his said wife Mary being the Grand daughter of Mo-na-ka, who is known at Washington as the 'Winnebago General'.” (Waggoner, 18a)

Sources

• Thomas Foster, Foster's Indian Record and Historical Data (Washington, D. C.: 1876-1877).
• Valdis J. Zeps, Zepisicon (Winnebago Lexicon), Unpublished MS, Baltic Studies Center, University of Wisconsin, 1996.
• Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923). This is an unpublished typescript.
• Linda M. Waggoner (ed.), “Neither White Men Nor Indians: Affidavits from the Winnebago Mixed-blood Claim Commissions, Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, 1838-1839” (Roseville, Minnesota: Park Genealogical Books, 2002). Extracted from Territorial Papers of the United States, Wisconsin, 1836-1848. M236. “Special Files of the Office of Indian Affairs,” 1836-46. “Special File 161” (Roll 41). “Special File 190” (Roll 42). National Archives, Washington D.C., Documents on Microfilm, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 75).

Acknowledgements

Thank you Richard Dieterle for the research into and creation of this profile. See his contributions to this profile.