Julia Hokeweguwįga Lowery (abt. 1858)

Born about 1858 in Long Prairie Township, Todd, Minnesota Territory, United States

Descendants

Julia was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Name

The name Ho-ke-wi-goo-win-ga is for Hokeweguwįga, from hokewe, "to go inside (a place), to enter"; gu, "to come back"; -wį-, an infix indicating a female; and -ga, a definite article suffix used in personal names — "Returns to Enter." This name is unattested, so it is not known to which clan it belongs. In the 1900 census (#33), she is referred to only as "Mrs. Frank Lamere," implying that she had a Winnebago name that was difficult to render.

Her father adopted the Anglo name "David Lowery" to honor a notable churchman at the reservation. She appears in the 1920 federal census as "julia." The death certificate of her son John LaMere says that his mother was Julia Lowery.

Life

The 1900 census says that she was born in Minnesota, where the tribe was from 1855 to 1863. “[Oliver LaMere] had three sons, Moses, Joseph and Frank, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth was the mother of Angel Decora. Frank Lamere went to Nebraska with the tribe. He had five sons, Oliver, Joseph, Charles, John and Peter.” (Jipson, 256-257)

Frank Lamere married Ho-ke-wi-goo-win-ga, daughter of David Lowery, an Indian named after the noted teacher. (Jipson, 257) In the 1910 census (#304), her son Oliver states that she was born in Wisconsin. In all the other censuses, Oliver LaMere states that his mother was born in Minnesota, where the tribe was situated until 1863. She was 42 in 1900, implying that she was born in 1858 (the year recorded for her). Other censuses put her birth date as 1861.

Sources

• Norton William Jipson, Story of the Winnebagoes (Chicago: The Chicago Historical Society, 1923). This is an unpublished typescript.
• 1900 Federal Census for Winnebago, Thurston, Nebraska; Page: 20; Enumeration District: 0187; Description: Winnebago Precinct; FHL microfilm: 1240941. 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.
• 1910 Federal Census Place: Winnebago, Thurston, Nebraska; Roll: T624_857; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0207; FHL microfilm: 1374870. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• 1920 Federal Census, Winnebago, Thurston County, Nebraska, District 0217, Dwellng #103.
• Standard Certificate of Death for John LaMere, Woolbury County, Iowa, 097-3031, 5/15/1923.

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