The Spaniard Spanioraga (abt. 1762)

Descendants

The Spaniard Spanioraga is a part of Wisconsin history. Join: Wisconsin Project Discuss: Wisconsin

The Spaniard was Ho-Chunk.

The Spaniard Spanioraga is Notable.

Biography

Name

The name Spanioraga appears to have come from the Spanish Española, which, if the initial /e/ is dropped, would be expressed in Hočąk as Spaniora. The -ga is added to personal names as a definite article. His alternate name is given by George Catlin as, Span-e-o-née-kaw, which is for Spanionį́ka, from Spanio, "Spaniard"; nįk, "little"; and -ka, a definite article used in personal names. This is just a diminutive form of the name "Spaniard." How he got this name is unknown. That he is a member of the Upper Moiety can be deduced from the fact that he is holding a ball-headed war club, which belongs exclusively to that moiety.

Lineage

“Michael St. Cyr, who being duly sworn, doth depose and say. that he is about twenty eight years old, is the son of H. St. Cyr, and Keenokou who was a full blood Winnebago woman, who was the daughter of “The Spaniard,” who was one of the first chiefs of the Winnebago Nation." (Waggoner, 39a)

Sources

• 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).
• Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 52, 1841; reprint 1973.

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