HO-CHUNK (WINNEBAGO) WRITER, TRADITIONALIST MOUNTAIN WOLF WOMAN DIED
Born on April 1, 1884, near Black River Falls, Wisconsin, her grandfather taught her tribal medicine. Her brother gave her as a bride to a man who kept mosquitoes off his face. Per tradition, Mountain Wolf Woman could not protest as it would embarrass her brother. She left the man after her brother’s debt was released. Her 2nd marriage was happier. She served as a midwife until the 1930s and, in the 1940s, served as Black River Falls mission health officer. During the delivery of her 3rd child, she tried peyote, medicinally, for the first time. The family became members of the Native American Church while also keeping traditional tribal spiritual practices and practicing Christianity. In 1958, she related the story of her life. Her resulting autobiography, Mountain Wolf Woman, Sister of Crashing Thunder, told of her life as a Native American woman in a time of change. She was one of the first women in her tribe to own and drive a car or travel by train. Her first plane flight came at age 74. She died in Black River Falls.
Source: “Woman, Mountain Wolf,” Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8/10/2020, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/woman-mountain-wolf Photo: Charles Van Schaick (1852-1946), 1909. Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society, WHS-9385. Source: Mountain Wolf Woman | Photograph | Wisconsin Historical Society (wisconsinhistory.org)
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