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Winneshiek County IAGenWeb 1851 Recollections this site was last updated on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 |
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FIFTY-ONE YEARS AGO. |
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Gleaned from the Recollections of one who came here in 1851.
John W Holm, one of the old-timers, dropped into Decorah last Saturday to visit his sisters, Mrs. Wm. Glover and Mrs. John Thiligh and other relatives. It was fifty-one years ago that Mr. H. came here with his father’s family and located on the prairie north of the city, that was first called Canoe later Franklin Prairie. Looking Glass prairie was off to the north and east, but the two gradually got to be mixed on the north of one and west end of the other. Mr. Holm has been quite a roamer, and has spent quite a little time over in Wisconsin near where the Winnebago Indians were located. While there, he became quite well acquainted with the Decorah branch of the tribe. From the husband of one of Decorah’s girls he learned that the name Decorah is not a genuine Indian name, but a mixture of French and Winnebago. The story told Mr. H. is identical with that given by “White Beaver” Powell, of LaCrosse. It is, that a Frenchman named Decore,—with accent on the c that gave the terminal sound of a— came among the Winnebagos, located at Green Bay, Wisc., secured their confidence, and was permitted to marry a squaw. From this union, came the Decore family, Of the branch that Mr. Holm became acquainted with there were five, viz the daughter Mary, above referred to Jim, who was run over by a train Dave, who fell off a wagon and broke his neck, Sara and Foster, still living Sam is a big man 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 230 pounds, while Foster is only 5 feet 5 inches tall. They live in Adams County, three miles from the county seat in the township of Friendship, and they have, homesteaded, all of them. The Winneshieks are out in Black River Falls. Old Chief Winneshiek is buried on “the Underhill place” on the Bluffton road. This is now known us the Gorsuch place in the extreme northwest corner of section six in the northwest corner of Decorah Township. The spot is on top of a bluff that projects out into, and overlooks the Upper Iowa valley.
Source: Decorah Republican Aug. 14, 1902 Page 6 Col 1 |
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