Josette (Hąheorajewįga) Grignon

Josette was Ho-Chunk.

Biography

Name

Several affiants testified that Amable Grignon's mother was a Winnebago woman named Haun-hay-omaw-che-wink-kaw. (Waggoner, 41-42) This is a slightly corrupted form of the attested Bear Clan name, Hąheorajewįga, "Travels by Night," a reference to the bear's nocturnal habits. (Dorsey) It derives from hąhe, "night"; horajé, "to travel about"; -wį-, a feminine gender infix; and -ga, a definite article used for personal names. (Dorsey)

Lineage

"That this affiant [Francis Roy] also knows that an infant Boy by the name of Amble Grignon who lives & is taken care of by Mrs. Mary Bellair at her home near the Portage; that this youth Amable Grignon is the son of a Winnebago Squa by the name of Haun, ha, omaw, che, wink, kaw, alias Jsotte [Josette] who this affiant knows to be a full blooded Winnebago, that the Father of said youth Amable Grignon was Paul Grignon now dead who was the Brother of Mrs. Mary Bellair & was of the half Blood of the Winnebago Nation known to this affiant. That this affiant there for says that Mrs. Mary Bellair Sr. is of the Half Blood; that her daughter Mary Bellair is of the quarter Blood; and that the youth Amable Grignon the nephew of the aford Mary Bellair is three fourths ofthe Wimebago Blood.” (Waggoner, 41b)

Death

She passed away after 1838, at which date she was said to be "still living." (Waggoner, 42a)

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).
• Rev. James Owen Dorsey, "Winnebago Gentes, including Personal Names Belonging to each Gens" (National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution: T.D., 1878-79?), cat. #4800 Dorsey Papers, Winnebago (319).