Of Oglala Lakota, Osage and French heritage; born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His active childhood stopped when he was stricken with Rhumatic Fever at 9 years of age. Restricted to inside the house he learned cooking from his mother and later was the pie maker in his mother's restaurant. Had a cattle ranch given to him by his father, built a home and out buildings on it by his early twenties. He and Minnie, with hot bricks at their feet, traveled through snow to be married in Gordon, Nebraska. Their marriage certificate from the State of Nebraska states he was 23 and she was 27 on the day of their marriage, January 8, 1913. Their real ages at the time were 22 and 28. He was a World War I veteran, and nearly succumed from tainted food in France during World War I. He was a private in Btry E 83 FA 8 DIV, Artillery and was discharged in 1919. He was a horseman, loving horses and riding; but he sold his Nebraska ranch to build a home in Martin. Missing his horses he gained a fascination with the automobile, so he studied auto mechanics in Chicago and opened a car repair shop in Martin. In 1933 he moved his family to Fort Wingate, New Mexico, reservation, where he was the auto-mechanic foreman. Then he moved to Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana where he worked as their auto-mechanic foreman. Having divorced Minnie earlier, c. 1933, he married Harriet, "Addy", a mixed breed Native, at Belknap. He ended his career in Oregon with the Government Service in auto-mechanics at an Indian Agency near Klamath. He dearly loved his only child, Dorothy, and his only grandchildren, two girls. He personally shopped and mailed cards and gifts to his grand daughters for every major holiday, and birthdays, and flying from Portland to Seattle and Lafayette, California to visit, for high school graduation in 1957 and wedding in 1960. He became fatally ill in 1963, and was buried as a veteran in the Willamette National Cemetery. His second wife, Addy, was later buried beside him. His first wife, Minnie was buried in Martin, SD.
Of Oglala Lakota, Osage and French heritage; born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His active childhood stopped when he was stricken with Rhumatic Fever at 9 years of age. Restricted to inside the house he learned cooking from his mother and later was the pie maker in his mother's restaurant. Had a cattle ranch given to him by his father, built a home and out buildings on it by his early twenties. He and Minnie, with hot bricks at their feet, traveled through snow to be married in Gordon, Nebraska. Their marriage certificate from the State of Nebraska states he was 23 and she was 27 on the day of their marriage, January 8, 1913. Their real ages at the time were 22 and 28. He was a World War I veteran, and nearly succumed from tainted food in France during World War I. He was a private in Btry E 83 FA 8 DIV, Artillery and was discharged in 1919. He was a horseman, loving horses and riding; but he sold his Nebraska ranch to build a home in Martin. Missing his horses he gained a fascination with the automobile, so he studied auto mechanics in Chicago and opened a car repair shop in Martin. In 1933 he moved his family to Fort Wingate, New Mexico, reservation, where he was the auto-mechanic foreman. Then he moved to Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana where he worked as their auto-mechanic foreman. Having divorced Minnie earlier, c. 1933, he married Harriet, "Addy", a mixed breed Native, at Belknap. He ended his career in Oregon with the Government Service in auto-mechanics at an Indian Agency near Klamath. He dearly loved his only child, Dorothy, and his only grandchildren, two girls. He personally shopped and mailed cards and gifts to his grand daughters for every major holiday, and birthdays, and flying from Portland to Seattle and Lafayette, California to visit, for high school graduation in 1957 and wedding in 1960. He became fatally ill in 1963, and was buried as a veteran in the Willamette National Cemetery. His second wife, Addy, was later buried beside him. His first wife, Minnie was buried in Martin, SD.
