Betsy Thunder

[1][2] Betsy Thunder achieved her late husband's wishes of passing on the tradition and practices of medicine to her children and grandchildren.

[2] The Mills family continued to show their gratitude for Betsy Thunder's work, so much so that when John Mills grew up to be a successful banker, he built a room in his house for Betsy Thunder to use when she visited the city and he went on to invite her to special family events such as dinners and weddings.

[1][6] An oil painting honoring Betsy Thunder was added to the Black River Memorial Hospital art collection in recognition of her respected position as medicine woman.

[1][7] However, Betsy Thunder refused and instead remained in her ancestral land in the mountains at Jackson County for the years leading up to her death in nineteen thirteen.

[2] Betsy Thunder was a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe which originally resided in Fox River Valley in Aurora, Illinois.

[7] The Ho- Chunks first encounter with European settlers was when they met Jean Nicolet, a French explorer, in sixteen thirty-four.

Ho-poe-kaw resisted such losses and continued to reside in her homelands, and like many others at the time, married a French fur trader with whom she had several children.

[7] Betsy Thunder, like others in the Decorah lineage, gained the respect of her people through her practices as a medicine woman, and resided in her ancestral land until the time of her death.