Agathe Day-kaw-ray

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Agathe Day-kaw-ray is listed on the 1832 census under the "half-breed" heading, although she was no more of mixed blood than the Decorah listed within the village headings.  Instead, she was listed there because she had married outside of the tribe.  Not much is known of Agathe except what is recorded in two historical sources which detail events of her life in the early 1830s.

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Agathe was born to Old Decorah's family of the lower Baraboo village.  She was likely a sibling of Spoon Decorah, although may be presumed to be of a younger age.  Around the year 1830, she had assumed her name upon her baptism by traveling missionary Samuel Mazzuchelli.  Amidst family strain following her baptism, Agathe went to live in the household of Pierre Pauquette, the agency interpreter. Mazzuchelli wrote of her in his reminisces:

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"Among the most fervent souls converted to the Faith was the daughter of the chief of the tribe; at Baptism she took the name Agatha. She was a maiden of singular modesty, always occupied with her work ; she was the best beloved child of the old chief, her father; she was first in attendance at every Religious duty, and was a model to all the maidens of the tribe."

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Around the same time, Agathe's father arranged to marry her to an officer of Fort Winnebago.  Mazzuchelli indicates that this individual was of French descent.  As happened to more than one Native woman who married a European, the officer soon deserted his post, never to return to the family he had left in the care of the Pauquette family.

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The time leading up to the census saw a continuation of difficulty for Agathe.  Juliette Kinzie records the circumstances of her child becoming ill and dying in the agency, unable to receive effective treatment during the upheaval of the Black Hawk War.

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The remainder of her life story is unknown.  Indications are that she passed away shortly after the census.  Her story illustrates the challenges of her generation as newcomers arrived in the land of her ancestors and the multi-faceted interchange which occurred as cultures converged.