Obit: Mike, Kate (1857 - 1937)
 

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
 

Surnames: MIKE BLACKHAWK CASLER
 

----Source: Scrapbook - Greenwood Gleaner 14 Dec. 1937

INDIAN GOLD STAR MOTHER IS CALLED
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MRS. KATE MIKE PASSES AWAY AT HOME AT DELLS DAM

Mrs. Kate Mike, a 79 year old Winnebago Indian, died Monday evening shortly after sundown at her home at Dells Dam.
Kate Blackhawk was born at Portage in 1857. She came to Clark County in 1888 and was here married to John Mike. Twelve children were born to them, three of whom survive to comfort the aged father. The sons are Peter, Jesse and Thomas, all living at home. Other members of the family are Jesse's wife, Josephine and their little daughter, Priscilla.

Mrs. Mike was the only Indian Gold Star Mother in the United States who made the trip to France as a guest of Uncle Sam. She made the trip in May, 1933, joining a party of other Gold Star Mothers in New York. She was a member of the Neillsville Women's Auxiliary. The opportunity to visit the grave of her son, Dewey, who was killed in action on Oct. 13, 1918, made her very happy. Shortly before leaving on the trip, Mrs. Mike made the following statement to a reporter of the Neillsville Press, according to a clipping taken from the publication of May 13, 1933, her daughter-in-law, Josephine Mike acting as interpreter:

"I want to kneel down on his grave and have a picture taken. It will comfort me in the few years I have left before I join my son. I made a wreath of pine boughs from the trees Dewey played beneath when he was a boy and I am going to lay it on his grave."

The funeral was held Tuesday afternoon, the tribal religious ceremonies being performed by her relatives and friends and was largely attended. Mrs F. H. Casler as a representative of the Women's Auxiliary, Herbert Brown and his son, Walter, and wife, long-time friends of the Mike family were in attendance and all were kindly received at the home.

MOTHER OF INDIAN HERO DIES AT 79

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 Mrs. Kate Mike, Neillsville, Made Trip to French Battlefields

Neillsville--Mrs. Kate Mike, 79, believed to be the only Indian gold star mother to visit the grave of a soldier son in France, died at her home in the town of Levis last night.

She will be buried tonight with the traditional rites of her tribe.

Her son, Dewey, one of the 12,000 American Indians who served with the American expeditionary forces, was killed in France during the World War.

Although unable to speak English, Mrs. Mike accompanied a group of 112 American gold star mothers to France several years ago, attracting wide attention.

She is survived by her husband, John Mike, and by a son, Jesse, who won the 1937 cranberry raking championship at Wisconsin Rapids this fall.

Obit: Mike, Jesse A. (1905 - 1966)

Obit: Mike, Paul (? - 1937)