Biography
Most of what is known about Hononegah is printed in Edson I. Carr's history of Rockton, which was published in 1898. Modern scholarship, however, has discovered more about her background, and has cast doubt on several of Carr's claims. Hononegah (from theGrand Detour, 1820-1829
Mack (1798–1850) arrived in Grand Detour fromBird's Grove, 1829-1835
Their problems did not end after their marriage. During the later part of 1829, they were forced to flee Grand Detour. They found their way to a Winnebago village at the present site ofPecatonic, 1835-1847
On July 25, 1835, William Talcott and his son Thomas visited Mack at his trading post. It was then that Mack announced his intentions to found a community on the south bluff overlooking the confluence of the Rock and Pecatonica rivers, which he wanted to call Pecatonic. The following autumn when the Talcotts returned to the area with their families, Mack had relocated at the site of his proposed community. By June 1838,Death of Hononegah
Hononegah died on September 8, 1847. In a letter to his sister Lovicy Cooper, dated October 6, 1847, Mack describes her final illness and expresses a deep and heartfelt tribute to her:"I have the melancholy duty to inform you that the death published in the paper I sent you was that of my wife. Her health had been failing for several months but was not so as to prevent her from taking the ordinary care of her family until she was attacked by what the doctor called a bilious fever but what I called a lung fever - of this she was sick eight or nine days and died. She was sensible to the last moment and took leave of her children and friends a few hours before she died.
"You say that by the notice in the paper you perceive she died a Christian. "If I know what a Christian is, she was one, not by profession but by her every act, her every deed proclaimed her a follower of Christ. In her the hungry and the naked have lost a benefactor, the sick a nurse and I have lost a friend who taught me to reverence God by doing good to his creatures.
"Her funeral proved that I am not the only sufferer by her loss. My house is large, but it was filled to overflowing by mourning friends who assembled to pay the last sad duties to her who had set them the example how to live and how to die." Years later William C. Blinn related that after Hononegah's funeral, "a little knot of neighbors were speaking of the loss. George Stevens, the postmaster, one of the parties, said most impressively, 'The best woman in Winnebago County died last night', the neighbors all nodding in agreement."
Legacy
Today, the spirits of Hononegah and Stephen Mack live on in Rockton and the surrounding communities. There is Hononegah High School, Stephen Mack Middle School, Whitman Post Elementary School, Hononegah and Macktown forest preserves, and various other parks, buildings, and businesses that use the names Macktown or Hononegah. A cheerleader from the high school is designated "Princess Hononegah" and performs a dance at most major school sporting events.Sources
*Bishop, David, ''History of the Forest Preserves of Winnebago County, Illinois''. *Carr, Edson I, ''The History of Rockton, 1820-1898'', (1898, reprinted 1980). *Clikeman-Miller, Diane J. ''The Old Settlers Remembered, A History of Phillips Cemetery, Macktown, Friends and Neighbors of Stephen Mack and Hononegah'', (2000). *Jipson, N.W., M.D. "Winnebago Villages and Chieftains of the Lower Rock River Region" ''The Wisconsin Archaeologist'' NS 2:125-139 *McAffee, Jim (ed.) ''Stephen Mack Letters'', available at the Talcott Free Library. *McMakin, Dean, ''Hononegah, A New Biography'', (2003), available at the Talcott Free Library. *Rowland, Katherine E. ''The Pioneers of Winnebago and Boone Counties, Illinois Who Came Before 1841'', (1990). *Schmaeng, Janice E. ''Stephen Mack and the Early Settlement of Macktown and Rockton'', (1974), available at the Talcott Free Library. *Waggoner, Linda M. ''"Neither White Man Nor Indian", Affidavits from the Winnebago Mixed Blood Claim Commissions Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin'', (2003). 1814 births 1847 deaths People from Rockton, Illinois Ho-Chunk people 19th-century Native Americans