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(There is a photo of William DICK)
'LAST OF THE MOHICANS' WAS W. DICK, JUST DEAD
The last of the Mohicans - ethnologists supported his claim to that distinction - died Tuesday afternoon at the county hospital. He was William DICK, 76, a Stockbridge Indian said to be the last of his race to speak lingering, musical remnants of his native language.
The Mohican language was never written. DICK learned it from his grandmother in the village where he was born, Stockbridge, Wis., on the east shores of Lake WINNEBAGO. He had forgotten much of it a year ago when anthropologists of the University of Chicago sought his help in recording the ancient tribal tongue. He was a little dusty on the nouns and verbs, but Miss Olive EGGAN, who came to Milwaukee from the Chicago university to confer with him, went back with a portfolio bulging with more than 300 Mohican words in their various forms.
WHATS HIS REAL NAME?
DICK was the name he used in the 19 years since he came to Milwaukee county. His real name, however, was Makwa Monpuy or Maq-wau-pey. The fact that people never remembered which only confirmed his sad and often repeated comment that the Mohican tongue was forgotten by all but himself.
For several years DICK had lived with his daughter, Mrs. Lena BAUMAN, 839 W. Windlake av. He has a grandson, Elmer BAUMAN, living at 3329 N. Seventh st. On Mar. 24, 1932, he was granted a $25 a month old age pension by Judge John C. KAREL in the county court here.
DISCOVERED BY SAVANT
DICK's value to science was discovered by Prof. Franklin SPECK of the University of Pennsylvania, a student of Algonquin languages. The old man had been interested for years in tracing the history of his people from the time when it is said Mohicans in their canoes put out to greet Henry HUDSON as he entered the river that now bears his name.
In 1916 DICK, with the Rev. Charles M. KILPATRICK, who was then pastor of the Presbyterian church when DICK worshiped at Gresham, Wis., went to Stockbridge, Mass., the old home of the tribe. It was in 1821 that the Mohicans came to Wisconsin, settling first at Green Bay, Wis., later moving to the shores of Lake Winnebago.
No funeral arrangements have been made. It was decided, however, that the body will be taken back to his birthplace for burial.
(There is a photo of William Dick)
MUSICAL SPEECH CEASES TO BE LANGUAGE
Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 8. - William DICK, 76, Indian, who regarded himself "the last of the Mohicans," is dead here.
With his death, several ethnologists agreed, the musical speech of the Mohicans ceased to be a living language. It was never written, except in the notes of a few scholars.
DICK learned the Mohican tongue from his mother. In later years it came haltingly to his lips because there was no one with whom he could converse.
But a year ago, when University of Chicago anthropologists sought his help in recording the ancient language, he was able to recall many of the idioms and phrases once current in the Hudson river country.
GIVES 300 WORDS
He spoke them into recording devices and to Miss Olive EGGAN, a university research worker. He gave a vocabulary of more than 300 words. There are other Mohicans, investigators said, but DICK was the last who spoke the old language of the tribe.
Prof. Franklin SPECK of the University of Pennsylvania, a student of the Algonquin languages, first discovered that DICK might serve science. The old Indian was able to give Prof. SPECK valuable historical data.
OLD HOME IN MASSACHUSETTS
The old home of the tribe was at Stockbridge, Mass. In 1821 the Mohicans came to Wisconsin, settling first at Green Bay and moving later to the east shore of Lake Winnebago.
Nineteen years ago Dick came to Milwaukee. He lived here with his daughter, Mrs. Lena BAUMAN and his grandson, Elmer BAUMAN. He died yesterday at the county hospital.
Milwaukee county two years ago granted him an old age pension at a court appearance he was obliged to give his name. In his own language, he said, it is "Makwa Monpuy."
(There are a number of drawings and a photo of William DICK)
LAST OF THE MOHICANS DIES AT MILWAUKEE
Stockbridge Indian Said To Be Last Of Race To Be Able To Use Tongue Of The Mohicans
The last of the Mohicans is dead, and whatever intimate knowledge of this Indian tribe immortalized by James Fennimore COOPER's novel remained in recent years disappeared with the passing Tuesday afternoon of William DICK, 76-year-old Stockbridge Indian, to the "happy hunting ground" of his ancestors.
DICK, whose real name was Makwa Monpuy or Maq-wau-pey, was said to be the last of his race to speak musical remnants of his native tongue. The Mohican language was never put in alphabetical form and therefore, was never written. DICK, however, learned it from his grandmother in the village of Stockbridge, Wis., where he was born. His grandfather, Abraham PYE, was one of the Stockbridge council and the papooses and the young folk in that Indian village were taught to speak in the tongue of the Mohicans.
He may have been a self-styled "Last of the Mohicans," but research Prof. Franklin SPECK of the University of Pennsylvania, a student of Algonquin languages, and the Rev. Charles M. KILPATRICK, in 1916 pastor of the Presbyterian church where DICK worshiped at Gresham, Wis. seem to corroborate his claim to that distinction.
In his declining years, DICK pondered sadly over the passing of his illustrious tribe. There was no one left with whom he could converse in the ancestral language, and for years before he died, he lived a tired, trembling old Indian in the Milwaukee county infirmary where death stilled his earthly activities.
He had forgotten much of the Mohican language, but when anthropologists from the University of Chicago sought his help in 1930 in recording his ancient tongue, Miss Olive EGAN, who came to Milwaukee from Chicago university to confer with him, went back with more than 300 Mohican words in their various forms.
"They say that I am the last of the Mohicans," he once said, "and I believe it is true. I am proud of it, very proud. Nobody knows it now, nobody except me. All the others are dead. I used to travel around to the Indian lodges, trying to find somebody else, but I'd never find anybody."
William DICK's ancestors once owned all the land between Lake Champlain and the sea, on both sides of the Hudson river. But they were conquered by the Mohawks and forced to move their council fires to Westenbuck, the modern Stockbridge, Mass., from which town the Mohicans took their name. Gradually the Stockbridges moved west, and in 1821 came to Wisconsin and settled on the east shore of Lake Winnebago.
It is there where DICK "The last of the Mohicans," was buried - his birthplace in which he spent his young days and where he loved to roam in the woods and along the Fox river, on the waters of which stream he used to paddle a flat-bottomed boat.