RIP Mattie Grinnell who survived 107 winters
Today in History: Jan 6, 1975 - Mattie Grinnell of Twin Buttes, North Dakota, dies at the age of 108. She was the last full-blooded of the Mandan Nation.
A Billings Gazette newspaper article featured a photo of her in their January 7, 1973 newspaper (two years prior to hear death), saying she had passed 105 winters, then living in a cabin on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, without electricity or plumbing. She received a Civil War pension of $125 a month, from her husband was a Union Soldier. Her son, Jack, who lived with her at the age of 77, drew a $105 pension from World War I. She also had three daughters.
Her documented age was 105, and she said "I was born in an Indian village of this reservation. We lived in mound houses then, you know." She remembered that the lodges were furnished with woven mats around the fireplace, and buffalo robes.
Her father was Bad Bull, a scout for the Army. Her mother was Lead Woman. She spoke fluent Mandan and was the last known full-blood of her people. "Our boys," she said, "kept bringing home other girls -- Sioux and Gros Ventre."
She also brought someone else home: John Nagel, a German, when she was 18. She said her parents chose her husband for her, which was the way then. For the marriage, her parents were given cattle. She said that John Nagel was a good husband. He died in 1907 and she remarried.
In 1971, she won the right to his Civil War pension, "after a bit of congressional intervention." The newspaper is from The Los Angeles Times. August 16, 1971.
She died on this day, January 6, 1975. She was 108 years old.
A Billings Gazette newspaper article featured a photo of her in their January 7, 1973 newspaper (two years prior to hear death), saying she had passed 105 winters, then living in a cabin on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, without electricity or plumbing. She received a Civil War pension of $125 a month, from her husband was a Union Soldier. Her son, Jack, who lived with her at the age of 77, drew a $105 pension from World War I. She also had three daughters.
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| Very grainy photo.. but it's Mattie outside her cabin. January 7, 1973. The Billings Gazette |
Her father was Bad Bull, a scout for the Army. Her mother was Lead Woman. She spoke fluent Mandan and was the last known full-blood of her people. "Our boys," she said, "kept bringing home other girls -- Sioux and Gros Ventre."
She also brought someone else home: John Nagel, a German, when she was 18. She said her parents chose her husband for her, which was the way then. For the marriage, her parents were given cattle. She said that John Nagel was a good husband. He died in 1907 and she remarried.
In 1971, she won the right to his Civil War pension, "after a bit of congressional intervention." The newspaper is from The Los Angeles Times. August 16, 1971.
She died on this day, January 6, 1975. She was 108 years old.
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