Sioux Family Lives
Winona, Elizabeth
W
inona, was a Yankton Sioux woman. She was born around 1830 in the Dakota Territory. It is unknown who her parents are, but there are family members who reported she was the daughter of the Yankton chief, Struck by the Ree. Her baptismal records say that her parents were Mahpiyakmikma and Hotewin. Some Yankton men had multiple wives, until that practice was ended by Episcopal Missionaries, so her lineage remains unclear. She was baptized under the name “Elizabeth” right before she died of tuberculosis in May, 1879. Winona was married to William Penn Lyman, who was a non-Indian. He built the Todd-Frost trading post in the Dakota Territory in 1857. They had seven children, Max, Frank, Edward, John, Cecelia Anna, Mary and Henry. At least three of their children attended the Hampton Indian School and their son Henry even attended Yale Law School! He graduated in 1891 and worked at a law firm in New York, but two years later, he died from tuberculosis.
22
