Voices of Wounded Knee
Lineage Clarification: Spotted Elk (Minneconjou) • Weasel Bear • He Crow • Star Comes Out
We use primary sources (census records and probates) to clarify Spotted Elk blood descendants versus marriage ties. Please verify public claims with the Spotted Elk tióšpaye. We welcome documentation and consultation - we’ve worked with hundreds of people to keep this history accurate. Wounded Knee traumatized everyone, but erasing or obscuring the history of legitimate descendants only compounds the harm. We are committed to working in good faith with descendants to help heal what was done to us. We each carry a part of this history.
🪶 John Weasel Bear (Itunkasan Mato)
Born: 1850 · Died: 7 March 1913
Burial: Plot 11 Makasan Presbyterian Cemetery, Oglala, SD
Tribe: Oglala Sioux
(Minneconjou father, Oglala mother)
Father: Chief Spotted Elk
Brother: Richard "Dick" Spotted Elk
(rest of family in database)
Spouse:
1: Her Good Horse ? (unverified)
2: Louisa Weasel Bear (WY in 1854 – ) nee Afraid of Bull, aka Louisa He Crow, married 1898, after Wounded Knee
Children: Charles, Alfred, and Edna, Minneconjou
Stepchildrem: Jackson He Crow, Oglala
His brothers Dick Spotted Elk and She Elk Voice Walking were shirt wearers, as was his nephew Jasper Spotted Elk I, but John became a Christian through the Presbyterian church.
Claims vs. Verified Facts
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KEY POINTS (DOCUMENTED)
• Jackson He Crow (1881–) was Louisa Afraid of Bull’s son and John Weasel Bear’s step-son.
• Louisa was Oglala; both of her parents were Oglala.
• “He Crow” (killed at Wounded Knee) is identified as Oglala in the Red Cloud delegation lists to Washington, D.C.
• Jackson is recorded as “step-son” to John Weasel Bear in eight separate Indian and Federal census entries.
• John Weasel Bear’s 1917 probate lists heirs Louisa, Charles, Alfred, and Edna Red Paint—no He Crow heirs.
• Jackson does not appear in John’s probate; he is the sole heir in Louisa’s probate (1939).
• Della Mae (“Dellamae”) He Crow is the daughter of Robert He Crow and Ida (1950 U.S. census).
• The He Crow ↔ Star Comes Out connection is through Della’s marriage, not Spotted Elk blood.
Summary Statement on Misinformation
These lines trace to Louisa Afraid of Bull (Oglala) and her son Jackson He Crow (John Weasel Bear’s step-son), not to the Minneconjou line of Chief Spotted Elk.
Evidence Gap
No primary-source evidence (probates, Indian/Federal censuses, allotment/enrollment files, vital records) has been produced demonstrating Minneconjou descent.
Community Note
We have asked for documentation since the first Survivors Group meetings in Oglala and in court proceedings. Our requests have not been answered, and public claims continue, sometimes amplified through tribal government channels.
Conclusion
Therefore, Frank Star Comes Out and Mike He Crow are not direct (blood) descendants of Chief Spotted Elk.
📜 Sources:
IC-1898/1899/1900/1901/1902/1905; US-1900; US-1910; US-1950-RH; PR-6073; LABHCWB-1939; OB-RSCO)
Geneaology
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- Jackson He Crow (born 1881) was the step-son of John Weasel Bear, not his biological child.
- Louisa Afraid of Bull married John in 1898–1899, nearly a decade after Wounded Knee when Jackson was 18.
- Multiple (7) Indian and Federal census records list Jackson as “step-son” in John’s household.
- John’s probate (1917) names Louisa (wife), Charles, Alfred, Edna Red Paint as heirs; Jackson is absent.
- Louisa’s probate (1939) confirms Jackson as her biological son and sole heir.
- The He Crow line (Francis He Crow, Mike He Crow; Frank Star Comes Out via Della Mae) descends from Louisa’s Oglala line and is connected to John Weasel Bear/Spotted Elk by marriage only.
Position on other claimants
At this time, no verifiable primary-source evidence (probates, Indian/Federal censuses, allotment/enrollment files, vital records) has been presented to show that the Broken Nose or Bear Robe families are Minneconjou or direct descendants of Chief Spotted Elk.
Regarding Little Finger: although his mother married a Minneconjou man after the death of his biological father (believed to be Yanktonai), his sister’s probate indicates he was not a blood descendant of Spotted Elk and that his grandparents were unknowm (as Claudia Iron Hawk Sully had indicated at the very first Survivors meetings)
None of these names appear as leaders in the records from the Wounded Knee era. They become visible in public claims roughly fifty years later, when James Pipe On Head served as president of the Survivors Association and some related families pursued reparations. Several lines appear to have Northern Cheyenne connections.
Invitation: If any claimant can provide primary documents establishing Minneconjou descent from Spotted Elk, we will review them in good faith and update this page accordingly.
