This text shou

She Elk Voice Walking

Lakota patriarch · Minneconjou treaty signer · Ancestor 

Lakota name: Ųpȟáŋ e Tȟáŋi Máni


Common English renderings: She Elk Voice Walking, Elk-that-Whistles-Walking, Elk Voice Walking
Band: Minneconjou Lakota

Kinship: Uncle of Jasper Spotted Elk; related to Lone Horn and Spotted (Female) Elk – Ųpȟáŋ Glešká
Era & place: Fort Laramie/Treaty period, northern Plains
 

Why he matters
 

She Elk Voice Walking stands in the line of Minneconjou leadership that defended Lakota sovereignty, language, and lifeways. His name carries elk medicine - voice, endurance, grace  -  and his presence in treaty records anchors our family’s documented history.
 

Treaty role

In 1868, the United States signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie with several Lakota bands, including the Minneconjou. On the Minneconjou list he appears in clerk phonetics as “Opan e tanni/tanne mani” alongside Lone Horn and Spotted Elk as headmen.
 

Lineage & responsibility
 

She Elk Voice Walking is a direct ancestor in the Spotted Elk Tióšpaye. The leadership he embodied, grounded in community knowledge and sacred duty, passes forward through our grandparents and into our work today.
 

About the name

Because English clerks struggled with Lakota sounds, his name appears in several forms in period documents:
 

Ųpȟáŋ e Tȟáŋi Máni (standardized Lakota)

Opan e tanne/tanni mani (treaty phonetics)

She Elk Voice Walking · Elk-that-Whistles-Walking · Elk Voice · Whistling Elk · Elk that bugles, · Bugling Elk · Elk that Holloes Walking ·  Elk that Hollars Walking 
Later, his name would be shortened to Elk Voice Walking ·  Ealk Voice ·  Voice (English renderings)
 

Note: Some writers once assumed the name implied a woman. He was a Lakota man; the name reflects female-elk medicine, not gender identity.
 

Evidence at a glance

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)  -  Minneconjou signers list shows “Opan e tanni/tanne mani.”

Fort Laramie photograph  -  pictured with Lone Horn and other leaders.

Winter counts & agency references -  multiple mentions under English renderings above.
 

Family note

She Elk Voice Walking was  either Jasper  Spotted Elk’s uncle, possibly great uncle.   Together with Lone Horn and Ųpȟáŋ Glešká (Spotted [Female] Elk), he anchors our Minneconjou line in both oral history and the documentary record.

See Hiistorical Documents further down this page

View the Treaties or go  Back to Seven Generations 
 

ld be replaced with information about you and your business

Blog Posts Related to She Elk Voice Walking

Descendants and Geneaology