
Betsy Thunder

Betsy Thunder (c. 1817 – 1912) was a medicine woman of the Ho-Chunk tribe who treated both Native Americans and whites in Wisconsin. Thunder was part of the Decorah family and born near Black River Falls. Thunder married William Thunder, a medicine man who was many years her senior. William Thunder trained her to become a medicine woman. Thunder passed down these skills to her four sons, one of which, John, also became a medicine man.
Thunder was credited with saving the life of a child of businessman and politician, Hugh Mills. Mills gave her enough lumber to build a small cabin and the people of Shamrock, Wisconsin helped her build in appreciation for her medical assistance in the town.
When the United States government forced Thunder's tribe to move from Wisconsin to Nebraska in the early 1900s, Thunder refused and stayed in Wisconsin until her death.