Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022
Mary Hapstiŋna Otherday was born on July 8, 1880, near the Minnesota River bottoms east of downtown Shakopee. Her parents were James Mom Anpetutokica Otherday (ca. 1849-1930) and Hapstiŋna Black Flute Lucy Otherday (ca. 1832-1920).
Mary grew up on the north side of the Minnesota River. She was a Mdewakanton Dakota Indian.
A postcard shows the “Sioux Reservation” in Shakopee, but the 18 acres, located on the north side of the river, was actually purchased by Oyatekokepa Jacob Otherday in 1871. The land was directly across the Minnesota River from Tínṫa Otuŋwe, often called the Village of Six’s.
The 1875 census shows 15 people, ages from seven to 65, with surnames of Otherday, Tokudo or Tahkudo, Bonska, Simis, and Bluestone. In 1900, the colony consisted of about 15 residents, living in three dwellings. The surnames include Otherday, La Framboise, Ortley, Bluestone, Shoto (or Choteau), Campbell, Cloud, Jackson, Tahkudo, and Baska. All were probably related.
Mary grew up near Shakopee. Her sister, Minnie Josephine, along with her brother Charles, spoke Dakota and English.
When she was 28, Mary married Ocankutopana George Chantu Mato Crazy Bear Cantu on October 8, 1908, in Shakopee. The two of them moved to the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, the homeland of the federally recognized Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, a branch of the Santee Dakota group of Native Americans. Mary and Charles had eight children.
Mary spent her years in South Dakota until she was one hundred years old. It was 1980, and Mary decided she wanted to return to Shakopee. She had lived in South Dakota since her marriage, but she decided to return for her 100-year birthday celebration, according to an article in the Shakopee Valley News, July 9, 1980, by Claire Robling.
Mary remembered that her life probably lacked all the luxuries of others, but she enjoyed her simple life. Mary had few belongings now and was staying at a nursing home in Sisseton. Many of her things, including some clothes, photographs, and moments from her early life, had not been located, according to her niece, Elizabeth Vig, who brought Mary back to Shakopee, in the article, “Indian woman born, raised in area returns to celebrate 100th birthday.”
Mary sat quiet at her niece’s home. She could still walk around but her pace was slow and unsteady. She could still use her hands and read, but her eyes were growing weaker, according to Robling’s article. Mary was not senile, but “her world is filled with yesterday’s descending, enveloping silence.”
Her world was filled with yesterday’s captured moments, frozen in time. She remembered faces and events, according to Elizabeth, but was having a harder time hearing. Elizabeth had to speak loudly and directly in Mary’s ear. She responded best when she was spoken to in the Dakota language. This was the language of her youth in Shakopee in the 1880s.
On July 12, 1980, a celebration of Mary’s 100-year anniversary, with relatives and friends from far and wide arrived for the birthday celebration for the century-old woman. “I wanted to have something special for her. There are very few people who reach 100 and could enjoy a party, but I think Mary will,” said Elizabeth. “I think she will remember the people who are coming, even if she doesn’t say much.” Though she did not have much to say, her mind was full of a century of history to tell.
Ocankutopana George Chantu Mato Crazy Bear Cantu, who had been born in 1877, died on March 3, 1926.
Mary Hapstiŋna Otherday Cantu, at age 102, died in September of 1982 in Sisseton, South Dakota. Her relatives from South Dakota and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake still remember the life she lived.
Bibliography
Robling, Claire. “Indian woman born, raised in area returns to celebrate 100th birthday.” Shakopee Valley News, 9 July 1980.