Home > Exhibits > Native Healers: Susan La Flesche Picotte, MD > Family & Friends
Family was everything to Dr. Picotte. Her father insisted she receive a good education and learn white ways while preserving her knowledge and appreciation of the Umonhon (Omaha Tribe) traditions. Her eldest sister mandated that only English to be spoken in the little house she and her four sisters shared, so they were sure to learn it. Her husband supported her career and cared for the home and children, so she could care for her patients. Today, her many descendants, friends, and relatives preserve her legacy through the hospital and public health initiatives she founded and championed during her life.
Dr. Picotte's father, E-sta-mah-za “Iron Eye” (Joseph) La Flesche, was the last recognized chief of the Umonhon. His father was a French fur-trader and his mother was Omaha-Ponca. He was adopted by the Omaha chief, Big Elk, and became chief upon Big Elk’s death. He signed the last Omaha treaty that ceded land in the northern part of the reservation for the Winnebago Tribal reservation.
Dr. Picotte's mother, Hin-nu-ags-nun “The One Woman” (Mary) Gale La Flesche, was the daughter of Army physician, Dr. John Gale and his wife Nicomi, who was Omaha-Oto-Iowa. After the death of Gale, Nicomi married Peter Sarpy, a local trader. Sarpy paid for Mary’s education and she spoke both French and English.
Dr. Picotte's eldest sister, Susette “Bright Eyes” La Flesche Tibbles, served as court translator to Chief Standing Bear during his Omaha trial concerning the removal of the Ponca Tribe to Oklahoma. With her half-brother, Francis, and future husband, Thomas H. Tibbles, Susette traveled the eastern United States advocating for Native American citizenship.
Thomas H. Tibbles, an abolitionist, activist, politician, and journalist, was instrumental in bringing the plight of Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca Tribe into the public consciousness. Through covering the trial for the Omaha Daily Herald, he met interpreter Susette “Bright Eyes” La Flesche. Eventually the two married and toured the eastern U.S. and U.K. lecturing on Native American rights, lobbying for Native citizenship, and advocating for land allotments for the Omaha Tribe.
Dr. Picotte's second eldest sister, Rosalie La Flesche Farley, spent her life on the Omaha reservation, married Irish immigrant Edward Farley, and had ten children. She and her husband operated a stock feeding business on the reservation, with Rosalie keeping the books and serving as the “business head” of the operation. Their home served as a hub for the extended and ever-growing La Flesche family.
Dr. Picotte's third eldest sister, Marguerite La Flesche Picotte Diddock, joined her at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in New Jersey and the Hampton Institute in Virginia. Back home, Marguerite was a teacher and interpreter at the Omaha reservation school. She married Charles Picotte in 1888, and after his death, married Walter J. Diddock, a farmer and teacher at the reservation school.
Walter J. Diddock, a local real estate investor (standing), was the second husband of Dr. Picotte’s sister, Marguerite (middle, seated). The couple lived across the street from the Picotte home in Walthill and donated an acre of land as the site for the Walthill Hospital. Upon Dr. Picotte’s death, it was Walter Diddock who provided the biographical information for her death certificate.
Dr. Picotte's half-brother, Francis La Flesche, was the eldest son of Joseph La Flesche and his second wife, Tainne (Elizabeth) Esau La Flesche. Holding two degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) from George Washington University, Francis became the first professional Native American ethnologist. He worked with the Smithsonian Institution to study the Omaha and Osage cultures, documenting traditional songs and chants.
Dr. Picotte's half-sister, Lucy La Flesche, attended the Hampton Institute with her husband, Noah, and graduated in 1886. She and Noah farmed their homestead on the reservation, where she hosted a night school for some of the young men of the Tribe. Lucy opened her home to her brother, Francis, and his partner, Alice C. Fletcher, for recording songs and chants of the Tribe for the Smithsonian Institution. Pictured here is Noah standing beside the second house he built for their family. Because Lucy’s family was of a higher status than Noah’s, he took her name upon their marriage.
Dr. Picotte's half-brother, Carey La Flesche, was the youngest of the siblings. He attended Hampton Institute but was not as scholarly as the rest of his family. He returned to the reservation, married La-da-we (Phoebe Cain), and had six children. Carey was assistant clerk at the Omaha Agency, a notary public, an assistant teacher at the government school, and served on the police force.
Dr. Picotte's husband, Henry Picotte (pictured at right, seated), was half French and half Yankton Sioux. Prior to meeting Susan (left, seated), Henry had performed in wild west and circus sideshows and as a “wild man”—half-man, half-animal creature. In 1892, he journeyed from South Dakota to help his brother Charles and Marguerite, Charles’ wife and Susan’s sister, with their farmland. There he met Susan while she was caring for Charles and his rapidly progressing tuberculosis. Susan and Henry married in 1894, and in an arrangement contrary to the time, Henry cared for the farm, home, and children while Susan traveled to care for her patients. Unfortunately, he later became an alcoholic and died of tuberculosis in 1905.
Dr. Picotte's sons, Caryl and Pierre Picotte (pictured here about 1908), were born in 1895 and 1898 respectively. Even as a new mother, Susan continued her visits to patient homes, often bringing her babies along. Caryl attended the Nebraska Military Academy, graduated from Bellevue College, served in the Army during both world wars, survived the “Bataan death march,” and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Pierre graduated from the Nebraska Military Academy and served as a Wagoner in the Army during World War I.
Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, BAE GN 4510
Alice Cunningham Fletcher was one of the first women to study the disciplines of archaeology and ethnology. In 1879, she was invited to study at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of America. In 1881, she began her studies of the western tribes with Francis La Flesche and became a tireless advocate for the Umonhon (Omaha Tribe) and of Dr. Picotte attending medical school. Through her three-decades-long partnership with the La Flesche family, Fletcher assisted in preserving many rituals, ceremonies, and cultural artifacts related to the Tribe.
Sara Thomson Kinney, president of the Connecticut Indian Association, advocated for Dr. Picotte to attend the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. A friend of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Kinney succeeded in persuading her organization to provide a scholarship for almost all of Susan’s expenses and advocated with the school to accept her as a student.
Courtesy of the John G. Neihardt Papers, Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia
John G. Neihardt, a poet, writer, and journalist, knew the La Flesche and Picotte families for over two decades. He lived one block away from Dr. Picotte's home in Bancroft, Nebraska. Susan was an admirer of Neihardt’s books on Omaha themes and his respect for the Omaha elders. She even reviewed one of his books for The New York Times.
Courtesy of History Nebraska
Harry L. Keefe was Walthill’s first attorney and a president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau. He opened his law office to Dr. Picotte and her sister Marguerite to set up a library for the community. He and his wife were lifelong friends of Dr. Picotte, sponsored an obstetrics room in the Walthill Hospital in her honor, and Harry eulogized Susan on the front page of the local newspaper.
