Do-Hum-Me

Who was Do-Hum-Me?

Do-Hum-Me was the daughter of the chief of the Sac Native American tribe.

In 1843, she accompanied her father in a trip east to Princeton, New Jersey for treaty negotiations. While there, she met and fell in love with an Iowa tribe representative named Cow-Hick-Kee. They married and soon thereafter were employed by P. T. Barnum's American Museum in Manhattan, performing ceremonial Indian dances.

Do-Hum-Me was instantly very popular, but died at age 18, possibly of influenza. Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn donated a burial plot. She was buried in her wedding dress. In 2005 her monument was restored with the effort of Isaac Feliciano, whose wife Rosa perished in the 9-11 attacks at the World Trade Center.