Chief Highknocker, whose Indian name was Hanageh, was the son of Chief Big Soldier.  He was born in 1820 in his father’s camp on the east shore of Green Lake, now known as the Inlet. He spent his boyhood in and around what became Green Lake County. In later years, because Hanageh delighted in going about in an old top hat, the people began calling him Highknocker, and thus he was known for the remainder of his life.

In the 1840’s Chief Highknocker’s father, Chief Big Soldier or Monapacataca, befriended Anson Dart, an early settler, for whom in 1847 the Village of Dartford was named. The village ultimately became the City of Green Lake. After his father’s death, and the continued encroachment of settlers on their hunting grounds, the Winnebago Tribe (Ho-Chuck Nation) moved to a reservation westward.  Highknocker and many of the tribe yearned, instead for their “home” and would visit Green Lake each summer.  They camped here and there, many of them south of Berlin near the current Mascoutin Golf Course.  As late as 1880, their camp numbered some 500 people. Many village people and summer guests looked forward to the coming of old Chief Highknocker, some of whom entertained him, as they listened to his fascinating tales of Indian lore.

Then, one hot Saturday, August 12, 1911, Chief Highknocker, age 91, walked from downtown Berlin to the Lock and Dam area intending to cross to his camp on the Fox River. Sadly, the old chief tried to swim across, but collapsed in the cold water and drowned, later to be buried in the Dartford Cemetery. A tragic end for the last Chief to rule at Green Lake.