A Miami Woman's Life

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

A MIAMI WOMAN’S LIFE WHILE THE LIFE OF FRANCES SLOCUM, THE “WHITE ROSE OF THE MIAMI,” IS WELL KNOWN, THAT OF HER DAUGHTER OZAHSHINQUAH OR JANE BONDY REMAINS OBSCURE. ACTUALLY, MORE IS KNOWN OF THE DAUGHTER THAN OF THE FAMOUS CAPTIVE MOTHER, BUT UP TO THE PRESENT THE ROMANTIC STORY OF FRANCES SLOCUM HAS OVERSHADOWED THE LESS ROMANTIC, BUT EQUALLY FASCINATING, STORY OF THE DAUGHTER. Two recent discoveries have renewed Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1778 when interest in Jane Bondy, or Ozah- she was almost five years old. In 1837 her shinquah, as she is still known to brothers and a sister learned she was living the Indiana Miami. Early in 1991 among the Miami. Shapoconah, known as Ozahshinquah’s gravestone was rediscov “Deaf Man” to whites, had a small Milage on ered in a family garden plot in Wabash the Mississinewa on the site of the later re County. A standard headstone of the 1870s, serve. He and Frances Slocum had four chil it had disappeared from the Slocum or dren in all. Two boys died as infants, while Bundy clan cemetery when the graves were two daughters lived to maturity. The older relocated to make way for the Mississinewa daughter, Kekenakushwa or “Cut Finger,” reservoir in the mid-1960s. The second dis married J. B. Brouillette. They had no chil covery occurred in the summer of 1991 dren and Kekenakushwa died a few days when an old abstract of the land patent to after her famous mother in 1847. Ozahshin Ozahshinquah turned up at a rummage quah, on the other hand, married five times, sale in Kokomo. The patent, or govern had twelve children, and lived until 1877. ment land grant, assigned 640 acres to As the daughter of a chief, Ozahshinquah Ozahshinquah under terms of the Miami grew to maturity in comparative affluence treaty of 1838. Dated 26 September 1849, as an Indian. Born just before the War the original patent was signed by President of 1812, she also experienced much of the Zachary Taylor. Designated “Ozahshinquah turmoil that occurred in the period be Reserve No. 25,” the land was located south tween the war and Miami removal from of a curve in the Mississinewa River strad Indiana in 1846. During these years, dling the boundary of Miami and Wabash Indiana achieved statehood (1816) and set counties. tlers began arriving in large numbers. The Born about 1810, Ozahshinquah (“Yellow Miami people were stressed by the rapid Leaf”) was the daughter of Miami Chief changes that followed. Beginning in 1818 Miami Indian.. Shapoconahr and Frances the Miami tribe relinquished most of the W om an by Slocum. Delaware Indians tribal estate in northern Indiana through a George winter. had captured Slocum at series of treaties. Traders encouraged tribes- STEWART RAFERT Spring 19 9 2 5.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Indiana – Land of the Indians
Indiana – Land of the Indians Key Objectives State Parks and Reservoirs Featured In this unit students will learn about American Indian tribes ■ Pokagon State Park stateparks.IN.gov/2973.htm in early Indiana and explore the causes of removal of three ■ Tippecanoe River State Park stateparks.IN.gov/2965.htm American Indian groups from Indiana, their resettlement ■ Prophetstown State Park stateparks.IN.gov/2971.htm during the 1830s, and what life is like today for these tribes. ■ Mississinewa Lake stateparks.IN.gov/2955.htm Activity: Standards: Benchmarks: Assessment Tasks: Key Concepts: Indiana Indian tribes Identify and describe historic Native American Indian removal groups who lived in Indiana before the time Be able to name the various American Home and Indiana rivers SS.4.1.2 of early European exploration, including ways Indian tribes who called Indiana home Language “Home” and what that the groups adapted to and interacted with and where in the state they lived. it means the physical environment. Indiana Indians today Explain the importance of major transporta- Identify important rivers in Indiana tion routes, including rivers, in the exploration, SS.4.3.9 and explain their value to people and settlement and growth of Indiana, and in the parks across time. state’s location as a crossroad of America. Understand that the way we write and Consult reference materials, both print and pronounce Indian words is different ELA.4.RV.2.5 digital, to find the pronunciation and clarify than how they may have originally been the precise meanings of words and phrases. spoken. Be able to describe the reasons why the American Indians were removed Identify and explain the causes of the removal and where they ended up settling, and Disruption SS.4.1.5 of Native American Indian groups in the state understand the lifeways and landscape of Tribal Life and their resettlement during the 1830s.
[Show full text]
History on the Mississinewa by Ross F
History on the Mississinewa By Ross F. LOCKRIDGE The beautiful Mississinewa is an historic Hoosier stream quite as distinctively as is the Hoosier Wabash. It is one of the principal tributaries of the Wabash and has its source not far from where the Wabash begins a short distance beyond the eastern boundary of central Indiana. It is a scenic river. Nearly every mile of its course is made beautiful by winding curves, rippling rapids, craggy banks or short and pleasing straightaways, flanked by level and fertile bottomlands. No other stream in Indiana, and possibl? none in the rest of America, offers a more unique combination of scenic beauty and historic interest. It is a vital and unchanged monument of a great and simple people. Along its shores a strong unit of a mighty race saw the summit of their power and there came their final passing as a race, all within the course of three-quarters of a century. The name is delightfully significant. In the graphic Miami language, Mississinewa means falling waters. Its very syllables, Mis-sis-sin-e-wa, are sibilant with the sound of fall- ing or rushing waters as pronounced in the soft, guttural ac- cents of the Miamis. The reason for this musical name is ob- vious. There is scarcely a mile of the river’s course without swift narrows or shallow rapids where rushing or falling waters give the sound suggested by the syllables of the name Mis-sis-sin-e-wa. Something of a peculiar sentiment forever attaching to this scenic river was expressed by James Whitcomb Riley touch- ing the little town of Somerset and its picturesque setting among the Hills of the Mississinewa midway between Marion and Peru : Clean fergot is time, and care, And thick hearin’, and gray hair- But they’s nothin’ I ferget ’Mongst the Hills 0’ Somerset! The stream joins the Wabash in the heart of the county named for its great people-Miami-near the county seat, Peru.
[Show full text]
The Lost Sister Among the Miamis
flUROIS HISTORICAL SURVEY *-A Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/lostsisteramongmOOwing FRANCES SLOCUM Ma-con-a-quah The White Rose of the Miami's' THE LOST SISTER AMONG THE MIAMIS BY OTHO WINGER Author of The Last of the Miamis, etc. THE ELGIN PRESS ELGIN, ILL. 1936 Copyright 1936 by OTHO WINGER North Manchester, Indiana Printed in the United States of America By The Elgin Press, Elgin, Illinois TO MY GRANDDAUGHTERS VIVIAN AND REVA Who have often gone with me to the grave of the Lost Sister and have listened with great interest to the remarkable story of her life . fUU 0.0717 CONTENTS I. A Child Stolen by the Indians 9 II. The Long Search for the Lost Sister . 15 III. A Strange Story From the Far West . 23 IV. Finding the Lost Sister 31 V. The Slocum Sisters Visit Their Indian Cousins 43 VI. Sad Days for Frances Slocum 57 VII. George Slocum Comes to Help His Aunt 71 VIII. Aunt Frances Tells the Story of Her Life 79 IX. They Raise the White Flag for Fran- ces Slocum 107 X. Among the Miamis 119 ILLUSTRATIONS Frances Slocum 2 The Grave of the Lost Sister 5 The Mother's Last View of Little Frances . 10 Ma-con-a-quah Tells Mr. Ewing Who She Is 24 Finding the Lost Sister 32 The Slocum Sisters Visit Their Aunt and Indian Cousins 44 The Exile of Frances Slocum's Miami Friends 58 The Deaf Man's Village 72 The Course of Frances' Wanderings 80 They Raise the White Flag for Frances Slocum 106 The Frances Slocum Trail 118 Land Cessions by the Miamis 120 Little Turtle 128 William Wells 130 John B.
[Show full text]
The Story of My Encounters with the Historical Giants of Miami County, Indiana a Creative Project
-. The Story of My Encounters with the Historical Giants of Miami County, Indiana A Creative Project (HONRS 499) by Holly A. Bakehorn Thesis Advisor: Dr. Daryl B. Adrian Ball State University Muncie, Indiana April 1998 Expected Date of Graduation: May 1998 Purpose of Creative Project The purpose of my creative project evolves from my work as an intern at The Miami County Museum in Peru, Indiana. I was selected to write, edit, and produce five videos to be played alongside their coordinating permanent displays. The video scripts were limited to local subjects: the circus, the 1913 flood, the railroad, the Miami Indians (specifically Little Turtle and Frances Slocum), and Cole Porter. Each one gives a short history and their importance to the community. These videos will be used to educate Peru and its visitors about Miami County's rich historical heritage. - -. The Story of My Encounters with the Historical Giants of Miami County, Indiana In the summer of 1997, I accepted an internship at the Miami County Museum in Peru, IN. My assignment was to create, write, edit, and produce scripts for a series of five historical videos. I would be doing all the research and writing, plus choosing all the footage, photos and background music, while a professional person would be hired to do the actual filming. The museum has approximately a hundred visitors a week, and it was hoped that the new videos would help to increase this number. These videos were also important for the museum to update their displays and would considerably help the Miami County Museum compete with the technology of museums around the state.
[Show full text]
Sketch of Frances Slocum HE Story of Frances Slocum, the “White Rose of the Mi
TI8 The Indiana Magazine of History main log, by a distance of a few rods. In addition to these structures, were a tall corn crib and stable, all of which, unitedly, constituted the famous ‘ ‘Deaf Man’s Village”-the home of Mon- o-con-a-qua, the “Lost Sister,” Frances Slocum. “She-buck-o- nah” was the name of the deaf chief, the second husband of the heroine of whom we have written so long an epistle. Hoping it may not be considered obtrusion upon your active engagements, I remain yours very truly, GEORGEWINTER. Sketch of Frances Slocum HE story of Frances Slocum, the “White Rose of the Mi- Tamis, 9 as some one has poetically styled her, has been often told, but in connection with the preceding description of her by George Winter, the romantic and curious incidents of her career will bear repeating here. Frances Slocum has now been dead some fifty-eight years. Born to the white man’s heritage she began life under the loving care of white parents. She ended it a squaw among the Miami Indians, a thousand miles from her birth-place, the wealthy widow of a chief and alienated utterly from her own race, from whom she had been separated more than sixty-eight years. The account of this transformed life is one of the most remarkable to he found in all our Indian annals. The Slocums were Quakers who came from Rhde Island to the Wyoming valley, in eastern Pennsylvania, when Frances was four years old, and settled where the city of Wilkesbarre now stands.
[Show full text]
THE MIAMI INDIANS a Research Aid & Selected Bibliography
THE MIAMI INDIANS A Research Aid & Selected Bibliography A likeness of the famous Chief Little Turtle (Me-she-kin-no-qhah) made from a cut out modeled after an 18th century painting. HIS SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY was developed to help the student and scholar Tfi nd resources in the Miami University Libraries related to the Miami Indians. This is not intended as a comprehensive nor exhaustive list, but to serve as an aide as you begin your research. The authors represented here often have other publications that you will also fi nd valuable. Additional resources, websites of possible interest, and some suggestions for help in fi nding materials are also included. Many of the illustrations are of Miami chiefs as portrayed by J. O. Lewis in The Aboriginal Portfolio (1836). A sample of Miami ribbonwork appears Table of Contents throughout the guide, and the original is on display The Miami Indians 1 at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Guide to Finding Resources 1 Western Art in Indianapolis, IN, and is used with their permission. The images of the seal and the Sample Subject Headings 2 crane are being used here with the kind permission Selected Bibliography 3 of the Miami Nation. Call Number & Location Designations 3 Subject Listing of Titles 12 Please consult the Library’s online catalog (http:// www.lib.muohio.edu), the webpages for the Websites of Possible Interest 15 Miami Nation (http://www.miamination.com), the Additional Resources 16 Myaamia Project (http://www.myaamiaproject. Contact Information 16 org), and NAWPA (http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/ nawpa), in addition to the sites listed in this resource.
[Show full text]
Indians and a Changing Frontier: the Art of George Winter. Cata
SINISQUA AND HERCHILDREN Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Lafayette, Indiana. Gift of Mrs. Cable G. Ball. Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter. Cata- log of the George Winter Collection located at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Lafayette, Indiana. Compiled by Sarah E. Cooke and Rachel B. Ramadhyani. Essays by Chris- tian F. Feest and R. David Edmunds. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, in cooperation with the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, 1993. Pp. [xiii], 269. Illustrations, notes, index. $49.95.) George Winter (1809-18761, an English-born artist of modest talent, is remembered primarily for his drawings of Potawatomi and Miami Indians. While living for a time in Ohio, Winter learned of the pending removal by the federal government of the Potawato- mi to lands west of the Mississippi. Impulsively, he rushed to Indi- ana in time to record one of the saddest moments in Potawatomi history. Winter came to Indiana thinking he would linger a few months and remained, instead, for the rest of his life. He died in Lafayette in 1876. Winter worked in pencil, oil, and watercolor. He tried his hand at portraiture, landscape, and still life. As an artist he Book Reviews 299 enjoyed little financial success and, during his lifetime, even less public acclaim. He merits recognition today for his accurate depic- tion of the Potawatomi and Miami Indians at a critical moment in their history. Winter filled several sketchbooks with eyewitness drawings of these Native Americans in a transitional state between their traditional life ways and their acculturation to the dominant society. He sketched women and children as well as prominent leaders.
[Show full text]
Frances Slocum
Frances Slocum Historical Significance: Related Vocabulary: 1773-1847 Students will become familiar with Native American the story of a local white girl of abducted Quaker faith who was abducted by Indians at age five and reunited Miami HISTORICAL ERA: AMERICAN COLONIAL with her family nearly sixty years Lenape later. In November 1778, just a little over three months after the Battle of Wyoming (July, his bride to his village on the Mississinewa River. They had four children, two sons and 1778), a raiding party of Delaware Indians two daughters. (called Lenape) came back into the valley. They were looking for a replacement Portrait of Frances Slocum, aged 67 years As she grew up with her Indian family, she forgot many of the English words she knew as child; that is, a child from a white well as her the name of her hometown of Wilkes-Barre. Nonetheless, Frances was quite family would be taken replace Native American child who had died due to disease happy with her life. In 1833, her husband died. Frances would live for another fourteen accident, war. When the Indians came upon the Slocum cabin (at the present day years. Near the end of her life, a friend of hers, Col. Ewing, visited her. While they site of Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre) they saw two boys outside sharpening a conversed, she told Ewing a secret that not many knew—she was not Indian but White. knife on a grinding stone. One of the boys, Nathan Kingsley, was shot. His brother, As her story unfolded, Col.
[Show full text]
Frances Slocum Go to Master History of Quakerism
GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM RED-HEADED QUAKER GIRL KIDNAPPED BY INDIANS (FRANCES MACONAQUAH SLOCUM) “I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation. Between us and everybody else on this planet.” — Ouisa, in John Guare’s “SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION” HDT WHAT? INDEX MACONAQUAH FRANCES SLOCUM GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM 1757 February 23, Wednesday: According to the Warwick, Rhode Island record: “These lines may certifie all persons that Jonathan Slocum and Ruth Tripp both of the town of Portsmouth [perhaps residents on Patience, or Prudence, Island in Narragansett Bay], in the County of Newport were lawfully married in Warwick on the 23rd day of Febry in the year 1757.” FRANCES MACONAQUAH SLOCUM SLOCUM FAMILY TRIPP FAMILY 2 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX FRANCES SLOCUM MACONAQUAH GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM 1773 A white infant christened Frances Slocum, to be known for most of her life as Little Bear Woman or Maconaquah, was born during this year to a Quaker family from Portsmouth, Rhode Island that had relocated to the Wyoming district near the Wilkes-Barre fort in Pennsylvania. FRANCES MACONAQUAH SLOCUM SLOCUM FAMILY TRIPP FAMILY The mother, Friend Ruth Tripp Slocum, had been born on March 21, 1736, daughter of Isaac Tripp and Susanna Spencer(?) Tripp of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The father, Friend Jonathan Slocum, was in the 5th generation after Giles Slocum, 1st of the Slocum line of Rhode Island. According to the Warwick RI record: “These
[Show full text]
Hoosiers and the American Story Chapter 1
Indiana Wilderness Landscapes such as this limestone cliff in western Indiana would have been familiar to the original inhabitants of Indiana—the Indians and the prehistoric people before them. Many such cliffs can be seen today in Turkey Run State Park in Parke County, Indiana. 4 | Hoosiers and the American Story 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 4 8/29/14 10:57 AM 1 Native Americans in American History “These knives will be more useful to you in killing Beavers and in cutting your meat than are the pieces of stone that you use.” — Claude Charles Le Roy, in first record of trade between the Miami People and French explorer Nicolas Perrot, 1665–66 Indiana’s First Humans Scientists believe that the first humans to settle in S E IT S Mastodons C North America probably migrated across a land bridge I R ISTO Mastodons, along with other large mam- from the area currently called Siberia along the Bering H mals, such as mammoths, saber-toothed AND Strait to the land known today as Alaska. This migra- M U E cats, and dire wolves, roamed Indiana tion occurred near the end of the Ice Age, between MUS during the ice age between 1.8 million E TAT 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. Generations later, some S to 10,000 years ago. This mastodon descendants of these first North American immigrants skeleton is more than 13,000 years old NDIANA I E and was discovered on a farm near Fort settled in what became Indiana, a land that provided Wayne, Indiana.
[Show full text]
Frances Slocum (Maconaquah)
Frances Slocum Peru, Miami County March 4, 1773 – March 9, 1847 Frances Slocum was one of ten children born to Jonathan and Ruth Tripp Slocum. On November 2, 1778, Frances Slocum was taken captive at her family farm in Pennsylvania. She was then raised by a childless Miami couple, who named her Maconaquah, or Young Bear. Later, the family moved west and settled in Kekionga, present day Fort Wayne, Indiana. After Maconaquah left her first husband who had beaten her, she found a man named Shepoconah injured from battle. She took him to her parents’ home and nursed him back to health. As he regained his strength, he helped run the household. Before her father died, he gave Maconaquah to the man as thanks for his help. Along with Maconaquah’s mother, she and her husband returned to live with his people along the banks of the Mississinewa River near Peru, Indiana. There, Maconaquah had four children – two sons who died young and two daughters. Shepoconah later became Chief of the Miami Indians in the area; but, after he lost his hearing, he gave up his duties as Chief. He moved farther up the river and established a trading post nine miles north of Peru, Indiana. Fifty-seven years after her abduction, Maconaquah revealed to a visitor that she was white by birth. On January 20, 1835, the visitor recounted her story in a letter to the postmaster of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After two years, the letter was published and asked if anyone had a relative taken by the Indians. After learning about the woman who might be his long lost sister, Isaac Slocum came to Peru, Indiana, in May 1838 and visited Maconaquah’s home.
[Show full text]
The Painting of Frances Slocum's Portrait
George Winter Lesson Plan 2 Reading Images: Maconaquah Created by Linda Ivy Indiana State Standards Objectives and Purposes: The students will examine the portrait and compose a Social Studies list of things that they observe. For 4.1.2 Identify and describe example: her age, her clothing, her historic Indian groups that lived in the region that became jewelry, her emotions based upon her Indiana at the time of early facial expression. European exploration and settlement in the 17th century. The students will be able to “read” the (Example: The Miami, pictures and draw conclusions about the Shawneee, Potawatomi, and Lenape [Delaware]) setting and time of this portrait. They will also write about their observations and 4.1.6 Explain how key use their gained knowledge and ability to individuals and events influenced write about their home and draw a picture the early growth of the new state of it which will reflect everything they of Indiana. observe in their writing. Define the term cultural 4.5.3 group* and give examples of the challenges faced by diverse Materials: cultural groups in Indiana history. • Access to copies of pictures of Frances (Example: Quakers faced Slocum and the sketch of her home religious and social differences. • Copies or access to Winter’s journal Recent Asian and Hispanic entries about eh same events immigrants face the challenge of • Drawing Supplies adapting to a new language and culture.) Review: Review knowledge of Frances 4.5.4 Describe the role of Slocum, also known as Maconaquah. Indiana artists in American visual arts, literature, music, dance, and theatre.
[Show full text]