Life of Mary Jemison

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Introduction

The peace which was concluded between the United States and Great Britain in 1783 led to a treaty of peace and amnesty between the United States and the Indian confederacy called the Six Nations, which took place at Fort Stanwix, (now Eome, N. Y.,) in 1784, conducted by commissioners on the part of. the United States, and the chiefs, warriors, and head men of the Six Nations, on their part.

By this treaty, all the prisoners who had been taken and were at that time retained by the Indians were to be set at liberty. On this joyful event, those prisoners who had escaped the tomahawk, the gauntlet, and the sacrificial fire, were released from bondage, and restored to their friends, to society, and to the world. Although the number of prisoners thus released were few, in proportion to the great number who had been taken, they were so numerous that their return brought the legends of deeds of torture and death to every section of the country.

These horrid tales required not the aid of fiction, or the persuasive powers of rhetoric, to highten their colorings, or gain credence to their shocking truths. In those days, Indian barbarities were the constant topic of the domestic fireside, the m parlor, the hall, and the forum. It is presumed that, at this time, there are but few native citizens that have passed the middle age who do not distinctly recollect of hearing such frightful accounts of Indian barbarities, oft repeated, in the nursery and in the family circle, until it almost caused their hair to stand erect, and deprived them of the power of motion.

Time, however, has produced a confusion of incidents in those tales, and enveloped the fidelity of their transmission to us in clouds of doubt. To rescue from oblivion, and preserve in their primitive purity, some of those legends, and to exemplify and record, for the use of posterity as well as for the present generation, a faithful delineation of the characteristic traits of the Iroquois, is the object of these memoirs.

At the same treaty, the Six Nations, or Iroquois, were left in undisturbed possession of the greater portion of the state of New York, and had the right of possession guarantied to them by the United States of all the territory west of a line called the property line, running nearly parallel with, and less than eighty miles west of the Hudson River, two small tracts excepted. At this time, Mary Jemisop had been with the Indians twenty -nine years — seven had transpired during the French war with the British, in which the Six Nations raised the tomahawk against the British and Americans ; and seven during the revolutionary war, in which the Indians arrayed themselves on the side of the British against the Americans; there being an interval of peace of fifteen years between — if peace it could be called — when they were constantly sending war parties against other Indian tribes, south and north, from the torrid to the frigid zone, and west to the Rocky Mountains.

During this time, Mrs. Jemison had been twice married to Indian chiefs, and had a husband and seven children then living. She, too, was nearly two hundred miles from any white settlement, and knew not that she had a white relative or friend on earth : she, therefore, resolved not to accept of her freedom, but to spend the remainder of her days with the Indians, where she knew she had affectionate relatives and many kind friends. This resolution she carried fully into effect, and became their faithful and correct chronicler for more than three-fourths of a century.

At this time, 1784, and for several years afterward, no settlements of white people were made in the state west of Cherry Valley, on the head waters of the Susquehanna, and the German Flats, on the Mohawk, as those places were situated nearly as far west as the property line, the boundary of the Indian lands. So fresh were the wounds which the whites had received from their savage neighbors, that the Indians were viewed with a jealous eye, even when unmolested and unprovoked. Under these circumstances, peaceable citizens were little inclined to trespass on their lands, or give them the least pretext for a quarrel, by even traveling into their country. No white people, therefore, visited their villages, except some half-savage traders, and a few of the refuse of society, who, to escape the meshes of civil or criminal law, bade adieu to civilized life, and took shelter in the recesses of the forest, under the protection of its lords.

The Indian title to the lands surrounding Mrs. Jemison's residence was not sold to the whites until the great Council in 1797, when may be dated the first time of her associating with moral, social, civilized man, from the time of her childhood, after the lapse of forty-two years. Still, she had retained her native language with great purity; and had treasured up, and constantly kept in her own breast, all those moral and social virtues, by the precepts of which civilized society professes to be guided, and by their directions always to be governed.

At length, the richness and fertility of the soil excited emigration ; and here and there a family settled down and commenced improvements in the country which had recently been the property of the aborigines. Those who settled near the Genesee River soon became acquainted with " The White Woman," as Mrs. Jemison was called, whose history they anxiously sought, both as a matter of interest and curiosity. Frankness characterized her conduct, and without reserve she would readily gratify them by relating some of the most important periods of her life.

Although her bosom companion was an ancient warrior, and notwithstanding her children and associates were all Indians, yet it was found that she possessed an uncommon share of hospitality, and that her friendship was well worth courting and preserving. Her house was the stranger's home: from her table the hungry were refreshed ; she made the naked as comfortable as her means would admit ; and in all her actions, discovered so much natural goodness of heart, that her admirers increased in proportion to the extension of her acquaintance, and she became celebrated as the friend of the distressed. She was the protectress, of the homeless fugitive, and made welcome the weary wanderer. Many still live to commemorate her benevolence toward them when prisoners during the war, and to ascribe their deliverance to the mediation of " The White Woman."

The settlements of civilized society increased around her, and the whole country was inhabited by a rich and respectable people, principally from New England, as much distinguished for their spirit of inquisitiveness as for their habits of industry and honesty, who had all heard from one source and another a part of her life in detached pieces, and had obtained an idea that the whole taken in connection would afford instruction and amusement.

Many gentlemen of respectability felt anxious that her narrative might be laid before the public, with a view not only to perpetuate the remembrance of the atrocities of the savages in former times, but to preserve some historical facts which they supposed to be intimately connected with her life, and which otherwise must be lost.

Forty years had passed since the close of the Eevolutionary war, and almost seventy years had seen Mrs. Jemison with the Indians, when Daniel W. Banister, Esq., at the instance of several gentlemen, and prompted by his own ambition to add something to the accumulating fund of useful knowledge, resolved, in the autumn of 1823, to embrace that time, while she was capable of recollecting and reciting the scenes through which she had passed, to collect from herself, and to publish to the world, an accurate account of her life.

I was employed to collect the materials, and prepare the work for the press ; and accordingly went to the house of Mrs. Jennet Whaley, in the town of Castile, Genesee County, N. Y., in company with the publisher, who procured the interesting subject of the following narrative to come to that place, (a distance of four miles,) and there repeat the story of her eventful life. She came on foot, in company with Mr. Thomas Olute, whom she considered her protector, and tarried several days ; which time was busily occupied in taking a sketch of her narrative as she recited it.

In stature, she is very short, considerably under the middle size; but stands tolerably erect, with her head bent forward, apparently from her having for a long time been accustomed to carrying heavy burdens, supported by a strap placed across her forehead. Her complexion is very white for a woman of her age, and although the wrinkles of fourscore years are deeply indented in her cheeks, yet the crimson of youth is distinctly visible. Her eyes are light blue, a little faded by age, but naturally brilliant and sparkling. Her sight is quite dim, though she is able to perform her necessary labor without the assistance of glasses. Her cheek-bones are high, and rather prominent ; and her front teeth, in the lower jaw, are sound and good. When she looks up, and is engaged in conversation, her countenance is very expressive ; but from her long residence with the Indians, she has acquired the habit of peeping from under the eyebrows, as they do, with the head inclined downward. Formerly, her hair was of a light chestnut brown ; it is now quite gray, a little curled, of middling length, and tied in a bunch behind. She informed me that she had never worn a cap or a comb.

She speaks English plainly and distinctly, slightly tinged with the Irish idiom, and has the use of words so well as to render herself intelligible on any subject with which she is acquainted. Her recollection and memory exceeded my expectation. It can not be reasonably supposed that a person of her age has kept the events of seventy years in so complete a chain as to be able to assign to each its proper time and place. She, however, made her recital with as few obvious mistakes as might be expected from a person of fifty. Indeed, in every case, where she attempted to give dates, she was remarkably correct, — so uniformly so that she coincided exactly with history, except in one instance, which was the surrender of Fort Da Quesne by the French to the English; and this is more to be attributed to her ignorance at the time than to the treachery of her memory, for the fort was always filled with English or Yankee traders, trappers, hunters, and outlaws, as well as Frenchmen; and the Ohio Indians knew little and cared less who commanded the fort, so long as they could trade there to suit themselves. Under such circumstances, it is not remarkable that a young woman, fifteen or sixteen years old, domesticated among the Indians, and residing three or four

INTRODUCTION. J. 9

hundred miles from the fort, should not know the precise time that the French flag was struck and the English hoisted in its stead ; which absolutely took place in 1758, while she resided in that country.

She walks with a quick step, without a staff, and can yet cross a stream on a log or pole as steadily as any other person. Her -passions are easily excited. At a number of periods in her narration, tears trickled down her grief-worn cheek, and at the same time a rising sigh would stop her utterance.

Industry is a virtue which she has uniformly practiced from the day of her adoption to the present. She pounds her samp, cooks for herself, gathers and chops her wood, feeds her cattle and poultry, and performs other laborious services. Last season, she planted, tended, and gathered her corn ; in short, she is always busy.

Her dress, at the time I saw her, was made and worn after the usual Indian fashion. She had on a brown, undressed flannel short-gown, with long sleeves, the skirt reaching to the hips, being tied before in two places with doer-skin strings ; below the skirt of the gown was to be seen three or four inches of the lower extremity of a cotton shirt, which was without collar or sleeves, and open before. Her petticoat, or the Indian substitute for that garment, was composed of about a yard and a

quarter of blue broadcloth, with the lists on, and sewed 2 together at the ends. This was tied around her waist, 01 rather above her hips, under her shirt, with a string, in such a manner as to leave one-fourth of a yard or more of the top of the cloth to be turned over the string, and display the top list, and four or five inches of the cloth below the bottom of the shirt — the main body of the garment and the other list reaching down to the calves of her legs ; below which was to be seen her leggins, consisting of pieces of blue broadcloth, wrapped around her legs, and tied or pinned on, reaching from her knees to just within the tops of her buckskin moccasins. She wore no footings or socks on her feet at any season, unless some rags wrapped around her toes could be considered such. Over her shoulders was wrapped a common Indian or Dutch blanket, and on her head she wore an old, brown woolen cloth, somewhat in the shape of a sun-bonnet.

Thus attired — and it will be recollected that she was not caught in her dishabille, as she had come from home, the distance of four miles, for the express purpose of meeting us — thus attired, I say, we met the owner of two square miles of very fertile and productive land, lying in the midst of a dense population, and near an excellent market — with an annuity of three hundred dollars a year, secured to her, her heirs,* and assigns forever Yet such was the dress this woman was not only contented to wear but delighted in wearing. Habit having rendered it convenient and comfortable, she wore it as a matter of choice.

Her house, in which she lives, is twenty by twenty eight feet ; built of square timber, with a shingled roof and a framed stoop. In the center of the house is a chimney of stones and sticks, in which there are two fireplaces. She has a good framed barn, twenty-six by thirty-six, well filled, and owns a fine stock of cattle and horses. Besides the buildings above mentioned, she owns a number of buildings occupied by tenants, who work her flats upon shares.

Her dwelling is on the west side of Genesee River, about one hundred rods north of the Great Slide — a curiosity which will hereafter be described.

Mrs. Jemison appeared sensible of her ignorance of the manners of the white people, and for that reason was not familiar, except with those with whom she was intimately acquainted. In fact, she was, to appearance, so jealous of her rights, or afraid that she should say something that would be injurious to herself or family, that if Mr. Olute had not been present, we should have been unable to have obtained her history. She, however, soon became free and unembarrassed in her conversation, and spoke with a degree of mildness, candor, and simplicity, that is calculated to remove all doubts as to the veracity of the speaker. The vices of the Indians she appeared to palliate, or at least not to aggravate, and seemed to take pride in extolling their virtues. A kind of family pride inclined her to withhold whatever would blot the character of her descendants, and perhaps induced her to keep back many things that would have been interesting.

For the life of her last husband we are indebted to her cousin, Mr. George Jemison, to whom she referred us for information on that subject generally. The thoughts of his deeds, probably, chilled her old heart, and made her dread to rehearse them ; and at the same time she well knew they were no secret, for she had frequently heard him relate the whole, not only to her cousin but to others.

Before she left us, she was very sociable, and she resumed her naturally pleasant countenance, enlivened with a smile.

Her neighbors speak of her as possessing one of the happiest tempers and dispositions, and give her the name of never having done a censurable act to their knowledge.

Her habits are those of the Indians — she sleeps on skins without a bedstead; sits upon the floor, or on a bench ; and when she eats, holds her victuals on her lap, or in her hands.

Her ideas of religion correspond in every respect with those of the great mass of the Senecas. She applauds virtue, and condemns vice. She believes in a future state/ in which the good will be happy, and the bad miserable ; and that the acquisition of that happiness depends primarily upon human volition, and the consequent good deeds of the happy recipient of blessedness. But she is a stranger to the doctrines of the Christian religion.

Her daughters are said to be active and enterprising women ; and her grandsons, who have arrived to manhood, are considered able, decent, and respectable men, in their tribe, and many of them are greeted with respect in civilized society.

Having in a cursory manner introduced the principal subject of the following pages, I proceed to the narration of a life that has been viewed with attention, for a great number of years, by a few, and which will be read by the public with mixed sensations of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, and with interest, anxiety, and satisfaction*

Pembroke, March

Contents

Letter from Ely S. Parker, Do-ne-ho-ga'-weh, a Seneca sachem, . 29 Vowel Sounds, 31

Chapter I

Parentage of Mary Jemison — Born on the sea — Lands, with her parents, in Philadelphia, in 1743 — Settles on Marsh creek, in Western Pennsylvania — Indian alarms — Her childhood and education, 33

Chapter II

Fancied omen — Inroad of a band of Shawnees — Whole family taken captive in 1*755 — Marched into the wilderness — Her mother's farewell address — Murder of her father, mother, two brothers, and sister — Preparation of scalps — Indian caution, to prevent pursuit — Arrival at Fort Du Quesne, 40

Chapter III

Mary is given to two Seneca women — They descend the Ohio — Arrival at She-nan-jee — She is dressed in Indian costume — Adopted as a Seneca — Ceremony of Adoption — Is named Deh-he-w'a-mis — Nearly regains her liberty — Kemoval to Wi-ish-to — She is married to She-nin-jee, a Delaware — Birth and death of a child — Birth of another child, 52

Chapter IV

Visits Fort Pitt — Desire for liberty subsides — Labors of the Indian

females — Removal from Wi-ish-to to the Genesee — Meet Shawnees

who had murdered two white men, and were torturing a third —

' He is rescued by Mary — Arrive at Little Beard's Town, . . .69

26 CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Geographical names — Dialects of the Iroquois — Little Beard's Town - The Genesee Valley — Land slide — Gardeau Flats — Subsequently Mary Jemison Reservation — Mount Morris — Big Tree Village — Caneadea, 81

Chapter VI

Indians march to fight the British — Return with cattle and prisoners — Two prisoners burned — An Indian woman's eloquence — Tragedy of the " Devil's Hole " — Death of She-nan-jee — Attempt to take Mary to Niagara by force — She marries Hi-ok-a-too — Her children — Loss of a daughter, 98

Chapter VII

Peace among the Indians — Their happy state — Troubles between England and the Colonies — Treaty with the Colonies — Iroquois agree to remain neutral — Treaty with the British — Join them against the Americans — Bounty for scalps — Four female prisoners — Battle of Fort Stanwix — Indian loss — Butler and Brandt, • 108

Chapter VIII

Approach of General Sullivan's army — A skirmish — Two Oneida Indians taken — One sacrificed — Lieutenants Boyd and Parker captured — Boyd's barbarous execution — Parker's death — Senecas retreat to the woods — Sullivan's army lays waste the country — Army retires — Senecas return, but to disperse — Mary goes to Gardeau Flats — Expedition to the Mohawk — Cornplanter and John O'Bail — Ebenezer Allen, 118

Chapter IX

Mary is offered her freedom — She declines accepting — Her reasons — Her favorite Indian brother dies — Great council at Big Tree, in 17-97 — Gardeau reservation given to Mary by the chiefs — Con« tained 17,927 acres of land — Traditions of the Senecas — The Great Serpent at Nan-de-wa-o, 130

CONTENTS. 27

Chapter X

Little Beard's death — Singular superstition — Family government — Her sons Thomas and John quarrel — John murders Thomas — John is tried and acquitted by the chiefs — Thomas' character — His wife and children — Death of Hi-ok-a-tpo — His age and funeral — His character, i . . . 139

CHAPTER XL

Mary's family troubles continue — John's enmity toward his brother Jesse — They quarrel — Whisky the cause — John murders Jesse — Jesse's funeral and character, 152

Chapter XII

Mary's pretended cousin, George Jemison — His poverty — Her kindness and assistance — His ingratitude — Attempt to defraud her of a part of her reservation — Is expelled from the premises, . 158

Chapter XIII

John Jemison murdered — His funeral, life, and character — His widow and children — His murderers flee — Tall Chief 's speech — They return — Their fate, . . . 164

Chapter XIV

Mary sells part of her reservation — The hardships of her life — Great strength of constitution — Her temperance — Destructive effects of ardent spirits among the Senecas — Witchcraft — Accusations against her — Executions for witchcraft — Her descendants, . 175

Chapter XV

Life of Hi-ok-a-too, half-brother of Farmer's Brother — Naturally cruel — Inroad upon the Catawbas in Tennessee — Present at Braddock's defeat — Battle of Fort Freeland — Expedition to Cherry Valley — His barbarity — Battle at Upper Sandusky — Colonel Crawford taken, and burned at the stake — Dr. Knight's escape — Hi-ok-a-too leads a war-party against the Cherokees — His personal appearance — Dies of old age, .186

28 CONTENTS.

Chapter XVI

Ebenezer Allen — The belt of wampum — He lives at Mary's house — • Marries a squaw — Taken by the Indians — Escapes and secretes himself — Fed by Mary — Taken again, tried, and acquitted — Builds a great mill at Rochester — Marries a white woman — Removes to Alleys creek — Marries a third wife — Removes to Canada with two wives — Abandons the first — His death, . . . 201

Chapter XVII

Government of the Iroquois — Civil and Military Chiefs — Counselors — Religious Beliefs — The Great Spirit — The Evil Spirit — Religious festivals — Sacrifice of the White Dog — The Dance — Marriage Customs — Chastity of the Indian — Polygamy, . 216

CHAPTER, XVIII.

Life of Mary continued — Seneca Reservations sold in 1825 — Is left among the whites — Discontented — Sold her remaining reservation, and removed to Buffalo creek — Professes Christianity — Her death — Is buried near the Mission church — Description of her tombstone — Her descendants, 236

Chapter XIX

Confederacy of the Iroquois — Extent of their possessions — Red Jacket — Sales of reservations — Ogden Land Company — Government policy of removal west of the Mississippi — The ultimate extinction of the Red race, 244

CONCLUDING NOTE.

Future destiny of the Indian — His reclamation — Schools of the missionaries — The Christian party — Schools of the state — Future citizenship — Their indebtedness to missionaries — Rights of property — Injustice of neglect — System of superintendence — Duty of the American people — The Indian Department, . . . 251

Appendix

1. Tragedy of the Devil's Hole, 273

2. General Sullivan's Expedition to Western New York, . . . 278

3. Removal of the Remains of Boyd, 291

4. The Genesee country as it was and is, • . 293

5. Indian Geographical Names, 300

LETTER FROM ELY S. PARKER, Do-ne-ho-ga'-weh, A Seneca Sachem.

Norfolk, Mcli. 2Uh, 1856.

D. M. Dewey, Esq.,

Dear Sir : Yours of the 12th is received, and I am very happy to know that you are republishing the Life of Mary Jemison, the " White Woman."

Many years ago,* I perused Seaver's book with great interest, and have since had good opportunity of testing its reliability, by comparing it with the traditional history preserved of her among the Indians with whom she lived and died, all of which more than corroborates every incident related in the narrative. I have, therefore, every reason to believe it to be entirely true. / am, with respect,

Yours truly,

E. S. PARKER,

Do-ne-ho'-ga-weh.

VOWEL SOUNDS.

a ... * as in arm.

a as in at.

a as in ale.

e . . as in met.

as in tone.

LIFE OF MARY JEMISON.

DEH-HE-WA-MIS.

Chapter I

Parentage of Mary Jemison — Born on the Sea — Lands, with her parents, in Philadelphia, in 1*743 — Settles in Marsh Creek, in Western Pennsylvania — Indian alarms — Her childhood and education.

Although I may have frequently heard the history of my ancestry, my recollection is too imperfect to enable me to trace it further back than to my father and mother, whom 1 have often heard mention the families from whence they originated, as having possessed wealth, and honorable stations under the government of the country in which they resided.

On account of the great length of time that has elapsed since I was separated from my parents and friends, and having heard the story of their nativity only in the days of my childhood, I am unable to state positively which of the two countries, Ireland or Scotland, was the land of my parents' birth and education. It, however, is my impression, that they were born and brought up in Ireland.

My father's name was Thomas Jemison, and my mother's, before her marriage, was Jane Erwin. Their affection for each other was mutual, and of that happy kind which tends directly to sweeten the cup of life ; to render connubial sorrows lighter ; to assuage every discontentment ; and to promote not only their own comfort, but that of all who come within the circle of their acquaintance. Of their happiness, I recollect to have heard them often speak ; and the remembrance I yet retain of their mildness and perfect agreement in the government of their children, together with their mutual attention to our common education, manners, religious instruction and wants, renders it certain in my mind that they were ornaments to the married state, and examples of connubial love worthy of imitation. After my remembrance, they were strict observers of religious duties ; for it was the daily practice of my father, morning and evening, to attend, in his family, to the worship of God.

Resolved to leave the land of their nativity, they removed from their residence to a port in Ireland, where they lived but a short time before they set sail for this country, in the year 1742 or 1743, on board the ship William and Mary, bound to Philadelphia.

The intestine divisions, civil wars, and ecclesiastical rigidity and domination that prevailed in those days, were the causes of their leaving their mother country, to

DEH-HE-WI-MIS. 35

find a home in the American wilderness, under the mild and temperate government of the descendants of William Penn ; where they might worship G-od according to the dictates of their own consciences, and pursue their lawful avocations without fear of molestation.

In Europe, my parents had two sons and one daughter ; their names were John, Thomas, and Betsey; with whom, after having put their effects on board, they embarked, leaving a large connection of relatives and friends, under all those painful sensations which are only felt when kindred souls give the parting hand and last farewell to those to whom they are endeared by every friendly tie.

During their voyage I was born — to be the sport of fortune and almost an outcast to civil society ; to stem the current of adversity through a long chain of vicissitudes, unsupported by the advice of tender parents, or the hand of an affectionate friend ; and even without the enjoyment, from others, of any of those tender sympathies which are calculated to sweeten the joys of life, except such as naturally flow from uncultivated minds, that Jiave been rendered callous by ferocity.

Excepting my birth, nothing remarkable occurred to

*ny parents on their passage ; and they were safely landed

at Philadelphia. My father being fond of rural life,

and having been bred to agricultural pursuits, soon left

the city, and removed his family to a tract of excellent 3 B* land lying on Marsh Creek, on the frontier settlement of Pennsylvania. At that place, he cleared a large farm; and for seven or eight years enjoyed the fruits of his industry. Peace attended their labors ; and they had nothing to alarm them, save the midnight howl of the prowling wolf, or the terrifying shriek of the ferocious panther, as they occasionally visited the improvements to take a lamb or a calf to satisfy their hunger.

During this period my mother had two sons, between whose ages there was a difference of about three years. The oldest was named Matthew, and the other Robert.