USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
"Article 4. It is further stipulated that the sum of $6,800 be paid John B. Richardville; and the sum of $2,612 be paid Francis God- froy; which sums are their respective claims against said tribe prior to October 23, 1834, excluded from investigation by the late commis- sioners of the United States, by reason of their being Indians of said tribe.
"Article 5. The said Miami tribe of Indians being anxious to pay all their just debts, at their request it is stipulated that immediately after the ratification of this treaty, the United States shall appoint a commissioner or commissioners, who shall be authorized to investigate all claims against said tribe which have accrued since the 23d day of October, 1834, with- out regard to distinction of blood in the claimants; and to pay such debts
45
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
as, having accrued since the said period, shall be proved to his or their satisfaction to be legal and just.
"Article 6. It is further stipulated that the sum of $150,000 out of the amount agreed to be paid said tribe in the third article of this treaty, shall be set apart for the payment of claims under the provisions of the fourth and fifth articles of this treaty, as well as for the balance ascer- tained to be due from said tribe by the investigations under the pro- visions of the treaty of 1834; and should there be an unexpended balance in the hands of the commissioner or commissioners after the payment of said claims, the same shall be paid over to the tribe at the payment of their next subsequent annuity; but should the said sum set apart for the purpose aforesaid, be found insufficient to pay the same, then the ascertained balance due on said claims shall be paid in three equal installments from the annuities of said tribe.
"And the said Miami tribe of Indians, through this public instru- ment, proclaim to all concerned that no debt or debts that any Indian or Indians of said tribe may contract with any person or persons, shall operate as a lien on the annuity or annuities, nor on the land of said tribe, for legal enforcement; nor shall any person or persons other than the members of said Miami tribe, who may by sufferance live on the land of, or intermarry in, said tribe, have any right to the land or any interest in the annuities of said tribe, until such person or persons shall have been by general council adopted into their tribe.
"Article 7. And it is further stipulated, that the United States will cause the buildings and improvements on the land hereby ceded, to be appraised, and have buildings and improvements of a corresponding value made at such place as the chiefs of said tribe may designate; and the Indians of said tribe are to remain in the peaceable occupation of their present improvements until the United States shall make the said cor- responding improvements.
"Article 8. It is further stipulated that the United States patent to Beaver for five sections of land, and to Chapine for one section of land, reserved to them respectively in the second article of the treaty made A. D. 1826, is continued between the parties to the present treaty.
"Article 9. The United States agree to cause the boundary lines of the land of said tribe in the State of Indiana, to be surveyed and marked within the period of one year after the ratification of this treaty.
"Article 10. The United States stipulate to possess the Miami tribe of Indians of, and guaranty to them forever, a country west of the Mississippi river, to remove to and settle on, whenever the said tribe may be disposed to emigrate from their present country, and that guaranty
46
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
is hereby pledged; and the said country shall be sufficient in extent, and suited to their wants and conditions, and be in a region contiguous to that in the occupation of the tribes which emigrated from the States of Ohio and Indiana. And when the said tribe shall have emigrated, the United States shall protect the said tribe and the people thereof, in their rights and possessions, against the injuries, encroachments and oppressions of any person or persons, tribe or tribes whatsoever.
"Article 11. It is further stipulated, that the United States will defray the expenses of a deputation of six chiefs or head men, to explore the country to be assigned to said tribe west of the Mississippi river. Said deputation to be selected by said tribe in general council.
"Article 12. The United States agree by patent to each of the Miami Indians named in the schedule hereunto annexed, the tracts of land therein respectively designated. And the said tribe in general council request, that the patents for the grants in said schedule contained, shall be transmitted to the principal chief of said tribe, to be by him dis- tributed to the respective grantees.
"Article 13. And it is further stipulated, that should this treaty not be ratified at the next session of the Congress of the United States, then it shall be null and void to all intents and purposes between the parties.
"Article 14. And whereas, John B. Richardville, the principal chief of said tribe, is very old and infirm, and not well able to endure the fatigue of a long journey, it is agreed that the United States will pay to him and his family the proportion of the annuity of said tribe which their number shall indicate to be due to them, at Fort Wayne, whenever the said tribe shall emigrate to the country to be assigned them west, as a future residence.
"Article 15. It is further stipulated, that as long as the Congress of the United States shall in its discretion make an appropriation under the sixth article of the treaty made between the United States and said tribe in the year 1826, for the support of the infirm and the education of the youth of said tribe, one-half of the amount so appropriated shall be paid to the chiefs, to be by them applied to the support of the poor and infirm of said tribe, in such manner as shall be most beneficial.
"Article 16. This treaty, after the same shall be ratified by the Presi- dent and Senate of the United States, shall be binding on the contracting parties.
"In testimony whereof, the said Abel C. Pepper, commissioner as aforesaid, and the chiefs, head men and warriors of the Miami tribe of
47
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Indians, have hereunto set their hands, at the forks of the Wabash, the 6th day of November, 1838.
" (Signed) . Abel C. Pepper, Commissioner. "J. B. Richardville, "Minjenickeaw, "Paw-lawn-zo-aw (Godfroy),
"No-we-lang-gang-gaw (Big Leg),
"O-zan-de-ah (Poplar Tree),
"Wa-pa-pin-shaw (Black Raccoon),
"Nac-kaw-guang-gaw,
"Kah-tah-maung-guaw,
."Kah-wah-zay,
"To-pe-yaw (Francis La Fountaine),
"Pe-waw-pe-yaw,
"Me-shing-go-me-jaw,
"Nac-kon-zaw,
"Waw-pe-maung-quah (White Loon),
"'Ching-guaw-ke-aw,
"Aw-koo-te-aw,
"Kil-so-aw,
"Taw-we-ke-se-aw,
"Mac-quaw-ko-naug,
"Maw-yauc-que-yaw (Son of Richardville),
"Signed in the presence of John T. Douglass, sub-agent; Allen Hamil- ton, secretary to the commissioner ; Daniel D. Pratt, assistant secretary to the commissioner ; J. B. Duret, H. Lasalle, and William Hurlbert, Indian agent."
SCHEDULE OF GRANTS
Attached to the treaty was the following list, or schedule, of grants referred to in Article 12, showing the quantity of land patented to each grantee by the United States :
"To John B. Richardville, principal chief :
"Two sections of land, to include and command the principal falls of Pipe creek ..
"Three sections of land, commencing at the mouth of the Salamonie river ; thence running three miles down the Wabash river and one mile up the Salamonie river.
"Two sections of land, commencing at the mouth of the Mississinewa river ; thence down the Wabash river two miles and up the Mississinewa river one mile.
48
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
"One and one-half sections of land on the Wabash river at the mouth of Flat Rock (creek), to include his mills and the privileges thereof.
"One section of land on the Wabash river, opposite the town of Wabash.
"All of which said tracts of land are to be surveyed as directed by the said grantee.
"To Francis Godfroy, a chief, one section of land opposite the town of Peru and on the Wabash.
"One section of land on Little Pipe creek, to include his mill and the privileges thereof.
"Four sections of land where he now lives.
" All of which said tracts of land are to be surveyed as directed by the said grantee.
"To Po-qua Godfroy, one section of land, to run one mile on the Wabash river, and to include the improvements where he now lives.
"To Catherine Godfroy, daughter of Francis Godfroy, and her chil- dren, one section of land to run one mile on the Wabash river, and to include the improvements where she now lives.
"To Kah-tah-mong-quah, son of Susan Richardville, one-half section of land on the Wabash river below and adjoining the three sections granted to John B. Richardville.
"To Mong-go-sah, son of La Blonde, one-half section of land on the Wabash river below and adjoining the half section granted to Kah-tah- mong-quah.
"To Peter Gouin, one section of land on the Sixth Mile Reserve, com- mencing where the northern line of said reserve intersects the Wabash river ; thence down said river one mile and back for quantity.
"To Mais-shil-gouin-mi-zah, one section of land, to include the Deer Lick, alias La Saline, on the creek that enters the Wabash river nearly opposite the town of Wabash.
"To O-zah-shin-quah, and the wife of Brouillette, daughters of the 'Deaf Man,' as tenants in common, one section of land on the Mississinewa river. to include the improvements where they now live.
"To O-san-di-ah, one section of land where he now lives on the Mississinewa river, to include his improvements.
"To Wah-pi-pin-cha, one section of land on the Mississinewa river, directly opposite the section granted to O-san-di-ah.
"To Mais-zi-quah, one section of land on the Wabash river, commenc- ing at the lower part of the improvement of 'Old Sally,' thence up said river one mile and back for quantity.
"To Tah-ko-nong, one section of land where he now lives on the Mississinewa river.
49
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
"To Cha-pine, one section of land where he now lives on the Ten Mile Reserve.
"To White Loon, one section of land at the crossing of Longlois creek, on the Ten Mile Reserve, to run up said creek.
"To Francis Godfroy, one section of land, to be located where he shall direct.
"To Neh-wah-ling-quah, one section of land where he now lives on the Ten Mile Reserve.
"To La Fountain, one section of land south of and adjoining the section where he now lives, on the Ten Mile Reserve.
"To Seek, one section of land south of the section of land granted to Wa-pa-se-pah by the treaty of 1834, on the Ten Mile Reserve.
"To Black Loon, one section of land on the Six Mile Reserve, com- mencing at a line which will divide his field on the Wabash river, thence up the river one mile and back for quantity.
"To Duck, one section of land on the Wabash river below and adjoin- ing the section granted to Black Loon, and one mile down said river and back for quantity.
"To Me-cha-ne-qua, a chief, alias Gros-mis, one section of land where he now lives.
"One section to include his field on the Salamonie river.
"One and one-half sections, commencing on the Wabash river where the road crosses the same from John B. Richardville, Jr.'s; thence down the said river to the high bank on Mill creek; thence back so as to include a part of the prairie, to be surveyed as directed by said chief.
"To Tow-wah-keo-shee, wife of old Pish-a-wa, one section of land on the Wabash river below and adjoining the half section granted to Mong-go-sah.
"To Ko-was-see, one section of land, now Seek's reserve, to include his orchard and improvements.
"To Black Loon, one section of land on the Six Mile Reserve, and on the Salamonie river, to include his improvements.
"To the wife of Benjamin Ah-mac-kon-zee-quah, one section of land where she now lives, near the prairie, and to include her improvements, she being commonly known as Pichoux's sister.
"To Pe-she-wah, one section of land above and adjoining the section and a half granted to John B. Richardville on Flat Rock creek, and to run one mile on the Wabash river.
"To White Raccoon, one section of land on the Ten Mile Reserve, where he may wish to locate the same.
"To La Blonde, the chief's daughter, one section of land on the Vol 1-4
50
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Wabash river below and adjoining the section of land granted to Francis Godfroy, to be surveyed as she may direct.
"To Ni-con-zah, one section of land on the Mississinewa river, a little above the section of land granted to the Deaf Man's daughters, and on the opposite side of the river, to include the pine or evergreen tree, and to be surveyed as he may direct.
"To John B. Richardville, one section of land, to include the Osage village on the Mississinewa river, as well as the burying ground of his family, to be surveyed as he may direct.
"To Kee-ki-lash-e-we-ah, alias Godfroy, one-half section of land back of the section granted to the principal chief, opposite the town of Wabash, to include the creek.
"One-half section of land commencing at the lower corner of the section granted to Mais-zi-quah, thence half a mile down the Wabash river.
"To Al-lo-lah, one section of land above and adjoining the section granted to Mais-shil-gouin-mi-zah, and on the same creek.
"To John B. Richardville, Jr., one section of land on Pipe creek, above and adjoining the two sections of land granted to the principal chief, to be surveyed as he may direct.
"To John B. Richardville, one section of land wherever he may choose to have the same located.
"It is understood that all the foregoing grants are to be located and surveyed so as to correspond with the public surveys as near as may be to include the points designated in each grant respectively."
The last treaty with the Miami Indians was held at the Forks of the Wabash on November 28, 1840, when Samuel Milroy and Allen Hamil- ton, commissioners on the part of the United States, met the chiefs and head men of the tribe and concluded a treaty by which the Miamis ceded all their lands south of the Wabash river, "not heretofore ceded and known as the residue of the Big Reserve," and began their preparations for removing to a new reservation west of the Mississippi. By the terms of this treaty the sum of $25,000 was directed to be paid to John B. Richardville and $15,000 to the acting executor of Francis Godfroy, "being amounts of their respective claims against the tribe." At the request of old Metosinia, who had lived at one place for eighty years, a reservation of fourteen sections of land on the Mississinewa river was set apart for him and his band. He died soon after the treaty was concluded and the tract was held in trust for his son Meshingomesia until it was partitioned among the members of the band by the act of Congress, approved June 1, 1872. A few specific reservations south of the river were exempted from the provisions of the treaty, and here some of the
51
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Miamis continued to reside after the majority of the tribe removed to Kansas. Some of their descendants still live in Miami and adjoining counties. A majority of those living in Miami, Grant, Wabash and Huntington counties have become tillers of the soil, who have abandoned all their tribal customs and adopted the methods of the white people. The members of the younger generation are intermarrying with the whites and it is only a question of time when this once powerful tribe of Indians will be known only to history.
After the removal of the tribe to the new reservation in Kansas, the white man came into full possession of the fertile Wabash valley. In the century that has elapsed since Colonel Campbell fought the battle of the Mississinewa, which was the first of a chain of events that broke the power of the Miamis, great changes have come to this beautiful valley. The scream of the factory whistle is heard instead of the howl of the wolf or the war-whoop of the savage; the smoke of the council fire has been displaced by that which rolls from the chimneys of great industrial establishments; the school house has taken the place of the tepee; the trail through the forest has been broadened into an improved highway, over which civilized man skims along in his automobile at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour; along these highways are stretched telegraph and telephone lines that bear testimony to a century's progress, and coaches, almost palatial in their appointments, propelled by steam or electricity, traverse the land where once the red man roamed in all his freedom and pride.
CHAPTER IV THE STORY OF FRANCES SLOCUM
HER CAPTURE BY INDIANS IN HER CHILDHOOD-THE LONG SEARCH FOR THE
LOST SISTER-HER LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS-DISCOVERED IN HER OLD AGE BY COLONEL EWING-CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN COLONEL EWING AND HER FAMILY-VISITED BY TWO BROTHERS AND A SISTER- REFUSES TO RETURN TO CIVILIZATION-HER DEATH-THE SLOCUM MONUMENT.
Closely interwoven with the history of Miami county is the story of a long captivity among the Indians that reads like a romance and verifies the truth of the old adage that "Truth is stranger than fiction." In the summer of 1777 Jonathan Slocum, with his wife and nine children, and accompanied by his father-in-law, Isaac Tripp, removed from Rhode Island to Pennsylvania and settled in the beautiful Wyoming valley, not far from Wilkes-Barre. The members of the family were Quakers, who treated the Indians with great kindness, and in the great massacre of July 3, 1778, they were not molested. It happened, however, that Giles Slocum, Jonathan's eldest son, fought against the Indians on that occasion, and when this became known to the savages they resolved to be avenged.
On November 2, 1778, three Delaware Indians stealthily approached the Slocum dwelling, which stood in the edge of a piece of timber. Some time before this Nathan Kingsley, a neighbor, had been captured by the Indians and his wife and two sons were staying with the Slocums. The men were away from home, but the two Kingsley boys were engaged in sharpening a knife on a grindstone which stood near the door. The elder boy, a lad some fourteen years of age, wore a soldier's coat, which it is supposed angered the Indians, as one of them quickly leveled his gun and shot the boy dead. Alarmed by the report of the gun, Mrs. Slocum rushed to the door and saw the Indian scalping the Kingsley boy with the knife he had been grinding. With some of her children she fled to the woods, while her daughter, Mary, about ten years old, carried Joseph, the youngest of the family. Little Frances, five years of age, and a lame brother, Ebenezer, concealed themselves under the stairway.
52
53
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
After the Indians had ransacked the house and were about to depart, one of them chanced to notice the little girl's feet protruding from beneath the stairway. She and her brother were dragged from their hiding place, and with the two children and the surviving Kingsley boy the Indians started for the woods, hoping to make their escape before an alarm could reach the Wilkes-Barre fort, which was but a short distance away.
When Mrs. Slocum saw the Indians carrying away her children, the mother love triumphed over fear and she came forth from her place of concealment in the underbrush to plead for her little ones. The savages seemed to enjoy her distress and showed no intention of releasing either of the children until the frantic mother pointed to the boy's feet and exclaimed : "See, the child is lame; he can do thee no good!" The Indian let go of Ebenezer, but seized little Frances, threw her over his shoulder and, with his two companions, hurried toward the timber. The last sight the grief-stricken mother ever had of her daughter was the tear- stained face looking back over the shoulder of her captor, one hand brushing away the auburn curls from her eyes and the other outstretched toward her mother, the childish voice calling "mamma! mamma!" until its echoes were lost in the forest.
The Indians went but a short distance, when they hid in a cave, where they could hear the soldiers from the fort as they rode by in pursuit. That night they left the cave and made their way through the forest to an Indian encampment. Owing to the unsettled conditions upon the frontier, immediate pursuit was out of the question, and it is not sur- prising that no efforts were made to recover the little captive.
On December 16, 1778, Jonathan Slocum and his father-in-law were fired upon and killed by Indians while feeding cattle within sight of the fort. William Slocum, a youth about seventeen years old, was wounded, but managed to make his escape. Mrs. Slocum's anxiety for her little daughter was greater than her grief over the death of her husband and her father, but it was not until the close of the Revolutionary war that any systematic search was begun for the missing child. In 1784 two brothers of Frances went to Niagara and made inquiry for their sister, offering a reward of one hundred guineas for information that would lead to her recovery. They thought this sum would tempt some Indian who knew of her whereabouts to tell where she could be found, but they were com- pelled to return home without any tidings of their lost sister:
In 1788 the two brothers again made an effort to learn something of the fate of Frances. They made an extended trip into the interior of Ohio, where they secured the sympathy and cooperation of Indian agents. and traders and spent several months in visiting Indian villages in the
-
54
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
hope of finding some one who could tell them what had become of their little sister. They offered a reward of $500 for any information, but in the end were forced to return home without having obtained the slight- est clue.
Still the mother, rapidly aging under the grief caused by the loss of her husband, father and daughter, would not relinquish the thought that her child was still alive. In 1789, when a large number of Indians assem- bled at Tioga Point, (now Athens, Pennsylvania,) in response to the demand of the government to bring their captives there for identification, Mrs. Slocum made a journey to the place, hoping that her missing daughter would be among the prisoners. For several weeks she remained there, earnestly gazing into the face of every girl sixteen years of age, but found no one that she could recognize as her missing child. She returned home in deep sorrow over the failure of her mission, but could not be persuaded that her daughter was dead.
In the early part of 1791 Colonel Proctor was sent by the secretary of war to the Indian tribes living along the shores of Lake Erie, and the Miamis of the Wabash, for the purpose of making peace treaties and establishing friendly relations between them and the whites. Proctor's journal for March 28, 1791, says: "We proceeded to Painted Post, or Cohocton, in the Indian language; dined and refreshed our horses, it being the last house we should meet with ere we should reach the Genesee river. Here I was joined by a Mr. George Slocum, who followed us from Wyoming, to place himself under our protection and assistance, until we should reach the Cornplanter's settlement, on the headwaters of the Allegheny, to the redeeming of his sister from an unpleasing captivity of twelve years, to which end he begged our intermediate interposition."
Frances Slocum had no brother George and the records show that it was Giles Slocum who joined Proctor at Painted Post. Evidently this brother did not prosecute his investigations very long, as Proctor's journal for April 22, 1791, contains the entry : "To cash paid Francis Slocum, a white prisoner, 7s. 6d." Although the name Frances is not correctly spelled by Colonel Proctor, it is believed that the "white prisoner" was the missing girl, and had her brother remained with the expedition until that time he would have no doubt found his sister. It seems strange that Proctor, after having so lately been in communication with her brother, did not make some attempt to restore the girl to her family. Meginnis, in his "Biography of Frances Slocum," pertinently asks the question, "Was it indifference or stupidity that caused Colonel Proctor to treat her case so lightly ?" and adds, "For he must have known who she was when he named her, after paying her a small sum of money."
One of the brothers attended the treaty council at Buffalo, New York,
55
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
in 1793, but could learn nothing of his sister. Four years later Isaac Slocum and three of his brothers, in response to their mother's entreaties, undertook a more exhaustive search, penetrating the western wilds as far as Detroit and visiting several Indian villages in Canada. Isaac Slocum offered five Indian traders a reward of $300 if they would find his sister and bring her to Detroit, but all in vain. The next year the brothers again made a trip to the northwest, but with no better success.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.