USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 12
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GRANT PLATS ASHLAND
Then Daniel Grant longed for some of this tide of prosperity and in 1845 platted Ashland in Section 27. This was the nucleus of La Fon- taine, as a later period will develop. And the life of Ashland and La Fontaine, which largely sprung from subsequent railroad communica- tion, was the death of America.
COL. JOHN ANDERSON
One "Colonel" John Anderson-and there seems to have been as many colonels in Wabash County as in any region of Dixie Land-was the pioneer of the present Paw Paw Township. In fact, he seems to have been the ranking settler of the region which may be roughly designated as Northwest Wabash County. Sometime in 1835 he built a rude shack barely within the borders of the township and the county,
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at a place near the old postoffice of Stockdale, a short distance northwest of the present Town of Roann.
The facts concerning the life and movements of John Anderson are few and unsatisfactory. The most concise, as well as complete account was published forty years ago in Paul's Atlas of Wabash County, and is quoted : "Pleasant Township was the dwelling-place of the noble red man until the spring of 1835. It was at this time that JJohn Anderson, formerly from Ohio, but more recently from somewhere near Logansport, together with his wife, two sons and two daughters, came up on the north side of Eel River and settled on Squirrel Creek about a mile above the present town of Stockdale.
SQUIRRELTOWN
"Near the site of that town there was at that time an Indian village called Squirreltown, after old Captain Squirrel, the chief, after whom the creek was also named. His Indian name was Niconza, that being the Pottawatomie word for squirrel. Niconza postoffice, just within the limits of Miami County, is named in honor of the old chieftain, who is said to have been a model red man, presiding over his village with an amount of wisdom and discretion unusual in his race. He died at a very advanced age. The village occupied a cleared space of ground just east of Stockdale, and the burying ground was situated at the corner of the road east of there.
FIRST ROADS ALONG EEL RIVER
"John Anderson was the first man to cut a road from Weasau Creek up Eel River into Wabash County. Sawmills being a convenience of civilization not yet introdneed, and the necessary number of men to carry on a log-raising not to be had within a radius of ten or fifteen miles, his first habitation was necessarily rather primitive. He is described as having settled himself with his back against a large poplar log. with a roof of split elapboards over him, supported by crotches and poles. Such was the first cabin built by a white man in Pleasant (now Paw Paw ) Township.
"A man named Ralston had settled on the other side of Eel River, further down in Miami County the winter before, and made a small clearing. In the summer of 1835 a party of three followed an Indian trail from North Manchester to Squirrel village and to John Anderson's cabin a mile above it. Their names were Jesse Moyer, Jacob Gill and Mathias Lukens-who was at that time a boy of sixteen. At North
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Manchester the road from La Gro to Turkey Creek prairie crossed Eel River; and these three were the first white men to eut a road from that point down. At the time of their coming there were about sixty Miamis and Pottawatomies encamped on the bank of the river across from North Manchester. The land did not come into market until the ensuing Sep- tember, when it was bought up quite rapidly.
"At the time of Colonel Anderson's settlement and until the ensuing fall, no provisions could be obtained short of Wea prairie near Lafay- ette. The nearest mill was at Logansport, to which point the settlers made their trips in a pirogue (eanoe hollowed out of a tree). This journey occupied several days, the task of returning up stream being slow and tedious."
A GREAT LITTLE CORN CRACKER
A eorn-cracker was built on Eel River at an early day by James Cox. It was situated a little below where Laketon now stands and, although extremely erude, saved many a long river trip. The "plant" consisted of little besides the rude machinery and the ruder burrs, the latter being dressed out of a couple of bowlders, or "niggerheads," as they were called. The roof, supported by poles, was over the hopper. The mill did good work, however, and in course of time ground wheat also.
It was one of the first industries in the county.
WALTZ TOWNSHIP, LAST SETTLED
Waltz Township was the last section of Wabash County to be settled, as its 30,000 aeres of land were all included in the Big Miami Reserve, the surveys of which did not commence until 1839. The tribal title to the lands was extinguished in the following year, but various individual reserves were held out of the publie market, such as the Richardville and Meshingomesia traets of 1,280 and 1,680 aeres, respectively. With the exception of the latter reservation, however, most of the lands reserved for the Miami chiefs, or their bands, were transferred to white settlers soon after the Government commenced to issue patents therefor in February, 1847. Outside of these reservations settlers had been plant- ing themselves, to some extent, sinee 1840.
These early settlers grouped themselves near Twin Springs, a half- way point on the road between Marion, Grant County, and Peru, Miami County. Even before they came, a log tavern is said to have stood there kept by a Frenchman named Krutzan and his Indian wife. The prop- erty was afterward included in the Richardville Reserve, or estate, and
imin
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still later the daughters of the famous chief willed it, with a large tract of land, to Allen Hamilton.
THE FIRST OF SOMERSET
In December, 1843, the above named traet on the Twin Springs See- tion of the Richardville lands, and a short distance east of the mouth of Ten Mile Creek, was surveyed by David P. Alder, and the plat of Twin Spring was filed on the following 14th of January by Stephen Steenberger, its proprietor. A few years afterward the name was changed to Somerset.
MOUNT VERNON
Mount Vernon, a short distance east of Somerset, was surveyed in July, 1847, and the plat filed by its proprietor, William Dayton, in the following October. Although a postoffice was located there at an early day, the place never outgrew the dimensions of a small settlement.
CHAPTER VII
INDIAN CAPTIVES AND ADOPTIONS
THE STORY OF FRANCES SLOCUM-CHILD CAPTURED BY THE DELAWARES -- LONG SEARCH COMMENCES -- MOTHER FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH- COLONEL EWING SUSPICIOUS-HEARS STRANGE STORY-WRITES TO PENNSYLVANIA POSTMASTER-LETTER THROWN AWAY AS A HOAX --- RECOVERED LETTER REACHES A SLOCUM-SLOCUMS START FOR DEAF MAN'S TOWN-BROTHER MEETS SISTER-"YES, YES, FRANCA, FRANCA!"-THE REMARKABLE STORY IN ORDER-ADOPTED INTO THE TRIBE -- LAST OF DIRECT DESCENDANTS-SLOCUM RESERVE-CAPTIVITY OF MISS THORPE-AWFUL DEATH OF CAPTAIN DIXON -- SUICIDE OF THE WHITE WIFE -- FORMAL ADOPTION INTO THE TRIBE.
Wabash County is identified with several remarkable and interesting cases in which whites were captured and adopted by the Indians. When white captives were not killed, they were adopted by the tribe, assimned their dress and habits, intermarried and, if they again came in contact with the civilization of their kindred, usually refused to return to it or to them.
THE STORY OF FRANCES SLOCUM
The most remarkable case is that of Frances Slocum, who, person- ally is more directly identified with Miami than with Wabash County. She lived and died in Wabash County, where a moment has been erected at her grave and a picture of the same is found in this history. Several of her descendants have homes in Wabash County in the Big Miami Reserve of 640 aeres west of La Fontaine in Waltz Township. Captured in her Pennsylvania home when a little girl five years of age, she re- mained with the Miamis nearly sixty years before she again met her kin- dred, having become the mother of a half-breed family and an Indian in everything but name. With these general facts in mind the reader should be told the remarkable story in order.
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CHILD CAPTURED BY THE DELAWARES
Frances Slocum was one of the children of Quaker parents, who lived at Wilkesbarre, in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary war. Several months after the terrible massacre in 1778, when five years of age, she was captured by a band of marand- ing Delaware Indians and carried away before any attempt could be made to rescue her. About a month later her father was shot dead by the Indians while working in a field near his home. The widow became reconciled to the loss of her husband, but never to that of her child, the last sight of which was when it was in the arms of a brawny Indian crying piteously for help.
LONG SEARCH COMMENCES
The sons of Mrs. Slocum became prosperous business men, and after the Revolutionary war made every effort to recover their sister. In 1784 two of them visited Niagara Falls, where a large number of Indians were gathered, made diligent inquiries, and offered liberal rewards for any information of her. They prosecuted the search for several weeks, and returned to their home with the strengthened belief that their sister was dead.
The mother, however, could not be persuaded, and four years later various members of the Slocum family spent several months in the West among the Indian agents and traders, publicly offering $500 to anyone who would furnish information as to the fate of Frances. But their efforts were without results, as were those of four of the brothers who undertook a similar expedition in 1797.
MOTHER FAITHFUL UNTO DEATHI
Mrs. Slocum continued an unceasing search for her daughter until her death in 1807, at which her sons promised to use every effort to learn what had become of their sister abducted nearly thirty years before. They faithfully carried out this pledge, and in 1826 made a long and expensive journey to Upper Sandusky to see a woman, living among the Indians, whose appearance was said to point to white origin. Again disappointed, they abandoned the search as hopeless.
COLONEL EWING SUSPICIOUS
In the month of January, 1835, Col. George W. Ewing, a gentle- man connected with the Indian service of the Goverment, and proficient.
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in all of the Miami tongues, was benighted near an Indian town on the Mississinewa River, known as Deaf Man's Village, near the present City of Peoria. He applied for lodging and was hospitably received at a respectable dwelling. He was fatigued and unwell and, after eating, lay down upon some skins in the corner of the room. The household con- sisted of an old woman and a number of children, all of whom treated her with the greatest of deference and who departed to their own sleep- ing quarters.
HEARS STRANGE STORY
As Colonel Ewing lay upon his pallet he watched the old lady moving about, and noted particularly the color of her skin and hair. The result of the scrutiny convinced him that she was a white woman and he opened a conversation with her. She admitted that his suspicions were cor- rect. She said that she was stolen by the Indians when a small child and had carefully concealed that fact from those of her own race whom she met for fear that her relatives would claim her. But she was old now and felt that she would not live much longer, and if any one of her relatives or friends were living she would be glad to see them. She distinctly remembered the name of her father, but could not recall her own.
WRITES TO PENNSYLVANIA POSTMASTER
Colonel Ewing was so impressed with her narrative that he addressed a long letter, giving the particulars, to the postmaster at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania. The colonel had never heard of the Sloeums, but he judged from certain answers made by the old lady that her home was some- where in that state.
LETTER THROWN AWAY AS A HOAX
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The letter reached its destination, but when the postmaster read it he concluded that it was a hoax, and flung it among some waste papers, where it lay for two years. At the end of that time, the postmaster died and his widow, in overhauling his effects, came upon Colonel Ewing's letter. She had never heard the name of Slocum either, but thinking there was something in the story she sent the letter to the Lancaster Intelligencer. A copy of that paper, which contained the text of Colonel Ewing's letter, fell into the hands of the Rev. Samuel Bowman, who was intimately acquainted with the Slocum family and
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he mailed a paper to Frances Slocum's brother, who still lived in Wilkesbarre.
RECOVERED LETTER REACHES A SLOCUM
The reception of the letter, with Mr. Bowman's communication, threw the Pennsylvania community into general excitement; but as two years had passed since the letter was written, which stated that the old lady was even then under a premonition of death, an inquiry was addressed to Colonel Ewing by John J. Sloeum, the nephew of Frances.
SLOCUMS START FOR DEAF MAN'S TOWN
A prompt reply, dated Logansport, eame to hand saying that the woman was alive and would be glad to see any of the Slocums. The letter also contained minute directions as to the course they were to take to reach her. Arrangements were at onee made for the journey. Isaac Sloeum and Mrs. Mary Town, brother and sister of Franees, resided in Ohio, but not in the same neighborhood. Joseph Sloeum, of Wilkesbarre, another brother, started in his earriage, taking his sister, while Isaae went in advance, it being agreed that they should meet in Deaf Man's Village.
BROTHER MEETS SISTER
Isaac reached that place ahead of the others and, accompanied by an interpreter, made a eall upon the lady, who received them pleasantly but evidently with suspicion. The brother found her to all appearances a typical Indian, but he had fixed his mind on an unerring test of her identity. Previous to being carried away more than fifty-nine years before; her brother Ebenezer had crushed the forefinger' of her left hand with a hammer. Taking hold of her hand and raising it, he saw the disfigurement. "What caused that ?" he asked. "My brother struck it with a hammer a long time ago, " was the answer.
"YES, YES, FRANCA, FRANCA !"
The two remained some time in conversation, but the woman did not seem at ease, and Isaae Slocum returned to the Village of Peru to await the arrival of his brother and sister. When they came, the three made another visit to the woman. She treated them with the same kind- ness she had shown before, but was stoieal and unmoved, and when she
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saw tears in their eyes she became somewhat ill at ease. The only time she evinced any strong emotion was when she was asked her name. She replied that she had forgotten.
"Is it Frances ?"
Hler dark features suddenly lighted and she nodded her head. "Yes, yes, Franca, Franca."
The visit was prolonged for several days, and some months later was repeated, several of the nicees and nephews joining the party.
THE REMARKABLE STORY IN ORDER
From these visits of the different relatives it developed that when Frances was captured as a child of five years, the Indians carried her rapidly through the woods until near the Genesee River they made their first permanent encampment. In the following spring she was taken to Sandusky, Ohio, where she remained until autumn, when her Indian friends moved to Niagara, where she lived for a year. Thus she became a part of the migratory tribe; was born again as an Indian, and soon her greatest dread was lest she be discovered by her relatives and re- turned to civilization.
ADOPTED INTO THE TRIBE
Frances was adopted into the tribe as Mah-cones-quah, or Young Bear. She married She-pah-can-nah, known as Deaf Man, who was head of a village under the principal war chief, Francis Godfrey. Four children were born of their union, which gave her high position with the tribe. She became wealthy and was held in great veneration by her descendants and all the members of the tribe. At the time she met Colonel Ewing her husband had been dead about two years.
LAST OF DIRECT DESCENDANTS
She herself continued to reside at Deaf Man's Village until her death March 9, 1847. Four days afterward her daughter Ke-ke-na- kush-wa died, aged forty-seven; she was the wife of Capt. John B. Brouilette. The name of her other danghter was O-zah-wah-shing-quah, who married twice-first, Tah-co-nah and secondly, Wah-pah-pe-tah (Peter Bondy). By the latter she had several children, and died in January, 1877, the last of the direct issue of Frances Sloenm.
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SLOCUM RESERVE
Not long before her death John Quincy Adams attracted consider- able attention in Congress by a speech in favor of a bill introduced by B. A. Bidlack, of Pennsylvania, which provided that one square mile of the land occupied by the Miami Indians, embracing the house and improvements of Frances Slocum, should be granted in fee to her and her heirs forever. The bill became a law. Not a few of her descendants lived for years in Wabash County occupying lands in the reservation west of La Fontaine.
SLOCUM MONUMENT
A SLOCUM MEMENTO
Dr. Perry G. Moore, of Wabash, was one of the Slocum family friends, and owns one of its long-prized heirlooms. It is valuable his- torically and remarkable as a work of art-a rich blanket of the finest broadcloth, worn for years by Frances Sloeum and more than a century in age. Its border is worked by hand in beautiful colored ribbons and decorated with silver tips or buttons. The blanket is four feet square, well preserved, every stitch put into it is by hand, and the entire work
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shows both remarkable skill and unusual taste. It was presented to the Doctor by William Peeonga, an Indian, who married a granddaughter of Mrs. Slocum.
CAPTIVITY OF MISS THORPE
The captivity of the little daughter of Moses Thorpe is not dis- similar to that of Frances Sloeum, although the scene of her adven- tures was in the Wabash Valley and the closing chapter of her story is written in the county itself. According to Mr. Haekelman: "Moses Thorpe lived somewhere in the valley of the White Water River, prob- ably within the then limits of Wayne County, during the war with Great Britain (1812). Several times in the early part of the war, the Indians on the Mississinewa and White Water rivers made incursions into the White Water country. At one time (March 13, 1813) two young men on Salt Creek were killed by the Indians while working in a clearing, and on the same night another was killed at his sugar camp further up the White Water River.
"About the same time when these occurrenees took place, or from my recollection of the story it was the same night, the little daughter of Moses Thorpe was carried off by the Indians. I remember hear- ing my father say that part of his company, or the company to which he belonged, captured from the Indians near Strawtown, or White River, some of the goods and the tent which were recognized as the property of one of the murdered men. The little daughter of Mr. Thorpe, how- ever, was never recaptured. He spent several years in hunting for her, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The girl grew up to womanhood and married Captain Dixon, a Miami Indian living on the Mississinewa River near the old Josina village in Wabash County.
AWFUL DEATH OF CAPTAIN DIXON
"What became of Mr. Thorpe and his wife, I am not advised. I have however seen it stated that they spent the deeline of life in the Upper Wabash Valley, and that they finally discovered and recognized their daughter some time after her marriage with Captain Dixon.
"Miss Thorpe and Captain Dixon raised a family of several chil- dren and although she was deprived of an English education, she mani- fested a desire to have her children educated and persuaded her husband to patronize the neighboring schools. I think it was in the winter of 1845-46 that IIon. Jacob L. Sailors taught a school a mile or so west of Ashland, and Captain Dixon sent his son Charley to Mr. Sailor's school,
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with very good success as to the progress made in his studies. Charley Dixon still lives in that neighborhood (written in the early '80s).
"Now this Captain Dixon, like most of his race, was a lover of drink, and spent most of his time at such places as he could procure whiskey-sometimes winding up with a fight. Finally about the year 1850, in one of those drunken fights with a Pottawatomie Indian he received a blow on the head with a hoe that happened to be near by, cutting his head open. The wound was dressed by Dr. Mauzy of Ash- land, the fight having taken place in that town; and though it was a terrible wound the doctor expressed his opinion that if the patient could be kept perfectly still there would be a chance for his recovery. The Indians then in town wanted to take him home the same evening, but Dr. Mauzy told them that he would die before reaching town, although the distance was only about two miles.
"The next morning, however, the Indians came in great numbers and demanded that he should be taken immediately. Of course no resist- ance was made, and Captain Dixon was put on a sled and was last seen going at a pretty lively gait over the rough muddy road. The journey was acomplished in good time, but upon reaching the wigwam of the captain it was found that he was stiff and cold in death, and his blood and brains were bespattered all over the sled. Yet so far as public sentiment was concerned, even among the Indians, there was but little loss.
SUICIDE OF THE WHITE WIFE
"About the same time Miss Thorpe, the wife of the captain, in a fit of despondency left her Indian home and walked down to the Missis- sinewa River, half a mile distant, to a place called IIog Back. This romantic spot is caused by a long detour of the river inclosing several hundred acres of land, then coming round with a long sweep, and, in connection with Grant Creek, is within 100 feet of its waters above. Above these two parts of the river is a rugged hill, probably about eighty feet high and the same thickness and running several hundred feet. Here Miss Thorpe, the captive Indian white woman, paused a few moments and then deliberately plunged into the blue waters of the Mis- sissinewa River and was seen no more alive."
FORMAL ADOPTION INTO THE TRIBE
It is said that the husband of one of Frances Sloeum's daughters- he is variously called Peter Bundy, Peter Bondie, Peter Bondy and
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Gradeway Bundy ( Indian name)-was adopted into a tribe of Miamis about 1840. The account of this adoption, taken mainly from the reminis- cences of Jacob D. Cassatt, is as follows: It has always been a custom among the Miamis, as among other Indian nations, upon the death or loss of children which threatens the extinction of the family to adopt another into the household. Now Allolah, the Black Raccoon, without children of his own, married a squaw who was the mother of a son by a former marriage. According to the usages of the tribe, a man marry. ing an Indian woman with a child or children accepted the latter as his own, entitled to all the rights of descendants by blood. But in the course of time this adopted son and heir of his own race met a violent death, and Allolah was again left childless.
A proper time having elapsed after that event, a selection was made as a substitute for the deceased in the person of Bondie, Bondy or Bundy. as the case may be.
When Chief Allolah had decided that the time had come to have this selection formally approved, he gave notice of his purpose to the head man of the tribe in the vicinity. Then preparation began on an extensive scale. A beef from the woods was killed weighing 1,800 pounds, and after it was dressed, it was cut into large pieces, put into great kettles and boiled. Afterward the meat was cut into small pieces and piled on blankets spread upon the ground for the purpose, prepara- tory to the coming feast.
At the appointed hour a distant rumbling was heard in every di- rection, as of many horses in rapid flight. The sounds came nearer and, with their distinctness, became more fearful. Finally, at about 10 o'clock at night a fierce yell resounded from every point of the com pass, when, as if they had come by previous concert, Indians on horse- back dashed in, meeting at a designated spot.
Soon after these numerous arrivals were announced, a suitable plateau was selected and the festival was inaugurated by the commence- ment of a grand dance at a late hour in the evening. First two young squaws entered the ring dressed for the dance. Then came two young braves who at onee joined in the movement. The dance was continued, the number of participants increasing from time to time. Meantime a council of the head men of the tribe was in progress in the wigwam of the chief, Allolah, and at short intervals messengers were sent to inform the dancers of the progress made in the proceedings. These an- nouncements were usually accompanied by an eloquent speech from the bearer of the tidings, greeted by acclamations of satisfaction and approval.
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