History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 13

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 13

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1. Account of William C. Bryant, Esq.

2. Referred to in a later chapter.

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In Memory of The White Woman, MARY JEMISON, Daughter of Thomas Jemison and Jane Irwin, Born on the ocean, between Ireland and Philadelphia, in 1742 or 3. Taken captive at Marsh Creek, Pa. in 1775. Carried down the Ohio. Adopted into an lodian family. In 1759 re- moved to Genesee River. Was naturalized in 1817. Removed to this place in 1831.

And having survived two husbands and five children, leaving three still alive ; She died September 19th, 1833, aged about ninety-one years. Hav- ing a few weeks before expressed a hope of pardon through Jesus Christ. "The counsel of the Lord that shall stand."

Another side is marked as follows:

To The Memory Of MARY JEMISON.

Whose home during more than seventy years of a life of strange vicissitude was among the Senecas upon the banks of this river; and whose history, inseparably connected with that of this valley, has caused her to be known as "The White Woman of the Genesee."

On another side is the inscription :

The remains of "The White Woman" were removed from the Buffalo Creek Reservation and reinterred at this place with appropriate ceremonies on the 7th day of March, 1874

Monument to Mary Jemison, erected by Mr. Letchworth at Glen Iris.

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The following is a copy of the will of Mary Jemison which was for the first time published by the Rochester "Post-Express" in its issue of December 15, 1894 :

In the name of God, Amen. I, Mary Jamison, of the town of Castile, in the county of Genesee, and state of New York, being of sound mind and perfect memory (blessed be Almighty God for the same), and considering the uncertainty of this mortal life, do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form fol- lowing (that is to say, viz .: ) I will that all my debts and funeral charges be paid out of my goods and effects. I give and bequeath to my beloved daughters, Nancy Jamison, Betsey Jamison and Polly Jamison, in equal proportions, and to their heirs forever, the three quarters of the principal and interest of a certain bond and mortgage executed by Jellis Clute and Micah Brooks for the sum of four thousand two hundred and eighty-six dollars, dated September 30, 1823. I also give and bequeath to George Jamison, Jacob Jamison. John Jamison, Thomas Jamison, Second, Jesse Jamison, Peggy White, Jane White, and Catharine Jamison, the children of my beloved son, Thomas Jamison, deceased, the other remaining one-fourth part of the principal and interest of the bond and mortgage of the said Clute and Brooks, to them and their heirs forever. I also will and bequeath to my three daughters above named, in equal portions, the remainder of my goods and effects, and I hereby appoint Jellis Clute, of Moscow, my sole executor of this my last will and testament-hereby revoking all former wills by me made. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this third day of September, 1823, one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three.

her (Signed) Mary x Jamison. (L. S.) mark.

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named Mary Jamison to be her last will and testament in the presence of us who have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses in the presence of the testator. The words "three-quarters" in the 13th line and the words "one-fourth" in the 22d line interlined before signing

(Signed) Micah Brooks, William Clute, Thomas Clute, his Pollard. x mark. his James x Stevens. mark.

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The will was admitted to probate in Erie County, April 7, 1835.

A sketch of Captain Pollard, one of the witnesses to the will, else- where appears in this chapter.

"James Stevens (his name usually appears in historical records, and properly so, as Stevenson), who was also one of the witnesses to the will, was a half-breed like Cornplanter and Captain Pollard. His mother was a Seneca princess, his father a Colonial military officer. In one of his admirable contributions to the history of Western New York, William C. Bryant said: 'When the Senecas decided to cast their fortunes with the British, at the opening of the Revolutionary war, Stevenson's mother was constrained by her fierce and jealous relatives to abandon the hated offspring in the woods, near Cayuga lake; and the agonized parent, with the rest of her family, was hurried to the British post, Fort Niagara. Her poor babe, but little more than three years old, wandered for two days in the woods sub- sisting on such wild berries as chance threw in his way. When almost famished a kind Providence directed the poor child's steps to a rude hut on the banks of the lake, which was the home of an Indian re- cluse-a Penobscot hunter who had wandered far from the home of his tribe in the wilds of Maine. This kind old man took the child into his cabin, fed and nourished him, taught him to fish and hunt, and treated him with fatherly kindness. When the long and dreary war was over, the babe, grown to be a handsome stripling, took an affectionate leave of his adopted father, and wandered back to Buffalo creek, where he was soon clasped in the arms of his delighted and weeping mother.' Chief Stevenson died a sincere Christian, Decem- ber 28, 1845, aged about eighty-seven.

"One of the witnesses examined when the will of Mary Jemison was admitted to probate April 7, 1835, was Seneca White, who was one of the most distinguished of the later series of chiefs and leaders of the Iroquois. He was one of three brothers, all prominent Senecas, and known respectively as Seneca White, White Seneca, and John Seneca. Their father was a white captive called 'White Boy,' or 'Old White Boy,' of whom many pleasing anecdotes were related by the early pioneers. Seneca White was frequently called 'The Handsome Sen- eca' to distinguish him from the other members of the family of Seneca. We quote once more from Mr. Bryant: 'Mrs. Asher Wright and her husband frequently spoke with admiration and affection of

Thomas Jemison. (So-Sun-do-waah)

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Old White Boy. His first great sorrow occurred when he was en- gaged in play with his little red companions and they acquainted him with the fact that he was of a different color, and belonged to the hated race of pale faces. He came home sobbing to his Indian mother who confessed to him that he was not her son except by adoption. At that time he formed a resolution, to which he adhered all his life, that he would by a blameless and beneficent life make the name White Boy loved and respected by the most inveterate enemies of his race.' Seneca White was called Nis-ha-nye-nant in Seneca, meaning 'fallen day.' He died May 19, 1873, aged about 91."1

Thomas Jemison, So-sun-do-waah, or "Buffalo Tom," as he came to be known in later life on the reservation, was born, according to his own statement, on the Genesee flats at Gardeau, in Decem- ber 1794, between Christmas and New Years. His father was Thomas, the eldest child of the White Woman and She-nin-jee, her first husband; his father was killed at Gardeau, in a drunken quarrel, by his half-brother, John, in 1811, as previously narrated. His mother's father was an English fur trader, trapper and hunter; his maternal grandmother, after his mother's birth, married for a second husband, Ebenezer, or "Indian," Allen; she was the Seneca squaw Sally, mother of Mary, or Polly, and Chloe. Jemison was married to a full blood squaw in 1818 and continued to reside at Squakie Hill until 1828, when he removed to the Buffalo reservation. Upon his marriage be built a log house at Squakie Hill. which he occupied until his removal to Buffalo. This building is yet standing on the Squakie Hill farm of John F. White, in an excellent state of preservation, and is still used. He became a tavern keeper on the Buffalo reservation and acquired some property in the City of Buffalo. In 1844 he moved with his family to the Cattaraugus reservation, where he purchased the improvements on a fine farm in the valley of the Cattaraugus Creek, and cultivated it with exemplary industry and success. He died on the reservation on September 7th, 1878, aged eighty-four years, and was buried in the cemetery on the reservation. His wife, three sons and three daughters survived him. His eldest son graduated at the State Normal School at Albany; indeed, he gave all his children a good English education. Besides his daughter,

1. The above account of James Stevens and Seneca White is from Mr. Samson's article in the Post-Express accompanying the publication of the will.

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Mrs. Sarah A. Kennedy, of Irving, N. Y., he has a number of living descendants.

Jemison was a representative Indian in the Seneca Nation for nearly half a century. He was chosen a delegate with other natives and chiefs to go to Washington, during Jackson's administration, on busi- ness connected with the affairs of the Seneca Nation. He received from the President a massive silver medal, commemorative of the event, which he often wore and prized very highly. In 1835, he was chosen a delegate, with seven other chiefs and sachems, to visit Kansas and examine the country with a view to the removal of the Seneca Nation of Indians to that country. This commission, devised by the Ogden Land Company, made an unfavorable report. He was a high- minded man, who always commanded the respect of the whites. Lieut. Governor Patterson said that, "his word was as good as any white man's note in the valley. If he bought property on credit, it would be paid for on the day it fell due without grace." When a young man, he renounced paganism and accepted the Christian re- ligion, and in later years was a frequent attendant upon the mis- sionary chapel services on the reservation, and contributed generously his share in supporting them. He was over six feet in height, square shouldered, with a large head, heavy pro- jecting eyebrows, a broad face, and pleasing and strongly marked features, bearing a striking resemblance to Thurlow Weed. His English was as pure as any Yankee farmer's. He paid his last visit to the Genesee in 1872. Below are given copies of three interesting letters written by his daughter, Mrs. Kennedy, at his dic- tation, to Dr. Mills.

Cattaraugus Reservation, Sept. 12th, 1875.

Dear Dr. Mills,

I am much gratified to think you think of me and hope you will so continue. I have received four papers from you since last January. I may come out and see you between this and January, but I am not positive for I am getting quite old. I learned a great deal in the last paper you sent me, there is a great deal in it that I did not know which is very interesting to me. In the papers you first sent I recog- nize most all the persons' names mentioned therein of the old settlers. I recollect of crossing and recrossing the old Cayuga Bridge not far from fifty-five years ago. In one of the papers you sent, I noticed the funeral of Colonel Horsford which made me shed tears. He was the

Log House Built by Thomas Jemison. Standing on John F. White's Squakie Hill Farm.

----

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first white teacher among us at Squakie Hlill. The inhabitants of Mt. Morris built the school house and the Moscow folks did not help at all. I was then about twenty years old at this time, I recollect of going to school some half a dozen times, but my three sisters attended all winter, this was not far from sixty years ago. I moved away from Squakie Hill in the year of 1828 and lived on the Buffalo Reservation about fifteen years and was quite successful, but now I am old and getting down about where I started from. I will be eighty years old next December and cannot work any more. My father was killed in 1811 at Gardeau.

In the year of 1833 I was a delegate with five other Indians to ex- plore Kansas in view of our removal there. We saw the Osage Indians and a white missionary by the name of Dodge who had been there ten years, and then we went to the Indian Territory among the Cayuga Indians who had removed from Cayuga Lake in this State some ten or fifteen years previous; they had a saw mill and grist mill among them. From there we visited the Cherokees, Choctaws, Seminoles and Creeks. From there we started for home on horse back for Little Rock. After arriving at Little Rock we sold our horses and took steamer for the Mississippi to Cairo; from thence up the Ohio river to Pittsburg and then took stage for home, for there was no railroads in those days.

I got acquainted with your lather when I was a young boy, he always gave me good advice. He told me to go to work and raise cattle, and so I did and when they were old enough he purchased then from me. I always thought a great deal of him. Please give my re- spects to your family. Very truly yours,

Thomas Jimeson.

Cattaraugus Reservation, April 10th, 1876.

My dear friend Dr. Mills,

Your letter of the 3rd inst. I have received. Your question in re- lation to Tallchief I am not able to tell you when he was born. 1 have enquired of his grandson Joel Sundown (said Sundown is sixty-eight years of age) also my sister, widow of William Tallchief son of old Tallchief, and I could not gain any information from either. The old man died on the Tonawanda Reservation in the fall of 1831; his son William went from the Buffalo Reservation and brought his remains and were buried in the burying ground near where my grandmother was buried. As near as I can judge bis age must have been about eighty. He was a large fine looking man and had three sons and three daughters.

The second son of Tallchief was called Straightback; he was the

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smartest Indian on the reservation to run. Captain Jones had a son we used to call Colonel Jones and was the smartest white man in the town of Leicester. Captain Jones and his son and Straightback were riding in a wagon and when they came to a nice smooth road the Captain said boys you both always say that you cannot be outrunned supposing you decide here, as there is no one present. I will drive on forty rods and as a signal I will drop my hat for you to start. The Captain has always said he could not decide who came out first, but it was reported that he favored his son as Straightback could not get the Colonel to run again with him.

I will mention two chiefs of my recollection residing at Squakie Hill over sixty-five years ago. The oldest was called Blackchief and the younger Sharpshins. The latter was a quite (?) and acquired considerable property, cattle and horses.

Also three chiefs on the Caneadea Reservation called Colonel Shongo very nice looking man, Jimmie Hudson also the same, on the lower end of the reservation now called Nunda lived Killbuck. .

The paper you sent me with the description of Indian Allen on Mt. Morris Tract I am very much pleased with. The oldest daughter of Indian Allen (Polly) married a white man by the name of Crow, he was a very bad man, a complete horse thief and was in company with a man by the name of Greig Allen one of Indian Allen's sons from a white woman. Indian Allen had three wives, two white women and one Indian.

Polly Allen died about five years ago on the river Thames, Canada West leaving one daughter. Cloe married a white man by the name of Cooper of whom one son is now living on this Reservation by name of Sylvester Cooper. Cloe lost her husband about forty years ago or over. She married again a man by the name of Seely, they having a son now living on this Reservation by the name of William Seely. Cloe died nearly forty years ago on the Buffalo Reservation.

( The above Polly Allen ought to be Mary Allen. )

1 promised when you were here, to visit you again, I am afraid I cannot fulfill. 1 am troubled with a bad cough which I have had for forty years, also with the asthma.

I shall be very happy to hear from you as often as convenient.

Your friend, Thomas Jimeson. Cattaraugus Reservation, Aug. 26th, 1878.

Dr. Mills,

Dear Sir, I received the paper you sent me, and find it very inter- esting. My health is quite bad, not as good as last year. I am very feeble, it is almost impossible for me to walk forty or fifty rods, I am

...

Kenjockety-Shen-dyuh-gwa-dih.

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so weak. I think I have been very fortunate in the length of my life, I can think back and see some of the most influential men of the City of Buffalo have died within my knowledge. They were N. R. Hall, Ex. President Fillmore, Geo. P. Barker, H. K. Smith, Babcock, Gen. Porter and Solomon G. Havens, all lawyers, Dr. Pratt, Dr. Chapin Dr. Burwell, Dr. Bissel, all the above named persons I was acquainted with.

One of our Indians from Genesee died here last year, by the name of Joel Sundown.

I would like to hear from you again.

Very Respectfully etc. Thomas Jimeson.

Philip Kenjockety, or Conjockety, Ska-dyoh-gwa-dih, 1 was the last survivor of the Genesee river Indians, whose personal recollections extended back to the invasion of General Sullivan. His grandfather was a member of the almost mythological race, the Kah-kwas, and was adopted into the Senecas. His father acquired influence among the latter nation and became a chief, and it was through his repre- sentation that the Senecas were induced to settle upon the banks of the Niagara river when driven from the Genesee. Philip's parents were residing at the Nunda village when the war of the Revolution broke out, and, when the residents of that village removed to Beards- town, Philip's family went also. Colonel Doty met him at the Cattaraugus reservation in the fall of 1865. He then claimed to be one hundred and twenty years old. He had come down to the mis- sion house at the request of his visitor, to give his recollections of the Genesee country. For a person of his age he possessed great vigor of body. His mind was clear and his memory proved to be marvelously correct. When the subject of Sullivan's expedition to this region, in 1779, was mentioned, he seemed to forget his age and everything else in the interest revived by the associations of that period. "Yes, " he said, "I recollect the Wah-ston-yans" that is, Bostonians, as the col- onial or Yankee troops were called by the Senecas; "I was large boy then. large enough to shoot small birds with a gun. The Yankees got

1. The changes in Kenjockety's name afford an instance of the difficulties attending Indian biography. O. H. Marshall, says, that when a youth, he was called Ji-va-go-wuah, meaning "large dog." After the war of 1812, another name was conferred upon him, as is customary among the Indians, to wit: Gat-go-wah-dah, that is "dressed deer skin," from the fact that Philip. heing a good hunter, kept himself supplied with deer skin sometime after the rest of his tribe were unable to obtain it. Ska-dyoh-gica-dih means "beyond the multitude."

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as far as Conesus lake, all was consternation at Beardstown; it rained ; the warriors went out; the air grew heavy with rumors; even the birds brought tidings of the enemy's doings."1 After the interview, as he was bidding good bye, he took the hand of Colonel Doty's son, and pointing to the clasped fingers, said, through the interpreter, "This bridges between three generations, between that long past and the generation under the new order." Kenjockety heard the Kah-kwa language spoken, and said a good many words were like Seneca. Ile described the face of the country in this region with great accuracy and added essential facts to its history. He died on the first of April. 1866, aged fully a hundred and ten years. The home of the Buffalo Historical Society overlooks Park Lake, a small body of water taken from Conjockety Creek, so named from the circumstance that Ken- jockety had a cabin upon it. The Academy of Art in Buffalo has pre- served a fine portrait in oil of this venerable Kah-kwa, the last of his generation.

There were a number of Indians of lesser note, who, eighty years ago, were well known to the settlers. Among these were Blinkey, a red man of much shrewdness, who had lost an eye, and thus secured an expressive name; Canaday, the brother of Blinkey, a fine looking Sen- eca, whose hut stood near the highway leading to Highbanks, on the north side of the river, at Squakie Hill, and Big Peg, who usually lived at Big Tree village. The latter possessed much good sense, was a speaker, and had no little force of character. Accident secured him his name, as it often secures the names of other personages of more consequence. Green Blanket lived at Little Beardstown, and acquired his title from always wearing a blanket of a particular color, to which he was very partial.

Of the leading warriors of the Senecas of this region, whose fame rests mainly on tradition, a sketch will scarcely be expected here, es- pecially as Colonel llosmer has so felicitously preserved their deeds in verse. The renowned chieftain, Old Can-ne-hoot, led the Senecas against the Marquis De Nonville, and, for the purpose of fiction, the poet has allowed him to die on the field of battle after the conflict. Conesus, whose romantic career has been so well given in Hosmer's Legends of the Senecas, is another. His name was a terror to the Chippewas, and often, with his band of braves, he chased the Adiron-

1. Kenjockety's recollections are incorporated in the chapter on Sullivan's Expedition.

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dacks to their mountain lodges. 1 A small island near Avon, formed by the sweeping bend of the Genesee, was the home of this warrior chief, who, often in the dim and shadowy past, "belted for the fight" with western tribes.2 The list might easily be extended, but the limit as- signed to Indian history is already more than reached.

I. "Old Can-ne-hoot arose at last, And back hi- shaggy mantle cast --

While proud as became a king, Presiding in monarchal state, His glance surveyed the tawny ring Of counsellors that round him sate.

His eloquence of look and word Dark depths of every heart had stirred; And 'twas no time in dull debate For other tongues of war to prate." YONNONDIO.

.2 The poet thus speaks of the chieftain's wood-embowered island home, near Avon

"You aged group of maples Long, long ago Conesuis made His dwelling in their graceful shade. His trihe could many a chieftain boast, Far-famed for deeds, but loved him most Not by hereditary right Rank did he win above them all, But forced his way by skill in fight And wisdom in the council-hall.'

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CHAPTER VIL.

T HE Western Expedition under General Sullivan was the leading military event of the Revolution in 1779. It constituted the principal exception to Washington's defensive policy of that year, and its influence upon the after settlement of this region gives the enterprise the importance of an epoch in our local history. While. therefore, we briefly present its general features, attention may prop- erly be claimed to full details of the operations and results of the ex- pedition in the Genesee country.

The measure, too long delayed, was provoked by the insolence of the Senecas and other Indian tribes, and their sanguinary allies, the Tories. With the exception of a portion of the Oneidas and a few of the Mohawks, it will be recollected that the Six Nations were all in arms against the colonists, and, to the lasting disgrace of the cabinet of Lord North, they were urged on by British emissaries to the com- mission of atrocities which have no parallel in modern history. Their remarkable organization and great numbers enabled them to keep the borders in a continual state of alarm, as well as to inflict upon the in- habitants a long series of injuries. The cry for protection against these predatory wrongs had gone up to the Continental Congress from many a hardy frontiersman, who found himself threatened with dangers through hourly multiplying savageries. The settlers besought their Government to interpose its power and secure them protection for their homes and families against the inroads of a barbarous foe em- boldened by the long impunity that had attended his successive deeds of rapine. But delay followed delay as the aspect of public affairs became less threatening, and Congress busied itself with other subjects than those of Indian atrocities which had grown, unhappily, too famil- iar. They indeed appeared content to resolve, to rescind, to postpone all decision. Meanwhile the western forest poured forth its savage hordes, and their spreading ravages compelled the border population to invoke aid from a nearer power. Their appeal, unheard at Phila- delphia, found its way to Poughkeepsie, then temporarily the State

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capital, where it awakened an interest beseeming its importance. The Legislature of New York at once initiated a remedy and made it prac- tical by enacting a law, which directed the Governor to draw from the militia of the State a certain quota, and send them against the Senecas. Thus it was that the first step was taken in the famous expedition of 1779. Formal notice of this action was at once transmitted to Con- gress, and on the morning of the first of April the letter of the Legis- lature of New York, bearing date the thirteenth of March, was laid before that august body. This letter referred in forcible terms to the Indian ravages on the great frontier, and the distresses they had oc- casioned; to the extreme difficulty, as well as the large expense, of covering the extended border by military posts, and closed by declaring that an expedition against the Senecas would be the cheapest and most practicable mode of defending the households and settlements suffering from exposure, and that the Legislature had empowered the Governor to raise a thousand men by drafts from the State militia for that object.

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History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 13

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen Number of Pages: 1422

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422