USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume I > Part 30
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The Gardeau land was well tilled, having been cleared many years before by a people who preceded the Senecas and of whom they knew nothing, except that their bones were sometimes uncov- ered as the river bank was washed away. Mary found a couple of negroes in possession, and was very glad to assist them in husk- ing their large field of corn, in return for shelter and protection and for a share of the grain. The following winter, that of 1780, was a particularly severe one, the snow falling to a depth of over five feet with weather correspondingly cold, but with the 100 strings, representing about twenty-five bushels of shelled corn she had earned, she was enabled to keep her family "comfort- able for samp and cakes."
Following the close of the Revolution Mary Jemison was given another opportunity to go to her white friends, but reluc- tant to leave her oldest son, Thomas, upon whom she had come to rely, and realizing that her younger Indian children would be despised by her white relatives, if she should be so fortunate as
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to find them, she decided to spend the rest of her days with her Indian friends. Through the influence of her Indian brother (Kau-jises-tau-ge-au), the great council held at Big Tree in 1797 conveyed to her the land afterwards known as the Gardeau tract, which included the fertile flats on which she had estab- lished her home. Red Jacket opposed her claim with all his elo- quence and influence and withheld for two or three years moneys which were her due, but at last Farmer's Brother, supported by Jasper Parrish, then the United States Indian agent, and Cap- tain Horatio Jones, the interpreter, compelled him to pay over the money to its rightful owner.
Her land derived its name, Gardeau, from a hill within its limits known in the Seneca language as Ga-da-o and meaning according to Morgan, "bank in front."
The site of Mary Jemison's home on Gardeau flats is de- scribed, in a note in the 1918 edition of her "life," as about five or five miles and a half in an air-line northeast of the middle fall at Letchworth park. It is on the alluvial fiat half a mile wide on the left bank of the Genesee River. It is now occupied by a frame dwelling of recent construction, soon to be submerged in a great reservoir. Here she spent the later years of her life -until 1831-in independence, but her days were embittered by the quarrels of her sons, resulting in the killing of Thomas, the oldest, and Jesse, the youngest son, by their brother John, both tragedies being chargeable to whiskey. Five years later her son John, who had become a root and herb doctor in high repute, also met a violent death at the end of a drunken brawl with a couple of Squawkie Hill Indians.
After negotiations which involved action by the state legisla- ture, and when this was found to be without authority, by a council made up of representatives of the United States govern- ment and the Seneca Nation, Mary Jemison disposed of her Gardeau lands, comprising 17,927 acres, with the exception of 4,000 acres she reserved for her own use, and a lot she gave to her friend and adviser, Thomas Clute, the purchasers, Henry B. Gibson of Canandaigua, Micah Brooks and Jellis Clute, agree- ing to pay her, her heirs or assigns, an annuity of $300 forever.
In the concluding chapter of her narrative Mary Jemison, looking back over the preceding years, spoke of her life as "a tragical medley" that she hoped would "never be repeated." While
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she had several times declined opportunities to regain her free- dom, she confessed that her life of slavery had not been without repinings and other bitter dregs. She recognized that the preser- vation of her life and health had been due to her own excellent constitution, and her careful guarding against unnecessary ex- posure, and temperance in eating and abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquor.
Referring to the last mentioned subject, it is interesting to note her account of when and how the Indians' use of liquor came about and in what manner it was at first used. She says that when she was taken prisoner, and for some time after that, "spirits," or "rum," was unknown to the Indians. When it was first introduced it was in small quantities. "After the French war, for a number of years, it was the practice of the Indians of our tribe," she said, "to send to Niagara and get two or three kegs of rum (in all six or eight gallons) and hold a frolic as long as it lasted. When the rum was brought to the town, all the Indians collected, and before a drop was drunk, gave all their knives, tomahawks, guns and other instruments of war, to one Indian, whose business it was to bury them in a private place, keep them concealed, and remain perfectly sober himself until the frolic was ended. Having thus divested themselves, they commenced drink- ing, and continued their frolic till every drop was consumed. If any of them became quarrelsome, or got to fighting, those who were sober enough bound them upon the ground, where they were obliged to lie till they got sober, and then were unbound. When the fumes of the spirits had left the company, the sober Indian returned to each the instruments with which they had intrusted him, and all went home satisfied. A frolic of that kind was held but once a year, and that at the time the Indians quit their hunt- ing and came in with their deer skins."
She relates that the women then never participated in these "frolics," but that soon after the close of the Revolution, spirits became common with the Senecas and were used indiscriminately by both sexes.
The Senecas having sold their lands on the Genesee and re- moved to the Tonawanda, Buffalo Creek and Cattaraugus reser- vations, the aged Mary Jemison and her family found themselves surrounded by white people. So she parted with her annuity of $300 per annum for a commutation in ready money, sold her
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remaining two square miles of land, including her "flats," and in 1831 moved to Buffalo Creek, where, having acquired a possessory right to a good farm, she continued to reside among her Indian friends to the end of her long and eventful life.
In the summer of 1833 she seceded from the so-called pagan party of her nation, and under the instruction of the Rev. Asher Wright, the missionary at Buffalo Creek, she embraced the Chris- tian faith. She died on September 19, 1833, at her home on the reservation, aged about ninety-one years.
The interment was made in the mission burial ground near Buffalo, by the grave in which the remains of Red Jacket were first interred, but in 1874 all that remained of the White Woman of the Genesee was removed at the instance of Mr. Letchworth to the neighborhood of her old home on the Genesee River. The removal was made under the eye of her favorite grandson, Dr. Shongo, and the remains were placed in a stone sarcophagus on an eminence in what is now the Letchworth State Park overlook- ing the upper and middle falls of the Genesee, a picturesque spot near the old council house which had previously been moved from Caneadea, and within which it is believed she rested for the first time after her journey of 600 miles from Ohio. Only a short distance away is the log cabin which she built on the Gardeau flats about the year 1800 for one of her daughters.
Mr. Letchworth in 1910 completed the monument which he had erected to the memory of the White Woman by placing on the marble base a statue of her modeled by the eminent sculptor, H. K. Bush-Brown, after careful study of all possible information regarding her personal appearance and her usual costume. This memorial is pronounced by the former New York State Archeol- ogist, Arthur C. Parker, and others competent to judge, as his- torically correct, and is highly esteemed by critics for its artistic excellence.
This statue is of bronze, somewhat greater than life size. It represents Deh-he-wa-mis as she is believed to have appeared when she arrived at the Genesee, carrying her babe on her back, Indian fashion, and all her personal belongings in a small bundle - in her hand.
Mary Jemison contributed nothing to the history of Genesee Country development, but her life covered a crucial period in that history and its dramatic story illustrates phases of the struggle
MONUMENT ERECTED BY DR. WILLIAM P. LETCHWORTH TO MARY JEMISON AT LETCHWORTH PARK.
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that accompanied the passing of the red man and the coming of the white man. Its story, as related by Dr. Seaver, is worthy of the prolonged popularity it has enjoyed among the descendants of those who had part in the adjustment of the tragic relations of the two races at this juncture. But Jemima Wilkinson, "the Universal Friend," is entitled to a place of honor among those who pioneered the Genesee Country.
When in the early summer of 1788 a company of her followers, seeking a location where they could found a New Jerusalem in which to exemplify the religious faith and the social tenets she had inculcated, without interference of intolerant or envious neighbors, settled on the west shore of Seneca Lake, they consti- tuted the first actual bona fide settlers in the Genesee Country. Phelps and Gorham had concluded their purchase, but had not yet set their surveyors at work, and, in a cluster of small buildings at Geneva and in huts here and there, on the Genesee River and on the Niagara, white traders were eking out a precarious living, but all else was Indian.
Jemima Wilkinson, therefore, is entitled to fame both as a pioneer and as a religious leader. As the latter she was the first of a succession of those with whose careers Genesee Country his- tory is connected, including Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, founder and organizer of the Mormon Church; the Fox sisters, founders of the Spiritualistic cult, and a number of others of lesser note.
Jemima Wilkinson was born in the town of Cumberland, county of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1758. Her childhood was uneventful and she grew into a handsome wilfull young woman. In 1775 she became interested in religious meetings conducted by "New Light Baptists" or "Separates," and, after recovering from a deep trance into which she fell, she declared that Jemima Wil- kinson had passed to the angel world and that her mortal body, or tabernacle, as she called it, was reanimated by a spirit whose mission was to deliver the oracles of God to mankind. Thereafter to the day of her death at the age of 61 she was unshaken in the belief that she was the Public Universal Friend.
Having made many converts, developing power as a preacher or exhorter, she sought harbor among the Quakers in Philadel- phia, and later, resolving to bring her followers together in a com- munity by themselves, she sent out several of her disciples to
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locate a place of settlement. Following the track taken by Sulli- van's army seven years before, the "scouts," whom the Friend had sent to spy out the land, reached the foot of Seneca Lake and, after proceeding for some miles along the west shore of that body of water, returned to Rhode Island to confirm the accounts she had had regarding the attractiveness of the Genesee Country. The proposed migration, however, was delayed on account of the hos- tile attitude of the Indians, but in 1788, about twenty-five mem- bers of the new society, now established in several communities in New England, set out on the great adventure. In August of that year they had settled themselves at Kashong, west of Seneca Lake. More people joined these pioneers the following year. But the little settlement was soon distracted by divisions among its members.
In 1790 representatives of the Universal Friend acquired title from Phelps and Gorham to a tract of 4,480 acres in what is now Yates County, and in 1794 a considerable part of the little flock, following her lead, separated themselves from the Kashong settle- ment and removed their abode to the New Jerusalem.
The first building erected at this location was a log meeting house. This was enlarged and improved from time to time, being used as a place of meeting and as the Friend's home. Outside her peculiar religious tenets and assumptions, which were ac- cepted by a large number of sincere and industrious followers, she gained general respect and good will on the part both of whites and Indians. Both in Jerusalem and at Kashong, where many of her followers continued to reside, she maintained a landed as well as a spiritual interest, and there gathered settlers who con- tributed greatly to the prosperity and growth of the new country.
Efforts to discredit the Friend or to dispossess her of her prop- erty were unsuccessful. In June, 1790, after several unsuccess- ful attempts to place her under arrest for alleged blasphemy, she was summoned to await the action of the circuit court at Canan- daigua. The grand jury before which the evidence to support the charge was presented found no indictment and the Friend, fully exonerated, was respectfully invited to preach before the court and the people in attendance. She did so and was listened to with the deepest attention, and the venerable Ambrose Spencer, the presiding judge, on being asked his opinion of the discourse, re- plied "We have heard good counsel and if we live in harmony with
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what that woman has told us we shall be sure to be good people here and reach a final rest in Heaven."
That the Friend's religious faith comprised nothing that was subversive of Christianity or the moral law is indicated by the statement of doctrine that she recommended to be read in public meetings. According to this somewhat discursive statement printed during her lifetime, the Friend advised her followers to "shun at all times the company and conversation of the wicked world," and adjured them to "deal justly with all men and do unto all men as you would be willing they should do unto you and walk orderly that no occasion of stumbling be given by you to any."
Urging her followers "to live peaceably with all men as much as possible" and to abstain from "debate, evil surmisings, jeal- ousies, evil speaking," she asked them to take up their "daily cross against all ungodliness and worldly lusts" and to "live as you would be willing to die," to "shun the very appearance of evil in all things, as foolish talking and vain jesting," to "flee from bad company as from a serpent," and to refrain from excessive use of "wine or any other spirituous liquors." She was particularly anxious that the members of her religious society "be punctual in attending meeting," or "evening sittings," making "as little stir as possible." Assembled in such meetings they were to gather in their "wandering thoughts," "sit down in solemn silence," and not to "speak out vocally," except they be "moved thereunto by the Holy Spirit or that there may be real necessity." "Use plain- ness of speech and apparel," she advised, among other admoni- tions, "and let your adorning not be outward but inward." "Deceive not yourself by indulging drowsiness or other mockery, instead of worshipping God and the Lamb."
While the Universal Friend claimed to be in a peculiar sense the representative of the Almighty, it may be said with assurance of truth that she did not, as alleged by her caluminators, claim divine attributes, ability to walk on the water or to work other miracles, or to be exempt from the infirmities common to human- ity. She was in her prime a prepossessing woman, dressed in good taste, was well informed, hospitable to all, but especially cordial in her entertainment of people of note, and charitable. She could read and possessed a remarkable knowledge of the Bible, but could not write, as is shown by the fact that she did not affix
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her signature to her will, but signed it by her mark. She died at her home in the New Jerusalem on July 7, 1819, aged 61 years.
. Stafford C. Cleveland, whose History of Yates County con- tains the most reliable and fair-minded account of Jemima Wil- kinson, gathered at the scene of her ministry in the Genesee Country, and much of it derived from those yet living who had been associated with her, writes:
"Thus terminated the career of one of the most singular and remarkable characters of modern history. She has been treated as an imposter. A conscious imposter she could not have been, for sincerity, earnestness, probity, and undeviating consistency were the conspicuous elements of her character. Her ministry of forty-three years was an unvarying assertion of the same claims, without a lapse or single act or expression that could be construed into an indication that she was actuated by purposes of chicanery. She confronted her fellow beings with counsel and warning in relation to their spiritual interests, with a manner that always impressed serious minds with the highest respect for her devo- tional sentiments, and the transparent integrity of her convic- tions. The very name she assumed, Public Universal Friend, indicated a sentiment of broad and generous philanthropy, worthy in this too selfish world of the most profound respect. It may be said that there was ambition and a desire to lead and to rule, mingled with this zeal for the welfare of the human family. All this may be admitted without diminishing the nobility and integrity of her character. If she ruled, it was by virtue of char- acteristics that made her a ruling mind. Like all real rulers she elected herself and proceeded with her work."
To the society founded by the Universal Friend belongs the credit of being the first permanent settlement in the Genesee Coun- try. In 1788 they sowed twelve acres of wheat, the first grain grown west of Seneca Lake and their grist mill built in 1789 for some years supplied the whole eastern part of Ontario County with flour. A yet earlier mill, the first in the Genesee Country, was erected in 1788 by John and James Markham on a little stream that enters the Genesee a short distance north of Avon. Indian Allen built a mill at Rochester late in 1789, and Oliver Phelps one at Canandaigua in 1791.
The society which Jemima Wilkinson organized and led re- mained loyal to the end of her life, following which it slowly dis-
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integrated, owing perhaps to the rule of celibacy she inculcated. The members embraced people of property and influence and to, them is given credit for leading moral God-fearing lives in which brotherly kindness was a particular characteristic.
LOG HOUSE BUILT BY THOMAS JEMISON. NOW STANDING IN THE TOWN OF LEICESTER, N. Y.
CHAPTER XVI. THE WAR OF 1812.
BY ARTHUR C. PARKER.
North of the Genesee Country lie two of the Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario. Connecting these inland seas is the Niagara River, whose troubled waters have looked upon many a stormy. conflict between contesting tribes and nations of mankind. This line of freshwater seas constitutes a natural boundary line, and it seems as if destiny had decreed that those who live to the north should have no political unity with those who live to the south. The close of the Revolutionary war left the Great Lakes a boun- dary line between the new nation-the United States-and the upper and lower provinces of Canada, a circumstance that seems almost providential, for it left ample territory for each group of contestants, and provided the means whereby two great divisions of English speaking people might develop amicably, side by side. And yet, the wide expanse of waters was not broad enough to prevent the horrors of warfare when the flames of discord again burned in fury between the mother country and the United States.
Some modern writers are inclined to describe the second war with Great Britain a useless and almost unprovoked conflict. They sometimes appear to blame the United States for engaging in a struggle against a foe that assailed the country and held it up to ridicule. We are even told that, since the ends for which the United States fought were not immediately gained or even recognized in the Treaty of Ghent that followed, the bloodshed was useless and unavailing.
A deep student of history can hardly make such claims. Events must be interpreted in the light of the times in which they trans- pired, and the motives of men must be construed according to the mental state of the age. The second war with Great Britain was
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inevitable, for it was the result of an impingement of lines of diverse purpose. Let us explain this concretely.
The unsettled condition of the United States after the Revolu- tion and its struggle to effect the status of a nationality caused the nations of Europe to look askance. The ideas of nationality and of government promoted by the United States were new and un- tried. The conception that a nation could be formed from a group of jealous and contesting states, each struggling for its own in- terests; the idea that a state belonged to the people who composed it, and that these people should govern it of their own volition, were ideas that found no sympathy among the powerful monarchs of Europe. To them the king was the state and the king and his constituted lords of the realm were the rulers; the people were but subjects. The United States had gained its freedom but it had not yet commanded a respect for its independence. England bided the time when the states should break asunder through wars and jealousies, and petition for re-incorporation in the Brit- ish Empire. Indeed, British agents did all they could to. foment trouble and to accentuate differences of opinion. This agitation was even carried on among the hostile Indian tribes of the north- west and these natural enemies were outfitted by the British, who offered scalp bounties for raiding the frontier and spreading death and terror to the pioneers and plainsmen. This condition of affairs culminated in the defeat of the Indians at the battle of Tippecanoe (1811), by General William H. Harrison, the gover- nor of Indiana Territory.
During the administration of Thomas Jefferson, the United States pursued a steady neutrality in her relations between France and Great Britain. Each of these great nations was en- gaged in a deadly struggle, Napoleon of France asserting that England was attempting to control the seas and all commerce; and England maintaining that France under Napoleon was at- tempting to dominate the nations of Europe in every respect. Each nation pursued its own course, giving no heed whatever to the rights of neutral nations. More than this, each nation held any other nation that was not on its side in the conflict as its enemy, a condition of affairs that worked hardship on all neutrals.
Great Britain decreed that it had the right to search American ships and to remove from them any sailors or others believed to be British born. Such persons were seized and impressed into
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the British navy. This course persisted until more than 25,000 American seamen, native-born and naturalized, were forced into British service. In this there was a clear assertion of several points of power: First, a denial of the right of the United States to maintain the integrity of its shipping; second, the avowal of the right of Great Britain to hold up our ships, board them and, upon the judgment of the boarding officer, to remove men from the American crew; and third, an assertion that the United States had no right to naturalize native-born Britishers or to afford them the protection that naturalization gives. These abuses led to the wanton kidnapping of native-born Americans and their removal to scenes far from their country, their families and friends.
America attempted to hold to neutrality but British ships cap- tured more than 900 American bottoms bound for France, while France seized immense stores of American goods at Antwerp and elsewhere, because they were suspected of being designed for re- shipment to England. To add further embarrassment, France decreed that any nation that allowed her ships to be boarded and searched by the English, was an ally of the English, and hence an enemy of France. Little wonder that America, with her concep- tions of freedom and fair play, considered herself seriously threat- ened by unreasonable foes who seemed bent only upon crushing her. Then came the blockade. France was declared blockaded by England, and Napoleon declared the British Isles under block- ade (1806). This meant that no neutral could trade with either, and also that, if these same neutrals did not trade fully and freely with each, the other would declare them enemies!
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