USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 30
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At one period of his life he became dissatisfied with his manner of living, and resolved to visit the home and scenes of his child- hood. He accordingly started and traveled a day; night came, and he began to reflect how few of his youthful associates would remember him; how fewer still might be the number remaining there, and how coldly he might be received. The morning found him retracing his steps, with no more thoughts of changing his condition.
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When this whole region of country was a wilderness, and the roads, that are now lined on either side by well cultivated fields, were not even marked out, Capt. HORATIO JONES was often employed to convey money and dispatches from one distant place to another. He was always faithful and trust worthy, never failing to transact the business on which he was sent. These journeys, which he often performed alone, were then attended with difficulties and dangers few can now appreciate. The thickest leaved tree was his only shelter from the storm when night came on; the pure spring his only hotel, where he partook of his frugal meal, which he carried with him. Yet with a brave heart and cheerful spirit, would he start off on these journeys, heedless of the perils that he might have to encounter.
The change made in his course of life by his captivity, he seems never to have regretted, but to have voluntarily acquiesced in, when it was in his power to return to his former home. He loved forest-life -its unrestrained liberty -its comparative freedom from want and carc-the opportunities which it afforded him for indulging in his favorite pursuits of hunting and fishing, and beholding and admiring nature in its primitive beauty and grandeur.
Settlement, civilization, came to him; he did not seek it; though adapting himself again to the associations from which he had long been an exile, he made himself useful in the early period of emigration to the Genesee valley. - When his brother, JOHN H. JONES, came to the Seneca lake in Oct. 1788, he found him there, surrounded "with quite a little settlement-every house was covered with barks, no boards or shingles to be had." His son. W.M. W. JONES, now residing at Leicester, Livingston Co., was born at Geneva, in Dec. 1786, and was the first white male child born west of Utica. In the spring of 1790, Capt. JONES and family, went upon the Genesee river, occupying at first, an Indian house, in Little Beard's town.
Soon after the treaty of peace, between the United States and the Six Nations, President WASHINGTON appointed Capt. JONES Indian Interpreter, which office he held until within a year or two of his death. For near forty years he discharged the duties of the office with ability and fidelity.
At a council held by the Six Nations, at Genesee river, Nov. 1798, it was decreed that a present should be made to Capt. JONES and Capt. PARRISH. To this end a speech was made by FARMER's
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BROTHER, which was intended as a communication to the Legisla- ture of this state, asking its co-operation in the matter. The title was finally confirmed. An extract from the speech is inserted: -
" BROTHERS :- This whirlwind," (the Revolution,) "was so directed by the Great Spirit above, as to throw into our arms two of your infant children, HORATIO JONES and JASPER PARRISH. We adopted them into our families, and made them our children. We nourished them and loved them. They lived with us many years. At length the Great Spirit spoke to the whirlwind, and it was still. A clear and uninterrupted sky appeared. The path of peace was opened, and the chain of friendship was once more made bright. Then these adopted children left us to seek their relations. We wished them to return among us, and promised, if they would return and live in our country, to give each of them a seat of land for them and their children to sit down upon.
"BROTHERS: - They have returned, and have for several years past been serviceable to us as Interpreters, we still feel our hearts beat with affection for them, and now wish to fulfill the promise we made them, for their services .- We have therefore made up our minds to give them a seat of two square miles of land lying on the outlet of lake Erie, beginning at the mouth of a creek, known as Suyguquoydes creek, running one mile from the Niagara river, up said creek, thence northerly, as the river runs, two miles, thence westerly, one mile to the river, thence up the river as the river runs, two miles to the place of beginning, so as to contain two square miles."
Capt. JONES died at his residence upon the Genesee river, in 1836, at the age of seventy-five years; - in the full possession and excercise of all his mental faculties -his eye undimmed -his nerves unstrung-full of years, and without reproach.
NOTE .- Those from whom the author derived the information contained in this biographical sketch, did not name the fact of his having left the Indians for a short period after the Revolution; which fact is to be inferred from the language of Farmer's Brother. Whatever may have been the fact with regard to a temporary residence among the whites, it would seem that he had returned, and had a family upon the Seneca lake as early as 1786.
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JASPER PARRISHI.
Capt. JASPER PARRISH Was born in March, 1766, in Windham Connecticut. He was quite young when his parents moved to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Soon after the Massacre of Wyoming, when only eleven years old, he was taken captive by a party of Delawares, and carried away by them from his home. During the seven years of his captivity, he was often transferred from one tribe to another among the Six Nations, and exposed to all the hardships and privations of Indian life. While he was among them, by his prudent and conciliatory conduct, he managed to gain their confidence and good will. He learned and became familiar with the language of five different nations, and he could speak them all with fluency and correctness. In the treaty negotiated at Fort Stanwix between the United States and the Six Nations, in 1784, the Indians agreed to surrender all their prisoners and captives. PARRISH, with others was accordingly released. He was shortly appointed Indian Interpreter, and afterwards a sub-agent of Indian affairs, by the government of the United States. He discharged the duties of these offices in a manner entirely satisfactory to his own government and the Indians, for more than thirty years. He was an early pioneer in Ontario county, having settled at Canandaigua as early as 1792.
At a very tender age, when he could hardly begin even to appreciate its consequences, he was destined to experience how sudden and awful are some of the misfortunes of life. We can scarcely conceive of a more startling and fearful change, than to be suddenly taken from the midst of civilization, and carried into barbarism ;- to be compelled to relinquish the comforts, usages and associations of the one, and be forced to submit to the hardships, privations and customs of the other. It was the lot of PARRISH, as it had been the lot of others, to suffer such a reverse of fortune. But he seems to have met it with manly fortitude, and even to have profited by it. In 1836, at the age of sixty-nine, he died, respected and happy in the varied relations of life.
What in all human probability, appeared to have been the greatest evil that could have befallen these captives individually, perhaps was the source of the greatest good to the country . generally. During their captivity, they gained a more thorough
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and extensive knowledge of the character, language, habits, man- ners, &c. of the Indians, than they could otherwise have acquired. They were adopted by the Indians into their families, regarded as members of their nations. These captives saw them in war, and in peace-around the council fire and on the battle field - at home and abroad. Our government redeemed them whenever it could -and availed itself of their knowledge and experience, employed them as interpreters and agents, consulted and advised with them; and with their assistance, the proprietorship and possession of a whole continent has been essentially changed; civilization has taken the place of barbarism ;- the works of man, his art and his science, are transforming the whole face of nature, and giving a new and different direction, to its course and destiny.
MARY JEMISON.
The interesting and instructive narrative of the captivity and ยท life of MARY JEMISON, written as she herself related the story to her biographer before the faculties of her mind were impaired, though more than three quarters of a century afterwards, has made most readers familiar with her strange fortunes.
In the summer of 1755, during the French and Indian wars, her father's house, situated on the western frontier of Pennsylvania, was surrounded by a band, consisting of six Indians and four Frenchmen. They plundered and carried away whatever they could that was valuable, and took the whole family captive, with two or three others, who were staying with it, at the time. They were all immediately hastened away into the wilderness, murdered and scalped, with the exception of MARY and a small boy, who were carried to Fort Du Quesne. Little MARY was there given to two Indian sisters, who came to that place to get a captive to supply the place of a brother that had been slain in battle. They took her down the Ohio to their home, adopted her as their sister, under the name of DEHHEWAMIS-a word signifying "a beautiful girl." The sorrow and regret which so sudden and fearful a change in her condition produced, gradually yielded under the
NOTE - The prominent position of Capt. Parrish at an early period of the settlement of Western New York, would suggest a more extended biography than the author could obtain materials to make. He found himself in possession of no data beyond a brief obituary notice in the Ontario Repository.
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influence of time; and she began to feel quite reconciled to her fate, when an incident occurred, which once more revived her hopes of being redeemed from captivity and restored to her friends. When Fort Pitt fell into the possession of the British, MARY was taken with a party who went there to conclude a treaty of peace with the English. She immediately attracted the notice of the white people, who showed great anxiety to know how one so young and so delicate came among the savages. Her Indian sisters became alarmed, and fearing that they might lose her, suddenly fled away with her, and carried her back to their forest home. Her disappointment was painful and she brooded over it for many days, but at length regained her usual cheerfulness, and contentment. As soon as she was of sufficient age, she was :married to a young Delaware Indian, named SHENINJEE. Notwith- standing her reluctance at first to become the wife of an Indian, her husband's uniform kind treatment and gentleness, soon won her esteem and affection, and she says :- " Strange as it may seem, 1 loved him !"-and she often spoke of him as her " kind husband." About 1759, she concluded to change her residence. With a little child, on foot, she traveled to the Genesee river, through the pathiless wilderness, a distance of near six hundred miles, and fixed her home at Little Beard's Town. When she came there, she found the Senecas in alliance with the French; they were making preparations for an attack on Fort Schlosser; and not a great while after, enacted the tragedy at the Devil's Hole. Some- time after her arrival, she received intelligence of the death of her husband, SITENINJEE, who was to have come to her in the succeed- ing spring. They had lived happily together, and she sincerely lamented his death.
When the war between England and France ended, she might have returned to the English, but she did not. She married another Indian, named HIAKATOO, two or three years after the death of SHENINJEE. When Gen. SULLIVAN invaded the Genesee country, her house and fields shared a common fate with the rest. When she saw them in ruins-with great energy and perseve- rance, she immediately went to making preparation for the coming winter. Taking her two youngest children on her back, and bidding the other three follow, she sought employment. She found an opportunity to husk corn, and secured in that way twenty-five Inishels of shelled corn. which kept them through the winter.
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After the close of the Revolution, she obtained the grant of a large tract of land, called the "Gardeau Reservation," which was about six miles in length and five in breadth. With the exception of some deeply afflicting domestic calamities, and the uneasiness and discontent which she felt as the white people gathered around, and her old Indian associates departed, but little occurred in her after life which need be noticed here. In 1831, preferring to pass the remainder of her days in the midst of those with whom her youth and middle age had been spent, she sold the rest of her land at Gardeau Flatts, purchased a farm on the Buffalo Reservation, where the Senecas, among whom she had long lived, had settled some five years previous. She passed the remainder of her days in peace and quietness, embraced the Christian religion, and on the 19th of September, 1833, ended a life that had been marked by vicissitudes, such as it is the lot of but few to experience.
The story of her family, of her son JOHN, especially,-his mur- der of his brothers, &c., has been well narrated in the small work originally written by JAMES E. SEAVER, and afterwards enlarged and improved by EBENEZER MIX. The author in his boyhood, has often seen the "White Woman," as she was uniformly called by the early settlers; and remembers well the general esteem in which she was held. Notwithstanding she had one son who was a terror to Indians, as well as the early white settlers, she has left many descendants who are not unworthy of her good name. JACOB JEMISON, a grand son of hers, received a liberal education, . passed through a course of medical studies, and was appointed an assistant surgeon in the U. S. Navy. He died on board of his ship, in the Mediterranean.
Soon after the war of 1812, an altercation occurred between DAVID REESE, of Buffalo-(who was at the time the government blacksmith for the Senecas upon the Reservation near Buffalo)- and a Seneca Indian called YOUNG KING, which resulted in a severe blow with a scythe, inflicted by REESE, which nearly severed one of the Indian's arms; so near in fact, that amputation was immediately resorted to. The circumstance created consid- erable excitement among the Indians, which extended to Gardeau, the then home of the JEMISON family. JOHN JEMISON, headed a party from there, and went to Buffalo, giving out as he traveled along the road, that he was going to " kill REESE." The author saw him on his way, and recollects how well he personated the
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ideal "angel of death." His weapons were the war club and tomahawk; red paint was daubed upon his swarthy face, and long bunches of horse hair, colored red, were dangling from each arm; his warlike appearance was well calculated to give an earnest to his threats. REESE was kept secreted, and thus in all probability, avoided the fate that even kindred had met at the hands of JOHN JEMISON.
Mrs. BLACKMAN, a surviving daughter of PETER PITTS, the early pioneer upon the Honeoye Flatts, says :- "Mrs. JEMISON used to be at our house frequently, on her journeys from Gardeau to Canandaigua and back. BILL ANTIS at Canandaigua used to do her blacksmithing. She was a smart intelligent woman. She used often to sit down and tell my father stories of her captivity; but always avoided doing it in the hearing of her Indian husband, HIAKATOO."
See notice of burial place of MARY JEMISON, p. 69.
EBENEZER, ALIAS, "INDIAN ALLAN."
It has been, in all periods of history, a marked, prominent result of War, to draw out, develope the character of men. The flint, inert of itself, is not more sure, when brought in quick contact with hardened steel, to produce fire, than are the exigencies of War, to produce daring, adventurous spirits ;- both good and bad. No people, or age, dwelling in peace and quiet, undisturbed, know how much of the elements of good and evil, in men's characters, are slumbering, awaiting a stimulus, or call to action. How well was this illustrated by the whole history of our Revolution! The great colonial exigencies occurred-separation -war ;-- a great neces- sity was created; and men were found equal to it. There came out from the quiet walks of life, here and there, often from whence least expected, the bold, the daring-the men to lead in field and council-fitted to the terrible emergency; gifted with the skill, bravery and prudence, to carry it to a successful termination.
The history of the border wars, cotemporary with the Revolu- tion, and prolonged beyond it; those that have succeeded them upon our western and northwestern frontiers; are replete with illustrations. They partook largely of the character of civil or internal commotions-of feuds between joint occupants of a soil or country; they were predatory-governed little by any settled
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rules or regulations; dependent upon skill, cunning, stratagem; the stealthy onset, and when necessary, the quick and irregular retreat. The assailants knew no rules of regular warfare; the assailed must adapt themselves to the exigency; and well did they do so. There is hardly to be found in the whole range of history, an account of war, or wars, so full of personal adventure, of individ- ual daring, of all that would interest and instruct, if gathered up and recorded, as is all that relates to the border wars of New York. The truthful historian, finds a marked extraordinary character, or characters, in every prominent feature of the bloody contest; in after times the novelist may find a basis of truth, for a wide range of fancy.
These are thoughts that have occurred, after a brief review of some memorandums, made in conversation of those who knew EBENEZER ALLAN; and the perusal of some notices of him in the life of MARY JEMISON; and yet they are mainly not applicable to him; for he was no hero,-but rather a desperado. He warred against his own race, country and color; vied with his savage allies in deeds of cruelty and blood-shed. As a portion of his life was spent in Western New York; and especially, as he was prominent in an early period of settlement, some notice of him may be regarded as coming within the scope of local history.
He was a native of New Jersey; joined himself to the back- woodsmen of the valley of the Susquehannah, who under BRANT and BUTLER, were allies of England-leagued, and co-operating with the Indians .* Mrs. JEMISON says she has "often heard him relate his inglorious feats, and confess crimes, the rehearsal of which made my blood curdle, as much accustomed as I was to hear of bloody and barbarous deeds." A detail of the enormities he confessed-though it is said, with some professions of regret- would be but a recapitulation of tales of horror, with which narra- tives of the border wars abound.
* Little is known of his early history, birth, parentage &c. Mrs. GEORGE HOSMER, of Avon speaks of a sister of his, as her early tutor, at a period when there were no schools. She had married a British soldier, named Dugan, and resided upon a farm of Allan's at " Dugan's creek," a small stream emptying into the Genesee river a few miles below Avon Springs; and at another period, at Allan's mill. Mrs. Hosmer speaks of her as a well educated, and otherwise accomplished woman, who had con- nected herself in marriage to one in every way unworthy of her. She had been in the capacity of governess in the family of Lord Stirling, in New Jersey; others, who knew her in her singularly chosen retreat, in the wilderness-dependant principally, for support upon a brother who seems to have fled from civilized life because he was unworthy of a participation in its blessings -speak of her in high terms of praise and commendation.
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Near the close of the Revolutionary war, ALLAN, then a young man, made his first appearance on the Genesee river. He had acquired the habits of Indian life, made Mrs. JEMISON's house his residence ;- seemed an adventurer, alienated by his own acts from kindred and home; and partly from choice, and partly from neces- sity, seeking a permanent abode with his war associates.
As it was a preliminary step to after feats of gallantry, in which he seems to have had a sovereign contempt for the usages of savage as well as civilized life, it may be mentioned here, that he had not been long at Gardeau, when he disturbed the domestic relations of a white tenant of Mrs. JEMISON, who had married a squaw. Unfortunately the two had a similarity of tastes. This, after an open rupture and separation, resulted in a reconciliation, a condition of which, was to remove away from the captivating influences of the new comer.
He turned his attention to agriculture; worked the fine flats of Mrs. JEMISON, until after the peace, in 1783, when he ventured to Philadelphia, and returned with a horse and some dry-goods; built a house, and settled at Mount Morris. He seemed disposed to peace. Learning that the British and Indians, upon this frontier, and in Canada, were determined to prolong the war, and continue their attacks upon the settlements in the Mohawk valley, he fore- stalled their action by an ingenious fraud. Just before an expe- dition was to start, he procured a belt of wampum and carried it as a token of peace to the nearest American post. The Indians were very unexpectedly informed that the overtures of peace were accepted. The wampum, although presented without their consent, was a sacred thing with them, and they determined to bury the hatchet-go no more out upon the war path with their British allies. The British at Fort Niagara, however, and the Indians, mutually resolved to punish ALLAN. For months he was pursued; but skulking in the woods, hiding in the cleft rocks, approaching the hospitable wigwam of his friend the White Woman, stealthily, at night, and getting food; he managed to keep out of their clutches. The matter apparently dying away, the chase aban- doned, ALLAN, "all in tatters, came in;" HI-A-KA-TOO, the husband of Mrs. JEMISON, giving him a blanket and a piece of broadcloth, with which he made himself some trousers. Dressed up, and recruited a little, he turned his attention to matrimony ;- married a squaw, whose name was SALLY. The news of all this transpiring
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at Niagara, a party was sent down, who succeeded in arresting him. Just as they were arriving at the garrison, a house near by took fire, the guard went to extinguish the flames; ALLAN took to his heels. Arriving at Tonawanda, he armed himself, got some refreshments, and went on to Little Beard's Town, where he found his wife SALLY. Attempting to go to Gardeau, he discov- ered a party of British and Indians in pursuit of him. Then followed weeks of skulking, lying in wait by his pursuers, a search of all the fastnesses of the forest; frequent approaches of the fugitive by night, to get food from the benevolent hand of the White Woman; until the pursuit was again abandoned,- the pursuers returning to Niagara. ALLAN again ventured out with assurances of protection by the Indians, who by this time, were generally his friends, and in favor of an armistice being extended to him ;- believed "that the Niagara people were persecuting him without just cause." The chief, LITTLE BEARD, had given orders for his protection. His persecutors had appropriated his horse and goods, but all this time, Mrs. JEMISON had been the faithful depository of a " box of money and trinkets." Thus situated, in fancied security, the party again came on from Niagara, took him by surprise, and carried him bound to the garrison, where he was confined for the winter. In the spring, he was taken to Montreal for trial, and acquitted. There was probably no law, or precedent, for punishing the offence of carrying wampum to the enemy. It was a novel offence; and the proof must have been difficult to obtain. It probably aided in putting an end to the cruel warfare upon the border settlers upon the Mohawk and Susquehannah, stimulated and encouraged from the British, in this quarter-the authorities of Canada, the officers of Fort Niagara, at Kingston and Oswego, after peace had been concluded; and even after their allies of the Six Nations, wished to bury the tomahawk and scalping knife .* For so much, let " Indian Allan," be credited.
He went immediately to Philadelphia, and purchased on credit, "a boat load of goods," bringing them to Mount Morris, by the way of Conhocton. He bartered them for ginseng and furs, which he sold at Niagara. He then planted corn, raised a large crop, and after harvesting it, moved down to the mouth of "Allan's creek"
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