USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume II > Part 102
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* * "That she [the memorialist] is now, and for the last thirty years has been, recognized as a member of the Miami tribe. * * That she has entirely lost her mother- tongue, and can only enjoy the society of her adopted people, with whom she intermar- ried, and became the mother of a family, and with whose manners and customs she has assimilated. That she is informed that the greater part of the Miamis will be obliged to emigrate to the home assigned them west of the Mississippi in the course of one or two years, where their annuities will thereafter be paid them. That she is too old to endure the fatigue of removing ; and that, under any circumstances, she would deplore the necessity of being placed beyond the reach of her white relatives, who visit her frequent- ly, and have extended their kindnesses towards her since she was discovered by theni. That her children are the owners of a section of land granted to them by the treaty between the United States and said tribes of Indians of the 6th November, 1838, who now reside upon and cultivate the same, and with whom your memorialist now lives ; and that it is the wish and design of her children and their families * * to continue to reside upon and cultivate the same. * * Your memorialist therefore prays that Con- gress may by law direct that the following persons * * * [twenty-one in number], children and grandchildren of your memorialist, as also your memorialist, and such chil- dren as they may hereafter have, shall hereafter receive their annuities at Fort Wayne, or at Peru, Indiana, as to your honorable body may seem expedient and proper."
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In the latter part of January, 1845, the Committee on Indian Affairs of the House of Representatives reported "A joint-resolution for the benefit of Frances Slocum and her children and grandchildren, of the Miami tribe of Indians." The Hon. Benjamin A. Bidlack, of Wilkes-Barré, who then represented the Wyoming district in Congress, expressed the hope that no motion would intervene to prevent the pass- age of the resolution. He said further, relative to Frances Slocum and her memorial :
"Her relatives are among the most worthy and meritorious of my constituents- they are my neighbors and friends ; they searched after the captive with zealous and praiseworthy efforts and diligence, from the time of her capture until within a few years, and they have found her in the condition set forth in the memorial and report. The incidents set forth and connected with her eventful history would afford a beautiful theme for elucidation and remark. * * What I desire is, not to make a speech, but to ask the unanimous consent of the Members for the immediate passage of the resolution. Frances Slocum was taken from her white friends when a child. She is now desirous of dying among her red friends-where she has lived for half a century-without being compelled to remove west of the Mississippi. Let her first and last request be granted. The proposition is intended to extend to her, as the widow of an Indian chief, the same privileges in relation to the payment of annuities due her and her family as are provided for by treaty stipulation in regard to certain of the Miami chiefs."
The resolution then passed the House and was sent to the Senate, by which body it was adopted on the next to the last day of the session, to wit, on March 3, 1845. It read in part as follows :
"Resolved, * * That the portions, or shares, of the annuities or other monies which are now, or may hereafter become, payable to the Miami tribe of Indians, due to the following named persons-members of said tribe of Indians-shall be hereafter and forever payable to them and their descendants at Fort Wayne, or Peru, or such other place in the State of Indiana as the Secretary of War shall direct, viz .. To Frances Slocum [and the twenty-one persons named in the memorial previously mentioned]. And be it further resolved, that if the aforesaid Indians, their descendants or any part thereof, shall hereafter remove to the country west of the Mississippi River, assigned to the Miami tribe of Indians, then and in such case the portions or shares of annuities, or other monies payable to said tribe, shall be paid to such persons so removing at the place of payment of annuities to said tribe of Indians."
The prompt action of Congress in granting the petition of Frances Slocum pleased her greatly, and removed a load of anxiety from her mind. She and her descendants were now free to remain at their Indi- ana homes, while those of the Miamis not exempted were compelled to depart. The great emigration began in 1846. Under an escort of guides and soldiers the long Indian train moved across the country, over the prairies of Illinois and Iowa to the new reservation provided for the emigrants in Kansas.
After the departure of the Miamis there was a rush of white land- grabbers to acquire the abandoned lands of the Indians, and soon new settlers began to make improvements all around the reservation occu- pied by Frances and her family. The presence of these neighbors was not calculated to promote the comfort and quiet of the old lady, and she sent for her brother Isaac and arranged with him to have his son, George R. Slocum, remove from Ohio and live with her.
In The Wabash Gazette of the fore part of August, 1855, there was printed an article entitled " The White Woman ; or the Mysteries of Providence." It contained an account of the captivity of Frances Slocum and her discovery by her relatives, and concluded with the fol- lowing paragraph :
"'The White Woman,' as she was called, requested that his [Isaac Slocum's] son, George R. Slocum, should be adopted into her family, which was accordingly done. Brother Slocum afterwards removed with his family into the vicinity of the tribe, where
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he now resides. This adoption into the family of his aunt has enabled him to exert a great and highly salutary influence over the tribe, and he has done much for the sup- pression of intemperance among them, to counteract the influence of the 'traders,' and to instruct them in agriculture and religion. Mrs. Slocum has also spent much time and labor in instructing the women in sewing, spinning, cooking, etc., as well as imparting religious instruction. The result has been, in connection with the labors of others, a great improvement in the condition of the tribe, and the hopeful conversion of some of them. Two of their principal men, who married daughters of ' The White Woman,' viz., Peter Bondy and Jean Baptiste Brouillette, have united with the Antioch Baptist Church in their vicinity, and are now good citizens and worthy members of the Church."
Soon after the visit of her Wilkes-Barré relatives in 1839, Frances had a new log house built on the hill a few hundred yards in the rear of her old home, which stood on the brink of the river. In this new house she lived with her family until her death, which occurred March 9, 1847. She was buried by the side of the remains of her hus- band and two young sons in the Indian grave-yard, situated only a short distance from her house. She was survived by her two daughters- Ke-ke-nok-esh-wah and O-zah-shin-quah.
Ke-ke-nok-esh-wah, or "Cut Finger," was born about 1800. She was married about 1819 to a Miami Indian, who died a year or two later, leaving an infant daughter. It is alleged that this daughter was poisoned to death, about 1836 or '37, by the friends of a young Indian who wanted to marry the girl, but who, on account of his general worth- lessness, was refused permission by Ke-ke-nok-esh-wah. Some years be- fore this-probably about 1834-Ke-ke-nok-esh-wah was married (2d) to Jean Baptiste Brouillette, a half-breed Frenchman. Thenceforward she was generally known as " Nancy Brouillette." At the time of the death of her mother she was ill, and was so prostrated by that occurrence that she died four days later. Some tinie afterwards " Captain " Brouillette (as he was commonly called) was married (2d) to Eliza Godfroy, a daughter of his sister-in-law, O-zah-shin-quah, by her first husband. Brouillette was born in 1796 in what is now Indiana, near the city of La Fayette, of French and Indian parentage, and was brought up as a Miami Indian. In middle life he was very straight and slim, and six feet and two inches in height. His mind was clear and strong, and he had great comprehension and scope of thought. He had considerable reputation as an orator, and also as a " medicine-man." He was a very peaceable man, and had many friends among the whites. He was the first Miami Indian to cultivate corn with a plow. Through the mnis- sionary labors of George R. Slocum (previously mentioned) " Captain " Brouillette was converted to Christianity in 1854. He attached himself to the Baptist denomination and entered into his religious profession with earnest zeal-so much so that he labored as a missionary among the Miamis who continued to live in Indiana. He died at " Deaf Man's Village " June 17, 1867, and was buried in the Indian grave-yard where the remains of his first wife and his mother-in-law had been laid twenty years previously.
O-zah-shin-quah, or " Yellow Leaf," the younger daughter of Mac- on-a-quah, was born on the banks of the Mississineva River in 1815 or '16. When quite young she was married to Louis Godfroy, a nephew of Francis Godfroy who had succeeded her father as war-chief of the Miamis, and was the last ineinber of the tribe to hold that office. She bore her husband two daughters, and shortly afterwards was separated from him because of his abusive treatment of her. Later he removed
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with other Miamis to the country west of the Mississippi, and shortly afterwards O-zah-shin-quah was married (2d) to Wap-shing-quah, of the Miaini tribe. To him she bore a daughter named Kin-o-zach-wa, or Elizabeth, who grew to womanhood and became the wife of Gabriel, son of Francis Godfroy, previously mentioned. She died October 28, 1879, aged forty-three years and one month, and was survived by four sons and one daughter. The second husband of O-zah-shin-quah hav- ing either died or disappeared, she was married (3d) about 1838 to Tac- co-nah, also of the Miami tribe. Shortly afterwards (in April, 1839) he died, and O-zah-shin-quah was ready for a fourth husband. He soon
came along (in June, 1839) in the person of Ma-ma-mundra, brother of "No. 3." By this last union there was one daughter-Lavinia, who grew to maturity. The fourth husband of O-zah-shin-quah having been killed in August, 1839, by a quarrelsome Indian, she was married in 1840 to Wah-pah-pe-tah, or Peter Bondy, to whom she bore four sons and three daughters.
In habits and manners O-zah-shin-quah was a thorough Indian, and never learned to speak the English language, although she lived to be sixty-two years of age. She was reserved and of a retiring disposi- tion ; but, like her mother, was industrious and desirous of accumulat- ing property. After her last marriage she was commonly called " Jane Bondy." She died January 25, 1877, at the house built by her mother on the hill near the Indian grave-yard at "Deaf Man's Village." Peter Bondy, the last husband of O-zah-shin-quah, was born on Eel River, near Fort Wayne, in July, 1817, the son of a Mohegan woman and a French trader, named Antoine Bondie, who had lived among the Miamis since the age of twelve years. In 1840-about the time of his marriage to O-zah-shin-quah-Peter Bondy was adopted by the Miami tribe. Under the ministrations of George R. Slocum he became a convert to the Bap- tist Churchlı, and for twenty-six years thereafter labored as a missionary among his people. He spoke broken English, with a strong French accent. He died subsequently to 1891.
In May, 1900, a handsome monument was erected over the grave of Frances Slocum in the little Indian grave-yard near Reserve, Indi- ana, at the expense of members of the Slocum family residing in vari- ous parts of the United States. The monument was unveiled, with interesting ceremonies, in the presence of a large assemblage of Slocumns and others gathered from near and from far. On the east face of the monument is the following inscription :
" FRANCES SLOCUM, a child of English descent, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, March 4, 1773 ; was carried into captivity from her father's house at Wilkes- Barré, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1778, by Delaware Indians, soon after the Wyoming Massacre. Her brothers gave persistent search, but did not find her until September 21, 1837."
On the south face of the monument is the following inscription :
"SHE-PO-CON-AH, a Miami Indian Chief, husband of Frances Slocum-Ma-con-a- quah-died here in 1833 (?) at an advanced age. Their adult children were : Ke-ke-nok- esh-wah, wife of the Rev. Jean Baptiste Brouillette, died March 13, 1847, aged forty-seven years, leaving no children. O-zah-shin-quah, or Jane, wife of the Rev. Peter Bondy, died January 25, 1877, aged sixty-two years, leaving a husband and nine children."
On the north side of the monminent are these words :
" When, inclined by a published letter describing an aged white woman in the Miami Indian village here, two brothers and a sister visited this place, they identified her. She lived near here about thirty-two years with the Indian name Ma-con-a-quah. She died on this ridge March 9, 1847, and was given a Christian burial."
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On the west face of the monument is this inscription :
"FRANCES SLOCUM became a stranger to her mother-tongue. Shebecame a stranger to her brethren, and an alien to her mother's children, through her captivity. (See Psalms, LXIX : 8.)
" This monument was erected by Slocums and others who deemed it a pleasure to contribute, and was unveiled by them with public ceremonies May 17, 1900."
In November, 1906, certain descendants of Judge Joseph Slocum (younger brother of Frances), residing in Wilkes-Barré, erected upon the front wall of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society's building, Wilkes-Barré, a bronze tablet commemora- tive of Frances Slocum ; IN MEMORY OF and at the same time, upon FRANCES SLOCUM one of the walls of the public-school building on MA-CON-A-QUAW North Street, they placed = CAPTURED BY DELAWARE NS. ANS WHEN THE VELAS OLD NOVEMBER 2/78 NEAR a second tablet, indicating WILKES -BAARE P .. AGATA PENSYLVANIA AVENGE the spot, near by, where SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF AND EAST NORTE STREET formerly stood the house of Jonathan Slocum from AND WAS DISCOVERED LIVING WEAR PERG MAC,A which Frances was carried BY HER RELATIVES SEPTEMBER 22. 307 away in 1778. The His- torical Society tablet bears a diagram showing the loca- tion of the Slocum house of 1778 with relation to the present North and Scott Streets and Pennsylvania Avenue ; while the inscription upon this tablet (a photo-reproduction of which is herewith given) reads as follows :
" In Memory of FRANCES SLOCUM-Ma-con-a-quah-' the Lost Sister of Wyoming.' Captured by Delaware Indians when five years old, November 2, 1778, near the south- west corner of North Pennsylvania Avenue and East North Street, Wilkes-Barre, Penn- sylvania. She was the daughter of Jonathan and Ruth ( Tripp ) Slocum, and was discov- ered living near Peru, Indiana, by her relatives September 22, 1837, and died March 9, 1847. Erected by members of the Slocum family November 2, 1906."
In the Summer of 1907 George Slocum Bennett of Wilkes-Barré, a grand-nephew of Frances Slocum, presented to his native city, for a children's public play-ground, a lot of land containing an acre, or more, at the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Scott Street. This lot, which lies within a stone's throw of the site of the old home of Jonathan Slocum, formed at one time a part of his estate, and in conse- quence it has been named by the Wilkes-Barré Park Commission "The Frances Slocum Play-ground."
A considerable amount, botli of prose and poetry, has been written and published during the last seventy years relative to the eventful life of Frances Slocum. The first detailed account of her capture and recovery appeared in Stone's " Poetry and History of Wyoming," pub- lished late in the year 1840. This was followed two years later by the Rev. John Todd's " The Lost Sister of Wyoming," previously referred to herein. Miner, in his " History of Wyoming " (published in 1845), gives a brief account of the capture and recovery. of "the lost sister," while Dr. Peck, in liis "Wyoming" (published in 1858), devotes one chapter of fifty pages to "The Captive Girl, Frances Slocum." In 1891 the " Biography of Frances Slocum, the Lost Sister of Wyoming," by John F. Meginness of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was published.
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This is an 8vo book of 250 pages, prepared with great care and at con- siderable expense, and it is the most complete and authentic account of the life of Frances Slocum heretofore published. Next to this publica- tion, in the matter of elaborateness and authenticity, but surpassing it in general " make-up," is "Frances Slocum, the Lost Sister of Wyoming," by Mrs. Martha (Bennett) Phelps of Wilkes-Barré. This is a 12mo volume of 167 pages, and was published in 1905. Mrs. Phelps is a grand-daughter of Judge Joseph Slocum, and therefore a grand-niece of Frances Slocum.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SULLIVAN EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SIX NATIONS-A CONTINEN- TAL MILITARY POST ESTABLISHED AT WILKES-BARRÉ -CAPT. JOHN FRANKLIN'S COMPANY OF f WESTMORELAND MILITIA.
" Strike the lyre in warning strain ! Wake the hearts of daring men ! Bid them for their country stand, Guard their homes and cherished land ! Tyrants trampling on their rights, Savage hordes whose presence blights, March their homes to desolate- Bid them rise ere yet too late ! Strike the lyre in martial strain ! Rouse to action valiant men ! " -Steuben Jenkins, 1878.
The frequent incursions of bands of Indians into Wyoming Valley during the Autumn and early part of the Winter of 1778-attended as they always were with murder and rapine-began to awaken attention and demand serious consideration on the part of the military authorities of the General Government and the civil and inilitary authorities of Pennsylvania ; as well as to excite general aların in the minds of the people living along the frontiers in the south-eastern part of Penn- sylvania. The Government of Connecticut, however (if we may judge by the best evidence now at hand), took little interest at this time in the affairs of Wyoming. And this condition of disregard and inatten- tion existed notwithstanding the fact that Connecticut claimed and exer- cised jurisdiction over the Wyoming region and demanded and received tribute from its inhabitants ; and in spite of the fact that appeals from Wyoming for aid and protection had been made to the General Asseln- bly of the State in the Autumn of 1778 (as narrated on page 1104), and were made again in January, 1779, when Colonel Denison and Lieut. Asahiel Buck were present at the Assembly as Representatives from Westmoreland.
For some time it had been the judgment of Washington that tlie war should be carried into the country of the inimical Indians ; it being argued that the surest way to protect the border settlements of New
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York and Pennsylvania was to weaken the power of the principal adver- saries. "It was known that in the fertile valleys of the Genesee and along the lakes of central New York large crops of corn and other vege- tables were raised, not for the support of the Indians alone, but as sup- plies for the British army. It was thought that if these crops should be destroyed, and the Indians driven back upon the British garrisons which were maintained at Niagara and Oswego, it would largely increase the expense of the British Government in carrying on the war, embarrass their operations through the failure of their expected supplies, place a greater distance between the Indians and the frontiers, and teach them wholesome lessons of the power of the Colonies to visit upon them the vengeance which their cruelties deserved. The territory it was pro- posed to lay waste was that occupied by the Senecas and the Cayugas, the two most powerful nations of the Iroquois, and the most haughty and implacable in their enmity to the people of the States."
As early as August, 1778, Gen. John Armstrong of Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, had suggested to the Pennsylvania authorities (as noted on page 1081) that a formidable military expedition should be sent into the Indian country. At Poughkeepsie, New York, under the date of October 15, 1778, George Clinton, Governor of New York, wrote to General Washington in part as follows* : "I find it impossible to secure the frontier settlements [of New York] against the depredations of the enemy by the utmost exertions I am able to make with the militia." He then suggested that offensive operations should be set on foot against the enemy at Oghwagat-" a considerable Indian settlement not far dis- tant from the New York frontier settlements, and the principal place of rendezvous for the enemy." Some time later Governor Clinton addressed a communication to the New York Delegates in Congress relative to the frequent depredations of the enemy on the frontiers, and said : "To defend the inhabitants by a militia harassed as ours are, will be impos- sible. * * In this situation I can only apply to you to know whether Congress mean to pursue any offensive measures against the savages."
At Sunbury, Pennsylvania, under the date of December 13, 1778, Col. Samuel Hunter, Lieutenant of the County of Northumberland, wrote to Vice President Reed of Pennsylvania in part as follows :
"I am sorry at Col. [Thomas] Hartley leaving this County ; for to do him justice he made the best use possible, of what troops was under his command, for the protection of the frontiers. Last month we were alarmed by an express from Wyoming, * * but when Colonel Hartley and myself issued orders to the inhabitants to assemble at such and such places, I never see them turn out more spirited than they did on this occasion. * * Several of them that had lately come back to the County told me they would rather die fighting than leave their homes again, as their families suffered for want of the necessaries of life while they were absent from this County ; and I believe this to be the case, for the generality of the people that has not suffered by this cruel, savage war that is carried on by the Indians and worse than Indians, turn their backs upon the poor peo- ple that was obliged to fly and leave their all behind them."
At Wilkes-Barré, on January 4, 1779, Col. Zebulon Butler received the following letters :
" MINISINK, 17th Decr. 1778.
"The business on which I address you will, I trust, excuse the liberty I take with a gentleman to whom I am an utter stranger. His Excellency General Washington has
* See "Public Papers of George Clinton," IV : 163.
¡ Frequently mentioned hereinbefore.
# See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, VII : 117.
§ See "Proceedings and Collections of The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII:148.
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been pleased to order me to the com- mand of a body of troops assembled here for the defence of this frontier, with the general direction of the troops on the Susquehannah-if any mode of co-operation can be fallen on. As this place is within seventy miles of Wio- ming, I could easily march the troops on this station to join those on Susque- hannah, at that place, if an expedi- tion against the Indian settlements be practicable at this season-on which I beg your opinion and advice. And also request to know if any provision, forage, and pack-horses can be de- pended on at Wioming ; how far it is to Chemung; how the roads, and what depth of snow usually falls at this sea- son; if the rivers and creeks are gener- ally frozen so as to pass them on the ice ; and if snow-shoes be necessary, how many pair can be procured in your neighborhood. I beg your answer by return of this express, and am, Sir,
"Your obedient H'mble Servant,"
[Signed] Edw: Land
BRIG. GEN. EDWARD HAND .*
At Wilkes-Barré, under the date of January 10, 1779, Col. Zebulon Butler wrote to General Hand, at Minisink, as followst :
"Honord Sir .- Rec'd yours of ye 17. Decr. 1778 on the 4th Jan! 1779. I immediately sent an Express to Sunsbury who returned this Day with the enclosed letter from Capt. Stoddard who commands there in Col. Hartleys absence. Sir, I am very Happy to find that A Gentleman of your Charactor is appointed to the command on these Fronteers. Shall allways be happy in receiving and obeying your Orders. Inclosed I send you the Returns of the strength of this Place as to men Ammunition, &c.
" The distance from this to Chemung is about 100 miles, the rode impossabel to pass any other way in the Summer season than by Pack Horses or boats and I think it not Possabel to pass either way at this season with any sufficient quantity of Provision for an army sufficient to go against such an enemy as we probably shall meet with1. The Ice in the River is such that we cannot pass by water, and the cricks are Numerous and uncer- tain passing. At this season the depth of the Snow is usually from 15 inches to two feet deep. Snow shoes will be necessary and can be had hear if men can be procured to make them, as the Commesary has a number of raw hides.
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