Subject: Mary Jamison, Indian Captive
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 00:19:36 EST
In the course of doing genealogical studies I came across some
information that may be of interest to Jamison researchers--particularly
if they are of Native-American ancestry.
My fifth great-grandfather, Thomas Jemison, was of Scots-Irish descent
and, like so many of his fellow countrymen, came to America about 1743.
Thomas, his wife Jane Erwin, several of their children, and some neighbors
were killed during the French and Indian War when their farm (near what
is now Gettysburg, PA) was raided. Fortunately for me, and the others
who descend from them, two sons survived the incident by hiding under
some hay in their barn. The only member of the captured group who was
spared was their sister Mary, who was then about 14 years old.
Some members of the raiding party were members of the Seneca tribe.
It was there custom to take an occasional captive during warfare and
offer the individual to the family of a warrior who had been killed. The
family could have the captive killed or could elect to keep them in a
state of bondage. Mary was thus offered to two sisters of a slain warrior
who decided to spare her.
Mary led a remarkable life among the Senecas, the details of which have
been recorded in several biographies and magazine articles. As a result
of land grants given by the Federal government to Indians who supported
the American cause during the Revolutionary War, Mary (as a widow)
came to own about 25 square miles of property in New York. She had eight
children by two Seneca warriors and she gave all of them her surname.
Some of her descendants adopted white customs, others followed Indian
ways, and, there are today, many Native-Americans, particularly in
New York and Pennsylvania, who are named Jemison, Jemson, Jimmerson,
or some other corruption of Mary's name. Mary was about 90 when she died
in 1833. Her original land is now the setting of the very large and
beautiful Letchworth State Park in western New York. The park is also the
location of a life-size statue of Mary that depicts her as a young woman,
dressed in Indian garb and carrying a child in the traditional papoose
style. I have visited her nearby grave site.
The interesting story of Mary Jamison was first recorded by the
Rev. James Seaver in a book he published in 1824. "A Narrative of
the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison," has been republished in over 20
editions since then. Rev. Seaver was a missionary among the
Indians and came to know Mary in her old age. Unfortunately, his
quotations from Mary were put into his own somewhat stilted
language--a manner of speaking that would have been unknown to
an uneducated girl living on the frontier. Still, we are indebted to
him for his interest in her story, without which we should probably
know nothing of her many trials and tribulations.
A rather prolific writer of stories about upstate NY, Arch Merrill,
published, "The White Woman and Her Valley", in 1955. It repeats
Mary's story as well as other tales about that region. He relies
heavily upon Seaver's original work in reporting that Mary was
born in 1743 (aboard the sailing ship "William and Mary" en
route from Londonderry to Philadelphia) and died in 1833 in
what is now Buffalo, NY.
According to Merrill, when Mary related her story in her great
old age, she was unsure if her parents were of Scottish or Irish
ancestry. It is likely her father, Thomas, was of Scottish descent and
her mother, Jane Erwin, was probably Irish. They were surely Protestants
as Mary was able to recall the prayers her mother had taught her.
I descend from Mary's brother, Thomas, Jr., who was my fourth-great
grandfather. On my genealogy page, which can be read at
Genealogy Page
http://members.aol.com/AttalaKin/index.html
I describe my descent from Captain Henry Jamison, who was
my great-great grandfather. His father was Hugh Black Jamison,
a son of Thomas, Jr.
Thomas, Jr., was a Revolutionary War soldier and members of the
family have been enrolled in the DAR as a consequence of his
service to the Continental army. It has been awhile since I looked
at the few notes that I have concerning him, but I seem to recall
that he was wounded in action--possibly in GA. Hugh Black Jamison lived
in TN, and his son, Henry, eventually came to live in MS. Following
his CW service for the Confederacy, Henry became one of the larger
planters in Attala County, MS, and is buried in the New Hope
cemetery near Ethel, MS. His old dog-trot home stood nearby
until about ten years ago.
Edward Hutchison
Jackson, MS
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Jane Erwin [Female]
from "Geneology of that Branch of the Irwin Family in New York
founded in the Hudson River Valley by William Irwin 1700-1787"
pg 8. Another Erwin in Western New York was Mary Jemison, "the white
woman of the Genessee." Captured by the Indians when a girl of
thirteen she spent her life with them, marrying first a Delaware
brave, by whom she had two children, and later a cheif of the Senecas,
by whom she had six. She was an interesting figure in that part of
the state. A stautue of her has been erected in Letchworth Park,
owned by New York State, near Castile, N. Y., on the Genesee River,
where she is buried. The best account of her life is to be found in
the edition of 1932 of "A Narative of the life of Mary Jemison," by
Dr. James Everett Seaver, published by yhe American scenic and
Preservation Society, New York, NY.
Mary Jemison was the daughter of Thomas Jemison and Jane Erwin who
came over from Ulster, Ireland on the ship "Willaim and Mary"
bound for Philadelphia in 1743. The family settled in Marsh
Creek, Pa. Three children had been born prior to the migration.
Mary was born en route, on the Atlantic. Two more sons, Matthew
and Robert, were born in Pennsylvania. In 1758 their settlement
was attacked by Indians and the family carried off. The two elder
sons escaped and later joined their grandfather in Virginia. All
the rest of the family, except Mary, were killed and scalped on
the march. She was adopted by the tribe. During the French War
and the Revolution the six nations sided with the British. When
peace was finally made between the white man and the Indians in
New York, in 1783, Mary Jemison refused to accept freedom, but
continued to live with her Indian family. After 1797 she had
frequent meetings with the white settlers. She died in 1833 in
Buffalo, NY, her body being moved later to Letchworth Park.
I took a look at some of the sources on Mary Jemison. Her parents
lived on Marsh Creek, in Franklin Township, Adams county, Pa, about
10 miles north of Gettysburg. There is some dispute about when they
arrived on th "William and Mary." It arrived in Philadelphia from
Belfast
on Oct 6, 1743. But it also sailed from Londinderry on Oct 21, 1742,
bound for
Philadelphia. A source called "White Captives" by June Namias, say in
a note citing "Notable American Women," that the two brothers who
escaped ended up with their grandparents, the Erwins, in Virginia.
Well, the article in "Notable American Women" says no such thing, but
she must have gotten the idea from somewhere. In Chalkley, Matthew
Erwin's will was written in 1755 in Augusta County, Va, when Jane Erwin
Jemison was still alive and thus mentions her, and was probated in 1762,
after her
death in 1758.
**************************************
Bob Erwin
ISCRE@@EMORY.EDU
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Mary Jemison [Female] b. 1743 Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and America - d. 19 SEP 1833
Wikipedia:
Mary Jemison (Deh-he-wä-mis) (1743 – September 19, 1833) was an American frontierswoman who was adopted in her teens by the Seneca. When she was in her teens, she was captured in what is now Adams County, Pennsylvania, from her home along Marsh Creek. She became fully assimilated into her captors' culture and later chose to remain a Seneca rather than return to British colonial culture. Her statue stands today in Letchworth State Park.
Mary Jemison was born to Thomas and Jane Jemison aboard the ship William and Mary in the fall of 1743, while en route from what is now Northern Ireland to America. They landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and joined other Protestant Scots-Irish immigrants in heading west to settle on cheaper available lands in what was then the western frontier (now central Pennsylvania). They "squatted" on territory that was under the authority of the Iroquois Confederacy, which was based in central and western New York.
The Jemisons had cleared land to make their farm, and the couple had several children. By 1755, conflicts had started in the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. Both sides made use of Native American allies. They were especially used in the many frontier areas. One morning in 1755, a raiding party consisting of six Shawnee Indians and four Frenchmen captured Mary, her family (except two older brothers) and a young boy from another family. En route to Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh), then controlled by the French, the Shawnee killed Mary’s mother, father, and siblings and ritually scalped them. The 12-year-old Mary and the young boy were spared, likely because they were considered of suitable age for adoption. Once the party reached the fort, Mary was given to two Seneca, who took Mary downriver to their settlement. A Seneca family adopted Mary, renaming her as Deh-he-wä-mis (other romanization variants include: Dehgewanus, Dehgewanus and Degiwanus, Dickewamis), which she learned meant "a pretty girl, a handsome girl, or a pleasant, good thing."
When she came of age, she married a Delaware man named Sheninjee, who was living with the band. They had a son whom she named Thomas after her father. Sheninjee took her on a 700-mile (1,100 km) journey to the Sehgahunda Valley along the Genesee River in present-day western New York state. Although Jemison and their son reached this destination, her husband did not. Leaving his wife one day to hunt, he had taken ill and died.
As a widow, Mary and her child were taken in by Sheninjee's clan relatives; she made her home at Little Beard's Town (present-day Cuylerville, New York). She later married a Seneca named Hiakatoo; they had six children together: Nancy, Polly, Betsey, Jane, John, and Jesse. In 1811 John murdered his half-brother Thomas. Some time later John murdered his brother Jesse, and in 1817 John was himself murdered by two men from the Squawky Hill Reservation.
During the American Revolutionary War, the Seneca were allies of the British, hoping that victory would enable them to expel the encroaching colonists. Jemison's account of her life includes some observations during this time. She and others in the Seneca town helped supply Joseph Brant (Mohawk) and his force of Iroquois warriors from various nations, who fought against the rebel colonists.
Statue of Jemison in upstate New York. 1910 photo
After the war, the Seneca were forced to give up their lands to the United States as allies of the defeated British. In 1797 the Seneca sold much of their land at Little Beard's Town to European-American settlers. At that time, during negotiations with the Holland Land Company held at Geneseo, New York, Mary Jemison proved to be an able negotiator for the Seneca tribe. She helped win more favorable terms for giving up their rights to the land at the Treaty of Big Tree (1797).
Late in life, she told her story to the minister James E. Seaver, who published it as a classic "captivity narrative", Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison (1824; latest ed. 1967). Although some early readers thought that Seaver must have imposed his own beliefs, today many history scholars think the memoir is a reasonably accurate account of Jemison's life story and attitude.
In 1823, the Seneca sold most of the remainder of the land in that area, except for a 2-acre (8,100 m2) tract of land reserved for Jemison's use. Known by local residents as the "White Woman of the Genesee", Jemison lived on the tract until she sold it in 1831 and moved to the Buffalo Creek Reservation. Jemison lived the rest of her life with the Seneca Nation. She died on September 19, 1833, aged 90. She was initially buried on the Buffalo Creek Reservation.
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Thomas Jamison [Male]
Thomas, Jr., was a Revolutionary War soldier and members of the
family have been enrolled in the DAR as a consequence of his
service to the Continental army.
- Edward Hutchison, Jackson, MS
The following is taken from my book, "Yesterday":
My great-great grandparents, HENRY CLAY JAMISON and LETTITIA HARRIET JONES
were wed on October 28, 1847. She was a native of North Carolina and was born
on June 6, 1824. Henry was born in Tennessee on January 31, 1823. In
November, 1848, Henry and Lettitia came to Leake County, Mississippi. Four
years later they arrived in Attala County where he eventually became the
owner of a large plantation and numerous slaves. Henry served in the Mexican
War of 1846 and was a Captain in the Civil War. He became a prisoner of war
at Fort Donelson. Lettitia died January 16, 1889. She bore seven children,
including a daughter Hattie, who was my great-grandmother. She wed Jonathan
Right White, and they lived and died in Attala County, MS.
Henry's great-grandfather, Thomas Jemison was of Scots-Irish descent and came
to America about 1740. Thomas had a daughter, Mary, who was captured by a
band of Iroquois Indians during the French and Indian War. Thomas, his wife
Jane Erwin, several of their children, and some neighbors were killed during
this raid on their farm located near what is now Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Mary was about 13 at the time of her capture. Fortunately, two of her
brothers managed to hide in their barn during the raid and escaped detection.
One of them, Thomas Jemison, Jr., (my fourth great-grandfather), went on to
serve in the Revolutionary War.
Meanwhile, Mary led a remarkable life among the Senecas, the details of which
have been recorded in several biographies and magazine articles. She was
eventually given in marriage to a young Seneca brave. After his death she
was married to a very elderly Seneca chief. As a result of land grants given
by the Federal government to Indians who supported the American cause during
the Revolutionary War, Mary came to own about 25 square miles of property in
New York.
She had eight children by two Seneca warriors and she gave all of them her
surname. Some of her descendants adopted white customs, others followed
Indian ways, and, there are today, many Native-Americans, particularly in New
York and Pennsylvania, who are named Jemison, Jemson, Jimmerson, or some
other corruption of Mary's name. Mary was about 93 when she died in 1833. Her
original land is now the setting of the very large and beautiful Letchworth
State Park in western New York and I have visited her grave site there. The
Park is also the setting for a life-size statue of Mary that depicts her as a
young woman, dressed in Indian garb and carrying a child in the traditional
papoose style.
As Captain Henry Jamison had numerous slaves, and it was not uncommon for
freedmen to take the names of their former owners, it happens that many
African-Americans today also bear the names Jamison, Jemison, Jimmerson,
Jempson, or some other variation of the Captain's name.
Edward Hutchison
Jackson, MS
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jamison Cemetery - Smith Co., TN
Jamison, Mary Jane 10 Nov 1824 - 24 Sept 1840
Dau of Jery & Alethia Jamison
Jamison, Jane 1760 - 15 Jan 1835 w/o Thomas Jamison
Jamison, Alethia Porter 17 May 1805 - 9 Oct 1840
Jamison, Thomas 1750- 1826
Jamison, Willie Apr 18-- 1 Aug ---- S/O Jere & Alethia
5 unmarked graves
Possible:
Thomas (1750- 1826) & Jane Jamison (1760 - 15 Jan 1835)
Jery Jamison & Alethia Porter (17 May 1805 - 9 Oct 1840)
Mary Jane Jamison (10 Nov 1824 - 24 Sept 1840)
Williem Jamison (Apr 18-- 1 Aug)
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Henry Clay Jamison [Male] b. 31 JAN 1823 TN - d. 7 MAR 1902 Attala, Mississippi
The following is taken from my book, "Yesterday" by Edward Hutchison
Jackson, MS
HENRY CLAY JAMISON and LETTITIA HARRIET JONES
were wed on October 28, 1847. She was a native of North Carolina and was born
on June 6, 1824. Henry was born in Tennessee on January 31, 1823. In
November, 1848, Henry and Lettitia came to Leake County, Mississippi. Four
years later they arrived in Attala County where he eventually became the
owner of a large plantation and numerous slaves. Henry served in the Mexican
War of 1846 and was a Captain in the Civil War. He became a prisoner of war
at Fort Donelson. Lettitia died January 16, 1889. She bore seven children,
including a daughter Hattie, who was my great-grandmother. She wed Jonathan
Right White, and they lived and died in Attala County, MS.
As Captain Henry Jamison had numerous slaves, and it was not uncommon for
freedmen to take the names of their former owners, it happens that many
African-Americans today also bear the names Jamison, Jemison, Jimmerson,
Jempson, or some other variation of the Captain's name.
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Unknown [Female]
Jamison Cemetery in Smith Co., TN
The Jamison Cemetery which is on a slight elevation under trees in a pasture.
This is a very old cemetery with the graves being over 160 years old.
Some of the stones are broken and others have become unreadable.
There is evidence of at least two above ground crypts that have been destroyed.
There are two cemeteries located on the Royster Farm.
Directly behind the house located at #55
Royster Lane, about 200 yards, is the Duke/Martin Cemetery.
And continuing another 300 yards west is the Jamison Cemetery
36-19-59N 86-02-67W
Jamison, Mary Jane 10 Nov 1824 - 24 Sept 1840
Dau of Jery & Alethia Jamison
Jamison, Jane 1760 - 15 Jan 1835 w/o Thomas Jamison
Jamison, Alethia Porter 17 May 1805 - 9 Oct 1840
Jamison, Thomas 1750- 1826
Jamison, Willie Apr 18-- 1 Aug ---- S/O Jere & Alethia
5 unmarked graves
Possible:
Thomas (1750- 1826) & Jane Jamison (1760 - 15 Jan 1835)
Jery Jamison & Alethia Porter (17 May 1805 - 9 Oct 1840)
Mary Jane Jamison (10 Nov 1824 - 24 Sept 1840)
Williem Jamison (Apr 18-- 1 Aug)
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Letitia H. Jones [Female] b. 6 JUN 1824 Rutherford County, Tennessee - d. 16 JAN 1889 Attala, MSShe is also is recorded as Leticha H. Jones.
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