Frances Slocum (abt. 1773 - abt. 1847)

Born about 4 Mar 1773 in Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 9 Mar 1847 at about age 74 in Peru, Miami, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Maconaquah Slocum is Notable.

Maconaquah Slocum has English ancestors.

Frances Slocum was one of ten children born to Jonathan and Ruth (Tripp) Slocum. The exact date of France's birth is uncertain,^[1] but it is believed to have been March 4, 1773. ^[2] The Slocum family, who were Quakers and pacifists, emigrated from Warwick, Rhode Island, to the Wyoming Valley in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1777.^[2]

Soon after their arrival, violence erupted in eastern Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River valley. While the Slocum family remained in the settlement, many others fled during the Battle of Wyoming (Pennsylvania) in July 1778,^[3] when British forces and Seneca warriors destroyed Forty Fort near Wilkes-Barre, killing more than three hundred American settlers. The Slocum family survived the battle. However, on November 2, 1778, while Jonathan was away, three Delaware warriors attacked the Slocum family farm near Wilkes-Barre. Ruth and all but two of her children escaped into the nearby woods, but the Delaware captured five-year-old Frances. Slocum never saw her parents again. Native American warriors killed her father and grandfather on December 16, 1778.

The Delaware gave Slocum to a childless Delaware chief and his wife. They named her Weletasash, after their youngest daughter who had died, and raised her as their own.^{[2] [4]} She later recalled that they migrated west before settling near Kekionga (the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana.[13]

Frances Slocum was briefly married to a Delaware sometime around 1791 or 1792.^[2] [12] The tradition among the Miami is that he did not treat her well, and due to domestic violence, she returned to her Delaware parents. Her first husband is said to have migrated west with the Delaware tribe.^[2] [14]

Slocum's second marriage, after 1794, was to She-pan-can-ah, known as Deaf Man to the white men because of his deafness.[15] She-pan-can-ah was a Miami warrior who later became a Miami chief.^[2] They were the parents of Kekenakushwa (Cut Finger) and Ozahshinquah (Yellow Leaf), who both survived to adulthood.^{[2] [5] [6]} When Frances joined the Miami she took the name Maconaquah (Little Bear).^[2]

Sometime after the War of 1812 the Miami tribe, moved to the Mississinewa River valley in north central Indiana.[13] ^[6] Since her capture Slocum's white relatives continued to search for her without success. They did not see her for almost sixty years.^[3] Deaf Man's village was a cross-cultural meeting place and Slocum's diverse family was not unique. The inhabitants of the village, including Slocum, did not speak English.

After Slocum was located, her white relatives, in September 1837 two of Slocum's brothers, Isaac and Joseph, and her older sister, Mary Slocum Towne, journeyed with interpreters to Deaf Man's village in the Mississinewa River valley. By that time Slocum was an elderly widow who had lived among the Native Americans for nearly sixty years.[33] Frances, her two daughters, and a son-in-law also visited the Slocum's while they were staying in Peru.[34] Frances Slocum's siblings were thrilled to see their sister, but they were shocked by her transformation. She spoke no English and did not remember her Christian name was Frances.[35] Slocum communicated through an interpreter and only responded to direct questions. During their visits the Slocum family confirmed that she was their lost sister from the information she provided, and especially after recognizing the disfigured forefinger on her left hand, which was the result of a childhood accident prior to her capture.^[2] [37] The Slocum siblings tried to convince her to return with them to Pennsylvania, but she refused to leave her Native American family. Slocum explained that she preferred to remain with the Miami.

In September 1839 Joseph Slocum and two of his daughters, Hannah and Harriet, paid another visit to Deaf Man's Village.[37] Slocum still refused to leave her Miami family, but she did agree to the Slocum family's request to have her portrait painted.^[2] [13]

Treaties signed with the Miami in 1838 and 1840 forced Slocum's Miami community to consider removal from Indiana to Kansas Territory. In these treaties the Miami ceded all but a small portion of their remaining tribal lands in Indiana to the federal government, and in 1840 they also agreed to move west of the Mississippi River within five years.[38][39][40]

The treaty made in November 1838, three years after Frances Slocum revealed her identity, provided some Miami families with individual land grants that would allow them to remain in Indiana. Among the recipients were Ozahshinquah and Kekenakushwa (Shepoconah's and Frances Slocum's two daughters), who jointly received 640 acres of land.[41] This land allotment exempted them from removal to Kansas Territory.[42] Slocum, who was living with her daughters and was recognized as the head of the family, was not named as a land grant recipient.[43]

The Slocum family commissioned English artist George Winter to paint a portrait of their sister. Winter sketched and wrote many descriptions of Potawatomi and the Miami people in his journals, which also included drawings and details of Deaf Man's village, Slocum, and her Miami family. The extensive number of his surviving works and his detailed documentation are noted as reliable primary sources for historical studies of the Native American tribes of Indiana's Wabash Valley.[56]

"The Captive Sister" portrait of Slocum, also known as the "Lost Sister of Wyoming", became his best-known work The description of Slocum that Winter wrote in his journal closely fits his original sketch:

Though bearing some resemblance to her family (white), yet her cheekbones seemed to have the Native American characteristics—face broad, nose bulby, mouth indicating some degree of severity, her eyes pleasant and kind.

He estimated her height at about five feet tall. He also noted the deep lines on her face and her hair, "originally of a dark brown, was now frosted." She was barefoot and wore little jewelry, with the exception of earrings.

In addition to the portrait for the Slocum family, Winter sketched another version. The two are significantly different. In the formal oil portrait for the Slocum family, she is somber, her skin appears lighter, and her clothes are not as vibrant or detailed. In the other version, which included Slocum and her two daughters, her deeply lined face appears darker skinned and her clothing is more colorful and detailed.

On March 9, 1847, Frances Slocum died of pneumonia at Deaf Man's village along the Mississinewa River in Indiana. She was 74 years old. Slocum was initially buried near her cabin at Deaf Man's village, beside her second husband, She-pan-can-ah (Deaf Man) and two sons. In 1965 the graves were moved to Slocum Cemetery, near Mississinewa Lake in Wabash County, Indiana, when construction of the Mississinewa River dam would flood the site of Deaf Man's village.^[2]

On May 6, 1900, Frances Slocum's descendants, both white and Indian, raised a monument at her gravesite in Wabash County, Indiana. The zinc marker with an extensive epitaph is a tribute to her life as Maconaquah and Frances Slocum, as well as to her second husband, She-pan-can-ah (Deaf Man), who is commemorated on one side of the monument. In 1967 a state historical marker was erected at the entrance to the Slocum Cemetery in Wabash County, Indiana.

Other tributes named after her include a thirty-mile long Frances Slocum Trail from Peru to Marion, Indiana; the Frances Slocum State Forest, a recreational area near Peru, Indiana; Frances Slocum State Park and a town named Mocanaqua both are in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.^[2] [66][67]

Frances Slocum was born on 4 March 1773 in Warwick, Rhode Island, the daughter of Jonathan and Ruth Tripp Slocum, a Quaker family. She was from Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming Valley, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania when she was taken from her home in 1778 by Delaware Indians at the age of five. She was given the Indian name Maconaquah and raised as an native, marrying a young Deleware named Little Turtle (who was not Chief Little Turtle) of the Miamis. He was reported to have been abusive to her and she left him with the help of her adoptive parents.^[7]

Before her father's death, she was given to Shepoconah for his wife. He later became Chief of the Miami Indians in the Peru area. Maconaquah gave birth to two girls, Kekesequah and Osawshequah. She also had two boys who died at a young age. Maconaquah lived the rest of her life in this area. ^[8]

In January 1835 Col. George W. Ewing, a white man and visiting fur trader, happened upon her village and learned of her abduction as a child. Telling her story when he went back east her family was located and they went to visit her in May of 1838. They wanted her to return with them, but she refused, not wanting leave the people who had been her family for over 60 years. ^[9]

Frances Slocum was a significant historical figure because of her life as a white woman living in an Indian culture and being accepted by them. A treaty made in 1840 with the United States Government stated that the Miami Indians had to leave their home along the Wabash River within five years. Frances's brothers helped her appeal to Congress asking to be exempted from the treaty so that she and her descendants be allowed to reside on the reservation in Indiana. A petition was drawn up and signed by 21 of her relatives on January 17, 1845. Frances was allowed to stay and not be subjected to what became known as the Trail of Tears that her fellow Miami Indians endured. ^[10][11]

Frances died of pneumonia on March 9, 1847 in Peru, Miami County, Indiana. She was given a Christian burial at Slocum Cemetery in Wabash County, Indiana. ^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ James H. Madison; Lee Ann Sandweiss (2014). Hoosiers and the American Story. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-363-6.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Meginness, John F (1891). Women in America from Colonial Times to the 20th Century: Biography of Frances Slocum (1974 ed.). New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-40506-112-7.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Stewart Rafert,The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People 1654-1994 (Indiana Historical Society, 1996), 43.
4. ↑ James Axtell (1985).The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America. Cultural origins of North America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19503-596-8.
5. ↑ Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul S. Boyer, eds. (1971). Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press. p. 298.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Sarah E. Cooke, George Winter, Rachel B. Ramadhyani, Christian F. Feest, and R. David Edmunds (1993). Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, in cooperation with the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. ISBN 0-87195-097-9.
7. ↑ Biography of Frances Slocum, the Lost Sister of Wyoming: A Complete Narrative of Her Captivity and Wanderings Among the Indians by John Franklin Meginness; Heller Bros.; Penn., USA; 1891; p. 78.
8. ↑ Wikipedia:Frances Slocum
9. ↑ Jim J. Buss, "They Found and Left Her an Indian: Gender, Race, and the Whitening of Young Bear. "Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Jun 01, 2008; Vol. 29, No. 2/3, p. 1-35.
10. ↑ Sleeper-Smith Enduring Nations, 114-116.
11. ↑ Bert Anson, The Miami Indians (Norman:University of Oklahoma Press, 1970), 212.
12. ↑ Find A Grave

1. Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul S. Boyer, eds. (1971). Notable American Women 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. p. 298.

2. John F Meginness (1891). Women in America from Colonial Times to the 20th Century: Biography of Frances Slocum (1974 ed.). New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-40506-112-7.

3. James H. Madison; Lee Ann Sandweiss (2014). Hoosiers and the American Story. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-363-6.

4. Meginness

5. Rafert,The Miami Indians of Indiana

6. Meginness

7. Meginness

8. Kingsley later returned from capture. See Meginness

9. Madison and Sandweiss

10. Meginness

11. James Axtell (1985).The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America. Cultural origins of North America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19503-596-8.

12. Yael Ksander (March 1, 2010). "Moment of Indiana History: On the Trail of the Lost Sister...Frances Slocum". Indiana Public Media.

13. Meginness

14. Meginness

15. Meginness

16. George S. Cottman (1905). "Sketch of Frances Slocum". Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University.

17. Susan Sleeper-Smith (2001). Indian Women and French Men: Rethinking Cultural Encounter in the Western Great Lakes. Native Americans of the Northeast. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-55849-310-0. : 17. Meginness

17. Madison and Sandweiss

18. Meginness

19. Sleeper-Smith, Indian Women and French Men

20. Sarah E. Cooke, George Winter, Rachel B. Ramadhyani, Christian F. Feest, and R. David Edmunds (1993). Indians and a Changing Frontier: The Art of George Winter. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, in cooperation with the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. ISBN 0-87195-097-9.

21. Rafert, The Miami Indians of Indiana,

22. ^ Rafert ,The Miami Indians of Indiana

23. Cottman, Sketch of Frances Slocum

24. Meginness

25. Meginness

26. Rafert, The Miami Indians of Indiana

27. Cottman.

27. Cooke, Winter, Ramadhyani, Feest, and Edmunds

28. Jim J. Buss (June 1, 2008). "They Found and Left Her an Indian: Gender, Race, and the Whitening of Young Bear". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

29. Meginness, p. 47.

30. Elizabeth Glenn; Stewart Rafert (2009). The Native Americans. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-280-6.

31. Donald F. Carmony (1998). Indiana, 1816–1850: The Pioneer Era. The History of Indiana. II. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-124-X.

32. Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor (1904). "TREATY WITH THE MIAMI, 1840 (Nov. 28, 1840; 7 Stat., 582.; Proclamation, June 7, 1841)". INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES, Vol. II, Treaties. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 2015-04-13 and Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor (1904). "TREATY WITH THE MIAMI, 1838 (Nov. 6, 1838; 7 Stat., 569.; Proclamation, Feb. 8, 1839)". INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES, Vol. II, Treaties. U.S. Government Printing Office.

33. Kappler, "Treaty with the Miami, 1838 (Nov. 6, 1838; 7 Stat., 569.; Proclamation, Feb. 8, 1839)"

34. Stewart Rafert (1992). "Ozahshinquah: A Miami Woman's Life". Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society.

35. Meginness

36. Susan Sleeper-Smith, "Resistance to Removal"

37. Glenn and Rafert

38. Meginness

39. Sleeper-Smith, Indian Women and French Men

40. Meginness

41. Rafert,The Miami Indians of Indiana, p. 108.

42. Bert Anson (1970). The Miami Indians. Civilization of the American Indian. 103. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-80610-901-7.

43. Glenn and Rafert

44. Arville Funk (1983) [1969]. A Sketchbook of Indiana History. Rochester, Indiana: Christian Book Press.

45. Carmony

46. George S. Cottman (1905). "George Winter, Artist: The Catlin of Indiana". Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University.

47. Cooke, Winter, Ramadhyani, Feest, and Edmunds

48. Cooke, Winter, Ramadhyani, Feest, and Edmunds

49. George Winter (1905). "Winter's Description of Frances Slocum" Indiana Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University.

50. Sleeper-Smith, Indian Women and French Men

51. Cooke, Winter, Ramadhyani, Feest, and Edmunds

52. Winter

53. Cooke, Winter, Ramadhyani, Feest, and Edmunds

54. Buss

55. Buss

56. Cottman, Sketch of Frances Slocum

57. "Frances Slocum". Indiana Historical Bureau. Retrieved 2015-04-09.

58. "Frances Slocum State Park: History". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

59. "Frances Slocum State Park: History". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

60. Mocanaqua Pennsylvania hometown locator