FRANCES SLOCUM THE CAPTIVE

     FRANCES7 SLOCUM, the ner life-long Kaptiv among North Amerikan savajez^* waz ov good English blood her lineaj in New England being az foloz, fix:  Johnathan⁶ Slocum and wife Ruth Tripp; Hon Joseph⁵ and Patience Carr; Giles⁴ and Mary Paine; Samuel³; Giles² and wife Joan; and Hon. Anthony¹ Slocum, ho waz among the first purchasers in 1637 ov the teritory sentering at Taunton, New Plymouth, now Massachusetts, and later a Lord Deputy Proprietor, etc., at Albermarle, in the erly government ov Carolina.
     Franses waz born March - , 1773, in Warwick Township, Kent County, Rhode Island.  In the yer 1774 her parents movd their family, then konsisting ov four sons and thre dauters to the site ov the prezeng Skranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; and after two or thre yerz past ther tha movd down the valy and setld on the site ov the prezent Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County.  The Revolushunary War waz rajing, and the Aborijinez had bin kept wel in hand by the British az allies for much savaj work agenstthe Kolonists.  A fort waz hastily bilt by the setlerz ner Jonathan Slocum's hous; hens his family and the other familiz which sukseded in geting to the fort, wer savd from the horibl Wyoming Valy Masaker that rajd around them by the savajez in the night ov 4 July, 1778, thre Lenni Lanape Aborijinez, usualy kald Delawars, stelthily enterd the hous, when the father and older sinz wer working in the field, kild Nathan Kingsleyajd fiften yerz, ho had ther bin kindly shelterd sezd litl Franses Slocum with Kingsley's yunger brother and a negro girl, servant to the family, and karid them kaptivs into the forest.  This waz not the ful extent ov their berevment.  The 16th ov the next month (Desember) Jonathan Slocum, the father, with Isaac Tripp, hiz father-in-law, and William Slocum, hiz son, then nerly seventen yerz old, while feeding their katl from a haystack in their medow within sight ov the Fort, wer shot at by savajez.  Jonathan was kild instantly; Isaac Tripp waz wunded, then sperd and tomahawkt; both wer skalpt.  William waz wunded in hell, but eskapt further injury and kald help.
     Ov the kaptivs, Kingsley soon died; and Franses Slocum remand lost to her relativs about fifty-nine yerz, notwithstanding long-kontinud and grat eforts by her relativs he personly traverst the forest betwen the Susquehanna River and the Grat Lakes, inkluding parts ov Canada, in serch for her.
     Isaac Tripp, Jr., kozn ov Franses Slocum waz also karid into kaptivity by the Aborijinez soon after the Wyoming Masaker, when about eighten yerz ov aj.  He met hiz kozn at Niagara and pland eskape with her from their kaptors.  That wer diskoverd, separated, and he did not se her agen.
     A Report ov Kurnels Fred Fisher and John Harper ov Johnstown, New York, under date ov March 2, 1780, kontans nams ov prizonerz
.     .     .    "Hookam child; Kingsley child, Nov. 2, 1775."  The speling "Hookam' has bin thot by sum reders to mean Slocum; but if the last date appliz, it is erlier than her kaptur.
     Soon after the kloz ov the Revolushonary War, Franses' brotherz Giles and William vizited Niagara, taking with them a herd ov katl to konseal their objekt, wel knoing that, if their real biznes bekam nown, she wud be kept out ov their sight.  But that kud not gain any informashon regarding her.^**
     In the sumer ov 1789, in komplians with rekwest ov the United States Government, many Aborijinez gatherd at Tioga Point (now Athens, Pa.) for trety, bringing with them children tha had abdukted, to giv parents and frends oportunity to reklam them.  Mrs. Slocum, then about fifty-thre yerz ov aj, waz eskorted to this trety on horsbak, sufering grat fateg, and subject to danjer on the way^{†
     After serching for a week among the kaptivs ther gatherd, she found no wun she kud rekogniz az her lost Franses; and she returnd hom in deep soro for the failur ov her mishon.
     Kurnel Thomas Proctor waz komishond March 10, 1791, by General Henry Knox, Sekretary ov War, to vizit in the interest ov pes the several Aborijine "Nations inhabiting the waters near Lake Erie and the Miamies" [the Maume and its tributariz, and the Miami Rivers ov the Ohio River Basin].  He proseded, however, only to the Seneka tribe in Western New York.  In the Jurnal ov hiz march, obzervashons, expensez, etc., he made two interesting entriz on this subjekt, viz:
     March 28, 1791.  Dined and refreshed our horses [at Painted Post New York, or Kohokton in teh Iroquois langwaj].  Here I was joined company by a Mr. George [Giles] Slocum who followed us from Wyoming to place himself under our protection and assistance until we should reach the Cornplanters [Seneka Chefs] settlement on the headwaters of the Allegheny to the redeeming of his sister from an unpleasing captivity of twelve years to which end he begged our immediate interposition.
.     .     .     .     .    ..     .     .     .     .    .     .     .     .     .    .     .     .     .     .    .     .     .     .     .}   

     ^{April 22d, 1791 .     .     .     paid Indian Peter for services from Newtown Point to O'Beels town 225. 6d; to mess expense from the 16th to the 23d including horse feed £6 183. 3 d; to cash paid Francis Slocum a white prisoner 7s. 6d; do a white prisoner at Cattaraugus 11_. 3d; she informs me that she is a sister to Henry Kepple in Market Street [Filadelfia] born in Germany; her husband a lieutenant Groves of the Royal Americans was killed at Vanango in the year 1761; had been a prisoner ever since, but too old and enfeebled to leave them; she informed me that she was truly poor; which I had apparent reason to believe and I mean to inform her friends of the same which is the cause of my making this minute as knowing her brother was under wealthy circumstances.     .     .     .      - Pennsylvania Arkivs sekond Seriz, vol iv. pp. 55, 560.}

     ^{Kol Proctor had at this date evidently fortotn the importunitiz ov Franses Slocum's brother ov thre weeks befor.  This appeal for muny was not from Franses personaly, but waz made by the Aborijinez who sawt every oportunity to beg.  The debast kondishon ov the Aborijinez, and their tendensiz from 1791 to General Wayne's expedishon agenst them in 1794, iz portrayed in the History ov The Maume River Basin by Charles E. Slocum.
     In the year 7193, a brother ov Franses atended a gathering ov Aborijinez at Buffalo in kontinud serch for her but without sukses.  In 1797 four brothers started from Wyoming with another herd ov katl and a stok ov drygoods for a tour among the Aborijinez.  Their rout waz thru the rejons ov the Six Nashons ov Iroquois in sentral and western New York, krosing the Niagara River at Queenstown; seling their drygoods jeneraly to the Aborijinez, and driving their katl thru Canada to Detroit, the hedkwarters ov the 'western' Aborijinez.  Along this jurney a reward ov thre hundred dolars was oferd for the delivery ov Franses to them on the jurney or at Detroit.  But agen without sukses.  Five hundred dolars reward for her rekovery had been ofered befor.
     A woman ho had bin liberated from kaptivity, hering of the eforts made by the Slocums to rekover the lst member ov their family, and hoping that she might be rekognizd as the lost wun, kame to Mrs. Slocum and told her that she waz takn prizoner somwher by the Susquehanna when a child, and she waz anxius to find her kinsfolk.  She did not no the names ov her parents, or her own childhood nam.  Mrs. Slocum was at wuns that she waz not her Franses, but bade her welkom.  'Sta with me' she sed 'az long az the plezes; perhaps som wun els may extend the like kindnes to my dr Franses.'  She remand a fu months, then let, and waz not seen agen by the memberz ov this family.
     When it bekame nown thru the East that the Methodist Mishon amung the Wyandot Aborijinez at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, had konverted Chiefs Between-the-Logs and Mo-no-ku, and that the former had a white woman wife, Joseph Slocum and hiz nefu vizited them in 1826 and found that this woman waz not his sister az had bin reported.  Thus another dubl depreshon to their hopes waz experienst - from the disappointment, and from the fateg atending the long jurny.
     Franses Slocum waz not diskovered by her brothers until the autum ov 1837.  Then she waz found at her late huzband's hom, Chief Def Man's Vilaj, hedkwarterz ov the remnant ov the Miami Aborijinez, about nine miles soutest ov Peru, Indiana.  George W. Ewing a prominent lisenst trader with the Aborijinez, and posesing mor than ordinary observashon and intelijens, waz the only white man to diszern her high karakter and make praktikal efort to extend hiz surmizez beyond her environment for the informashon ov her relativs; and al without pekuniary ward.  While trading in her vilaj he waz atrakted by her apperans and, having red much about kaptivs among the Aborijinez, he won her konfidens, and waz korekt in rounding out her story with hiz sumizez.  Imediately upon hiz return hom from the Aborijine Reservashon, he adrest the foloing letr to the Postmaster at Lankaster, Pennsylvania, viz:}

LOGANSPORT, INDIANA, Jan, 20, 1835.

     DEAR SIR:  In the hope that some good may result from it, I have taken this means of giving to your fellow citizens - say the descendants of the early settlers of the Susquehanna - the following information; and if there be any now living whose name is Slocum, to them I hope the following may be communicated through the public prints of your place:
     There is now living near this place an aged white woman who a few days ago told me while I lodged in the camp one night, that she was taken away from her father's house on or near the Susquehanna River when she was very young - say from five to eight yeas old, as she thinks - by the Delaware Indians who were then hostile toward the whites.  She says her father's name was Slocum; that he was a Quaker^‡ rather small in stature and wore a large brimmed hat; was of sandy hair and light complexion and much freckled; that he lived about half a mile from a town where there was a fort; that they lived in a wooden house of two stories hight, and had a spring near the house.  She says three Delawares [Aborigines] came to the house in the day time when all were absent but herself, and perhaps two other children; her father and brothers were absent working in the field.  The Indians carried her off and she was adopted into a family of Delawares who raised her and treated her as their own child.  They died about forty years ago, somewhere in Ohio.  She was then married to a Miami by whom she had four children; two of them are now living - they are both daughters - she lives with them.  Her husband is dead; she is old and feeble, and thinks she will not live long.
     Theses considerations induced her to give the present history of herself, which she would never do before, fearing that her kindred would come and force her away.  She has lived long and happy as an Indian and, but for her color, would not be suspected of being anything else than such.  She is very respectable, and wealthy, sober and honest.  Her name is without reproach.  She says her father had a large family, say eight children in all, six older than herself, one younger, as well as she can recollect; and she doubts not there are yet living many of their descendants, but seems to think that all her brothers and sisters must be dead, as she is very old herself, not far from the age of eighty [her true age was then less than sixty-two yeas].  She thinks she was taken prisoner before the two last wars, which mush mean the Revolutionary war, as Wayne's war [1794] and the late war [War of 1812-14] have been since that one.  She has entirely lost her mother tongue and speaks only in Indian, which I also understand and she gave me a full history of herself.
     Her own Christian name she has forgotten but says her father's name was Slocum^†† and he was a Quaker.  She also recolects that it was upon the Susquehanna River that they lived, but don't recolect the name of the town near which they lived.  I have thought that from this letter you might cause something to be inserted in the newspapers of your country that might possibly catch the eye of some of the descendants of the Slocum family who have knowledge of a girl having been carried off by the Indians some seventy years ago.  This they might know from family tradition.  If so, and they will come here, I will carry them where they may see the object of my letter alive and happy, though old and farm advanced in life.
     I can form no idea whereabout upon the Susquehanna River this family could have lived at that early period, namely, about the time of the Revolutionary War, but perhaps you can ascertain more about it.  If so, I hope you will interest yourself and, if possible, let her brothers and sisters if any be alive - if not their children - know where they may once more see a relative whose fate has been wrapped in mystery for seventy years^‡‡ and for whom her bereaved and afflicted parents doubtless shed many a bitter tear.  They have long since found their graves, though their lost child they never found.  I have been much affected with the disclosure, and hope the surviving friends may obtain, through your goodness, the information I desire for them.  If I can be of any service to them, they may command me.  In the meantime I hope you will excuse me for the freedom I have taken with you, a total stranger, and believe me to be, sir, with much respect.
                                                                            Your obedient servant,
                                                                                                 GEO. W. EWING.

     This leter waz adrest to The Postmaster, Lancaster, Pa.  That postofis waz then in charj ov Mrs. Mary Dickson, who also ownd the nuzpaper The Lancaster Intelligender.  The letter waz thrown aside, bekame koverd and ther remand with other paperz until the late John W. Forney bekame editor ov the Intelligencer.  In klering awa the old paperz ov the ofis this leter kame to hiz notis in March, 1837.  It waz then printed in hiz nuzpaper, and fortunatly in the extra larj ishu kontaning temperans artikls partikularly for klerjymen.  An Episkopal klerjyman, Rev. Samuel Bowman, ho had livd in Wilkes-Barre when yung, and had herd the story ov the abdukshon ov Franses from her relativs, resevd a kopy ov this nuzpaper and, after reding Mr. Ewing's leter, sent the paper direktly to the kaptiv's brother, Juj Joseph⁷ Slocum.  This brother red the leter with grat joy; but he had grown methodikl with aj and past experiens.  He red and rered the date, the askt hiz yunger son to rite a leter for further informashon, viz:

WILKES-BARRE, PA., Aug., 8, 1837.

GEO. W. EWING, ESQ.
     DEAR SIR:  At the suggestion of my father and other relatives, I have taken the liberty to write to you, although an entire stranger.
     We have received, but a few days since, a letter written by you to a gentleman in Lancaster, of this State, upon a subject of deep and intense interest to our family.  How the matter should have lain so long wrapped in obscurity we cannot conceive.  An aunt of mine - sister of my father - was taken away when five years old by the Indians, and since then we have only had vague and indistinct rumors upon the subject.  Your letter we deem to have entirely revealed the whole matter, and set everything at rest.  The description is so perfect, and the incidents (with the exception of her age) so correct, that we feel confident.
     Steps will be taken immediately to investigate the matter, and we will endeavor to do all in our power to restore a lost relative who has been sixty years in Indian bondage.
                                                                                 Your friend and obedient servant,
                                                                                               JON.[ATHAN] J. SLOCUM.

     Leter in anser to the abov waz resevd in good time, for the staj koches and poor roads ov the time, viz:

LOGANSPORT, IND., Aug. 26, 1837.

JOHN J. SLOCUM, ESQ., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
     DEAR SIR:  I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 8th instnat, and in answer can add that the female I spoke of in January, 1835, is still alive; nor can I for a moment doubt but that she is the identical relative that has been so long lost to your family.
     I feel much gratified to think that I have been thus instrumental in disclosing to yourself and friends such facts in relation to her as will enable you to vets her and satisfy yourselves more fully.  She recovered from the temporary illness by which she was afflicted about the time I spent the night with her in January, 1835, and which was, no doubt, the cause that induced her to speak so freely of her early captivity.
     Although she is now by long habit an Indian and her manner and customs precisely theirs, yet she will doubtless be happy to see any of you, and I myself will take great pleasure in accompanying you to the house.  Should you come out for that purpose, I advise you to repair directly to this place; and should it so happen that I should be absent at the time, you will find others who can take you to her.  Bring with you this letter; show it to James T. Miller of Peru, Indiana, a small town not far from this place.  He knows her well.  He is a young man whom we have raised.  HE speaks the Miami tongue and will accompany you if I should not be at home.  Inquire for the old white woman, mother-in-law to Brouillette, living on the Mississinewa River, about ten miles above its mouth.  There you will find the long lost sister of your father and, as I before stated, you will not have to blush on her account.  She is highly respectable, and hername as an Indian is without reproach.  Her daughter, too, and her son-in-law Brouillette who is also a half-blood being part French, are both very respectable and interesting people - none in the Nation are more so.  As Indians, they live well, and will be pleased to see you.  Should you visit here this fall, I may be absent, as I purpose starting for New York in a few days and shall not be back till some time in October.  But this need not stop you; for, although I should be gratified to see you, yet it will be sufficient to learn that I have furthered your wishes in this truly interesting matter.
     The very kind manner in which you have been pleased to speak of me shall be fully appreciated.
     There are perhaps men who could have heard her story unmoved; but for me, I could not; and when I reflected that there was, perhaps, still lingering on this side of the grave some brother or sister of that ill-fated woman, to whom such information would be deeply interesting, I resolved on the course which I adopted, and entertained the fond hope that my letter, if ever it should go before the public, would attract the attention of some one interested.  In this it seems at last, I have not been disappointed, although I have long since supposed it had failed to effect the object for which I wrote it.  Like you, I regret that it should have been delayed so long, nor can I conceive how anyone should neglect to publish such a letter.
     As to the age of this female, I think she herself is mistaken, and that she is not so old as she imagines herself to be.  Indeed, I entertain no doubt but that she is the same person that your family have mourned after for more than half a century past.
                                                                                                      Your obedient humble servant,
                                                                                                           GEO. W. EWING

     Meantime the tidings had bin kommunikated from wilkes-Barre to the other relativs, and preparashons made for the long ju8rny thru the wildernes to konfirm, if posibl, the truthfulnes ov the report.  The older surviving brother, Major Isaac Slocum then living ner the prezent Bellevue, Ohio, waz askt to meet at Peru, Indiana, at a spesified time, the brother Joseph, with the sister Mrs. Mary Towne living ner Chillicothe, Ohio, hom Joseph wud take into hiz karij on hiz wa.
     The planz wer exekuted.  Isaac arrivd first and, with James T. Miller as interpreter he vizited the Miami Rezervashon wher he waz met with much koolnes; but he bekame konvinst that his sister Franses, the objekt ov the long serch, waz found.  The other brother and sister did not arrive for several daz; and tha wer much fategd with the long, ruf and tejus jurny - Mrs. Towne being about sixty-nine yerz ov aj, over four yerz older than Franses.  'I shal no her if she iz my sister' sed Mrs. Towne, 'she having lost the nail ov her left fore finger - you, brother Isaac, remember how you pounded it off in the blaksmith shop about a yer before we lot her?'  'I do wel remember it' he replied.  The brotherz with interpreter, soon started on horsbak for the vilaj ov the kaptiv and, az soon az konvenient after their return Joseph rote ov their experiensez to hiz son-in-law William S. Ross at Wilkes-Barre, az foloz:†††

PERU, INDIANA, September 24, 1837.

DEAR SIR:
     I embrace this the first opportunity, since my departure from home, to give you a detailed account of my journey so far as I have gone, and such incidents cncerning the 'object of my visit' as may prove interesting to you.  In conjunction with a sister of mine, who resides in the West, and H. D., we left Ohio, taking an untrodden and unfrequented road through a dense wilderness.  On the third afternoon, towards sunset, we passed an Indian encampment, where we were told the 'white woman' lived; not having an interpreter, and fearing we would be unable to make ourselves sufficiently known, we pressed towards Peru, a small, flourishing town on the Wabash.  We found here a large river, sweeping along its gentle course through verdant and newly cultivated meadows, until its waters mingle with the Father of Waters, the Mississippi.  The country was rich in soil, redundant in the materials of nature, and wild flowers scattered around on every hill in plentiful masses, not yet drooping by the autumnal frosts.
     I found my brother at Peru, awaiting with anxiety our arrival; he had come on a short time previous and paid his visit to his sister; had recognized her, and has been exceedingly solicitous to see us.  As soon as we could arrange our matters, procure an interpreter, we started for the Indian encampment 

**  Hon. Elliott T. Slocum ov Detroit, Mich., yet trezhurz a British Gine, gold koin, obtand from a British ofiser by hiz ansestor Giles in part payment for thez katl.

†  A traveler over this rout the same yer, 1789, rote ov it a foloz:  "I went up the Susquehanna following the course of the river and found the way had been very little traveled; hardly a plain path, and this crooked and hard to follow- quite impassable for more than a man and a single horse.  Along the edge of precipices, next the river and other places, I had to ascend and descend from one ledge of rocks to another, some feet perpendicular, at a great height fro the water, and in some places extremely dangerous.  The habitations of men wer few, and the inhabitants instead of being glad to converse with strangers or travelers, would hardly speak to them."  - History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, p. 87

‡  Memberz ov The Society ov Frends in scorn called Quakers' did not uz the term 'Quaker' for their dezignashon; and this term waz surmizd by Mr. Ewing from the 'large brimmed hat' the Kaptiv asented to in anser to hiz kweschon.  Ther are a number ov other klever surmizes in this very interesting letr.

^{††  This statment agen sugjests that Mr. Ewing had red sum ov the nuzpapr reports ov this woman, and that the name Slocum lingerd in hiz memory from this sors.  Memberz ov The Sosiety ov Frends uzd the surnam only when nesesary.  Jeneraly the givn nam waz the only wun uzd.  At her father's hom this child very seldom herd the name Slocum, but her givn nam Franses sounded in her erz many timz each day; and she had forgotn the name Franses.  Agen, komunikashon betwen the Aborijinez themselves, az betwen them and others waz larjly dependant upon justurz.  In fakt fu, if ay, ov them kud definitly understand each other in the dark beyond kals ov salutashon, alrm, and posibly a fu other kode expreshonz; and miskomprehenshons wer very komon with the justurz by firelight and even by da.  This indefinitnes ov speech and understanding waz multiplied, and magnified, when the stranj and inkwisitiv white man brot konfuzhun or fateg.  Kweschons were noded asent to when not understood; and silens waz taken for asent by the kweshoner.}

^{‡‡  Mr. Ewing evidently did not think ov getting the number ov yerz by subtrakting even the erliest yer ov the Revolushonary War from the yer in which he waz riting this letr.}

†††  By permishon from the book, Frances Slocum The Lost Sister of Wyoming, Compiled and Written by her Grandniece Martah Bennett Phelps For her Children and Grandchildre, jaj 66.  Copyright 1906.