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Mack, Nancy - Frances Slocum, May 11, 2005

 File — Box: 14
Identifier: 1

Paper description

Subject: the history of a Quaker family, the Slocums, who had moved from Rhode Island to the Wyoming Valley just east of the Susquehanna River, which was then considered part of Connecticut. Jonathan, Ruth, and their nine children lived in an isolated area half a mile north of Fort Wyoming. In 1778, a small band of Delaware Indians attacked the Slocums’s log cabin. They abducted five-year-old Frances. Although her family searched for Frances for more than fifty years, they did not find her until 1837, when she was 64. This paper tells of the kind treatment of Frances, who was adopted into the Delaware tribe. She had led a “dignified and happy life.” Two warm reunions with surviving Slocum family members gave Frances the opportunity to help them understand her two cultures. Topics: Wyoming Valley (once CT, now PA), Delaware Indians, Miami Indians, Northwest Territory, Revolutionary War, Jonathan Slocum family, Frances Slocum, Capture by Indians. Young Frances Slocum was one of a family of peaceful Quakers from the Wyoming Valley, but latterly living in Lenape, Pennsylvania when, in 1778, aged just five years old, she was abducted by a raiding party of Miami Indians and carried away into captivity. She became Maconaquah-the Little Bear-and she was destined to spend the rest of her life living as an Indian. It was nearly sixty years before her brothers finally located her on an Indian Reservation near Peru, Indiana and by that time she had been so totally integrated into tribal life, including having been married twice giving birth to four children, that a return to life as a 'white' American woman was impossible; she lived out her life in Indiana dying at the age of 75 years.

Dates

  • Creation: May 11, 2005

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The Winnetka Fortnightly records are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III). Meeting minutes and members' biographies are restricted; consult Curator of Modern Manuscripts for information.

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

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