description: Five-year old Frances Slocum was abducted by Delaware Indians from her Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, home during the Revolutionary War. After peace was restored, the Slocum family hunted diligently for her among the Indian and frontior villages, to no avail. Frances was adopted into Tuck Horse's family, adapting easily into the Indian way of life, as it was much more fun and colorful than her life as a Quaker. She grew to love the Indians and to share their fear of the white settlers who were steadily and persistently encroaching on their idyllic way of life. By the time Frances became an adult, Tuck Horse's family lived near Kekionga, at the forks of three rivers where present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, is now located. Her first marriage to a Delaware Indian was not successful so her adoptive parents reclaimed her. Her second marriage was to a Miami chief, Shepoconah, whom they rescued after he was wounded in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794. Shepoconah named her Maconaquah, meaning Little Bear Woman, and took her to live with his people along the banks of the Mississinewa River, near Peru, Indiana. When Shepoconah became too hard of hearing to be able to negotiate at the treaty tables, where the Indians and whites now did their fighting, he turned over his duties as Chief to others and "retired" to establish the settlement known as Deaf Man's Village farther up the Mississinewa. Their little village consisted of the happy couple and four children. By 1835 Shepoconah and the two boys had died and were buried in the grounds of Deaf Man's Village. Also by that time, the Miami and Potawatomi Indians, who inhabited that area, had sold most of their property to the Americans. Negotiations were now for the acquisition of the remaining properties and resettlement dates to reservations in Kansas. Maconaquah was afraid she might have to go with the others, so put in motion the only assistance she could think of--an appeal to the Great Spirit to enable her to stay. But first, she must clear her conscience of the great secret she had been harboring; she was not really an Indian, but one of the hated white people. One January night when a trusted white trader, George Ewing, stopped at her cabin for the night, she decided the time had come for her to unburden herself of that secret. After supper, she told him all she could remember about her days before becoming an Indian. George Ewing was intrigued with her story so wrote a letter back to Lancaster, the only old town he knew of in that area of Pennsylvania, outlining Maconaquah's story. Perhaps there were still some Slocum's living who would want to know of her present existence. For some mysterious reason, that letter disappeared for two years. Just as mysteriously, it reappeared in 1837, and recognized as important enough to bring to the attention of the local newspaper editor. It was duly published in an edition with wider circulation than usual since it contained temperance notices. One person who saw that letter had formerly lived in Wilkes-Barre and knew the story of the Slocum family tragedy. He also knew old Joseph Slocum, now a retired Judge, was still living there. After having been gone for sixty years, Joseph had long ago given up hope of ever finding his sister, but since he had promised his mother he would never overlook any leads, he knew he would check out the story of that old Indian woman living way out in Indiana. Joseph, along with his brother, Isaac and sister, Mary, traveled to Deaf Man's Village in the fall of 1837 for what they hoped would be a reunion with their long lost sister. The Slocum's knew they could always identify their sister by her damaged left forefinger, which resulted from a childhood accident back in their father's blacksmith shop. Sure enough, the old Indian woman they found ignoring them in this wilderness place called Deaf Man's Village had that same deformed finger. There was no doubt; this was their long lost sister, Frances. Maconaquah didn't want anything to do with them, however; that wasn't why she told her secret. These white people represented the hated enemy who destroyed the Indian's happy way of life. The Slocum's found they would have to improvise something fast, in order to gain her confidence The only "gift" they could offer was supper with them at their hotel in Peru, which Maconaquah accepted for herself, her daughters, her son-in-law and grandchildren. With her family along, these white relatives would not be able to trick her, she thought. In fact, Maconaquah looked upon the invitation as a gift, so they brought along a reciprocal gift to present to the white relatives when they appeared that evening at the hotel in Peru. Clearly Maconaquah was becoming interested in establishing a friendship, too. Following supper, Maconaquah started answering their questions, after being assured her white relatives were not going to force her to go back. They just wanted to talk with her and hear about her life since she became an Indian long ago. Before the Slocum's returned to Pennsylvania, kinship started working its magic, as they parted friends, promising to keep in touch. During the last ten years of Maconaquah's life, her white family proved themselves to be worthy of her trust. They petitioned and won immunity for Maconaquah's entire family to be able to remain in Indiana. They also helped teach her adult grandchildren how to adjust to living in the white man's world. While Maconaquah's entreaties to the Great Spirit weren't answered in quite the way she could have imagined, she must have realized they were answered in a better way. She died in 1847 happy in the love and friendship of both her white and Indian families.
language: English
title: Maconaquah's Story: The Saga of Frances Slocum
titlecomplete: Maconaquah's Story: The Saga of Frances Slocum
ratings_count: 4
publisher: Le Clere Pub Co