The Life of Mary Jemison

[Music] i am [Music] i am my husband returned from the war the council of big tree was held in 1797 when farmer's brothers set for me to attend the council he requested that i should choose for myself and describe the bounds of a piece of land that would suit me which i did farmer's brother presented my claim and although the claim was at first opposed i was eventually awarded the land i requested those who awarded me the land were not familiar with the area and thought my boundary description would perhaps encompass 120 acres in truth the total acreage was 17 927 acres as i look into the gorge i am reminded of the fall of 1779 when word reached us at our village that a strong and powerful army under the commander general sullivan's making rapid progress towards our settlement burning and destroying the huts and cornfields killing the cattle hogs and horses and cutting down the fruit trees belonging to the indians throughout the country we were few in number and could not withstand such an army so we hid south of little beard's town sullivan's army swept down on our village there was not one scrap of food nor one hut left standing behind sullivan's army i resolved to take care of myself and my children so i put two children on my back and the other three followed as best they could and we traveled to gardo flats which is where i lived for many years [Music] oh the only residents of the flats were two negroes who had been slaves and had escaped their master sometime earlier they had built a cabin and planted a great field of corn and as they were in need of help to harvest it they hired me i earned enough corn to feed myself and my children through the winter these two men were good and kind to us and at their insistence we took up residence with them through the winter and in the spring they helped us to build a shelter for ourselves [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] hey oh oh [Music] i have frequently heard my husband repeat the history of his life from his childhood and when he came to that part which related to his actions his bravery and his valor in war when he spoke of the ambush the combat the spoiling of his enemies and the sacrifice of the victims his nerves seemed strung with useful ardor the warmth of the able warrior seemed to animate his frame the beauty of gardo flats and the land surrounding the flats i have never seen surpassed in any of my travels the flats were cleared before i saw them and it was the opinion of the oldest indians that were at jenoshua at the time that i first went there that all the flats on the genesee river were improved before any of the indian tribes ever saw them we built cabins and raised cattle the flats were fertile and we cultivated them but they needed more labor than my daughters and myself were able to perform to produce a sufficient quantity of grain and other necessary productions of the earth for the consumption of our family in order that we might live more easily i leased my land to white people to till on shares thus making my task less burdensome while at the same time i was more comfortably supplied with the means of support the woods were bountiful and supplied nuts and seeds herbs and roots the game was also plentiful upon marrying hayakatu and during the term of nearly 50 years that i lived with him i received according to indian customs all the kindness and attention that was my do as his wife although he was a warrior and war was his trade he uniformly treated me with tenderness and never offered an insult he was a man of tender feelings to his friends ready and willing to assist them in distress yet as a warrior his cruelties to his enemies perhaps were unparalleled when times of sorrow touched my heart with remembrances of my long-lost family he showed me the greatest care and compassion and listen respectfully to any concerns i might express in regards to our children and family in november of 1811 my husband hayakatu who had been sick four years of the consumption died at the advanced age of 103 years nearly as time could be estimated he was the last that remained to me of my old friends with whom i was adopted my family was captured by the shawnee indians and french in the year 1755. my two oldest brothers thomas and john escaped but the rest of the family was taken my mother and father matthew robert and betsy and myself i was born on board a ship bound for the colonies in the year 1743 and given the name mary jemison my father's name was thomas jemison and my mother's name was jane irwin and as best as i can recollect they both were born and brought up in ireland and were fleeing the civil wars and religious rigidity of their homeland onboard the ship called mary william bound for the colonies they settled in marsh creek in pennsylvania cleared the land and built a farm after several days of traveling with the indians a runner arrived and shortly thereafter i was separated from my family who were later killed although i did not speak the language i was made to realize that the indians had just learned that they were being pursued by colonists and had the whites not followed us they would not have killed my family he traveled with great speed with little rest and at night no shelter and no fire and i was watched with the greatest vigilance i dares not complain i dares not cry my only relief was in silence stifle songs we arrived at a small seneca village and i was given to two seneca women several women had gathered and some were weeping and wringing their hands i was embraced by several indian women the two women were sisters and had lost a brother in washington's war and i was to be a replacement for his loss that was the custom if one of their number was killed or taken in battle to give to the relative of the deceased or missing a prisoner to do with as they pleased they could torture and kill the prisoner for revenge or adopt them and treat them kindly it was my happy lot to be accepted for adoption and i was forever treated by those sisters as though i was their own sister born of the same mother i knew not what was happening and sat perfectly still thinking that at any moment i might be killed [Music] i am [Applause] a ceremony then took place i was bathed and my clothes were removed and i was dressed in new clothing i was once again embraced and a woman said some words that sounded like speaking but then again it sounded like singing and in the end they were quite serene it was almost as though they were rejoicing over me as they would rejoice over a long lost child they gave me a seneca name which means pretty girl for a good or pleasant thing [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] after the ceremony the sisters did all they could to comfort me they provided me with a shelter and food and taught me their language so that after a time i could understand it readily and speak it fluently i came to love these women as i would have loved my own sister had she lived and we had been raised together [Applause] hey [Music] hey

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Length: 12min 50sec (770 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 06 2021