Ole's Blog

Frances Slocum (c. 1773 – 1847)

Frances Slocum was a young girl who was “stolen by the Delaware Indians from her father’s house near Wilkes-Barre, in Wyoming Valley, Luzerne county, Pa.” in the autumn of 1778.

[Picture, signed Jennie Brownscombe, from the book, Frances Slocum; The Lost Sister of Wyoming, by Martha Bennett Phelps, 1916] Note first and second names of the author. who also referred to herself as Frances Slocum’s grand-niece. More on this later.

Note the Indian earrings, contrasted with the Euro-American(?) garments. This may be the artist’s liberty, or clothes Frances’ relatives brought along for her, or maybe I just don’t know the fashions of the times, vis-a-vis Indians and Whites. I am seeking the book cited above, and another related text. But it is a famous story, with plenty of on-line references.

Frances was four or five years old when abducted. Sources disagree whether it was in September or November, 1778. Either way, it was months after the infamous massacre at nearby Forty Fort. The Slocum’s were not present at the fort, as they were Quakers, and, as pacifists, enjoyed generally good relations with the Indians (perhaps better than with the non-Quaker whites). There is also debate over exactly which tribe kidnapped her.

Frances’ father was murdered by Indians just weeks after the kidnapping. Her mother searched in vain for the rest of her life. After she died, the brothers and sister continued the quest. Finally, 59 years later, Frances Slocum, age around 63, was discovered living with the Miami tribe near Peru, Indiana. Her Indian name was Maconaquah, which translates as “little bear.” She was visited at least twice by her siblings and two nieces, one of whom was married to a Bennett.

Frances spoke little or no English, but with the help of a translator, at least one interview with her was written down by her niece, and later published.  She gave many details of her life with the Indians, her marriages to two chiefs (both then deceased), her four children and several grandchildren.

Frances’ siblings and nieces pleaded with her to come with them to “civilization,” but she adamantly refused. She had lived her life with these people, they had treated her well,  they were now “her” people, and she firmly wished to stay among them until her death, which occurred in 1847.

I will have more to say on this after I see the two books on the subject; particularly the one by Martha Bennett Phelps, eagerly seeking the connection with our approx. 4th great-grandmother, Martha Bennett, who probably was at Forty Fort during the massacre.

There are at least two public schools, a Pennsylvania state park, and other community landmarks named after after Frances Slocum. There is even an educational musical  play about her, with original native-influenced music and and at least some sensitivity to the Indian perspective.

I have avoided putting many links in the above text, because a lot of them are severely Euro-centric, characterizing  the Indians as “savages,” “heathens,” and therefore intrinsically sub-human. With that caveat, here are some 19th-century sources:

This account of the Wyoming Massacre is from an 1877 publication. Here is a modern account from the perspective of Whites in a nearby region. There are excerpts from “Biography of Frances Slocum …” by John F. Meginness (1891), including interview transcripts, at this site. In 1869 (22 years after the subject’s death), a reporter visited the Indian village where Maconaquah had lived, and wrote this in-depth article. For essays more in keeping with 21st-century sensibilities, one has to turn again to Wikipedia, on the massacre, and the person.

Continuing with the passage on the Myers family from “Genealogical and Family History of Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys,”Martha Bennett, my 4th great-grandmother, would have been fifteen years old at the time of the massacre. Presumably, when her two brothers were killed (this is contradicted by other sources), she was driven (along with the other women and children) into the surrounding wilderness by the attacking Indians, while their houses burned, and their men and older boys were slaughtered. There were only a few soldiers guarding the fort, as most of them were in combat elsewhere.

It must be remembered that such atrocities were also often committed by the whites, each side seeking ever-greater revenge. This particular massacre could never have happened except as part of a white-vs.-white man’s war. For starters, the Indians were paid ten dollars by the British for each Yankee scalp they collected. Remember also that the savage practice of scalping one’s victims was itself introduced to the Indians by whites from Europe, where it had been known since at least the 11th century. (Oh-oh, it was our “nth” great-grandpa, the Earl of Wessex, who was noted for it back then.)

After they married nine years later,In addition to William, child number two (Lawrence) also removed to Sunbury, Ohio; in fact, the two brothers are credited with the founding of the town. This “Lawrence” was the father of Henry B. Myers (father of Stephen Bennett Myers) and thus the great-grandfather of Dan Myers. Getting back to the 1790′s, the youngest four children of Philip Myers and Martha Bennett were:There follows a lengthy biography of Philip & Martha’s eldest son, John Myers, and his family and descendants. One of John’s sons was named Lawrence; I guess he was the “Lawrence” for that generation. This Lawrence stayed put to become a very rich citizen of the Wyoming valley, and so gets an elaborate biography himself. I am a little confused about the succession protocol for the generational moniker, “Lawrence.” Hopefully cousin Gail can fill us in.

As for Martha Bennett’s pedigree:A word of explanation about the arrest of Thomas Bennett and his companions by the “Pennsylvania authorities” in 1770: The Wyoming valley was claimed by both Pennsylvania and Connecticut colonies, due to conflicting land grants from the British crown. The Pennsylvanians, called “Pennamites,” arrested Bennett et. al. because they were New Englanders, that is, “Yankees,” settling on land considered to belong to their rivals. As I learned, there were wars between the two colonies’ partisans before and after the Revolution.

Interestingly, the article linked above does not mention the Forty Fort massacre, perhaps because it was considered part of the Revolutionary rather than Pennamite wars. That is a questionable notion, in that the wars were closely interrelated. As noted earlier, the Pennamites were Tories, siding with the British, and therefore doubly opposed to the “Connecticut Yankees.”

Once again, a hearty thank-you to cousin Gail Myers for feeding me this awesome document.

Since my last post, cousin Gail sent me yet another information-filled packet. One item in particular provides a closer look at Philip Myers (1759-1835), great-grandfather of Dan Myers, and Philip’s brother Lawrence (1754-1810).

“Genealogical and Family History of Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys — —- (illegible words)” by Horace Edwin Haydon. However, openlibrary.org lists the author as John W. Jordan, LL.D. ISBN number is 0788429175.

You will recall that the Wyoming Valley is in Pennsylvania; the territory that would one day be the state of Wyoming had not yet been discovered by Europeans at the time of the Revolutionary War. Here begins the passage on the brothers Myers. The highlighting is from an earlier researcher, either cousin Gail or his niece, cousin Paula.Another printed source gives the year of immigration as 1766. By “hardships and perils of those days,” the author means the many Indian wars and conflicts in the area, including an infamous massacre at Forty Fort in 1778, immediately after the fort had surrendered to the invading Indian and British forces. The same Horace E. Haydon wrote a whole book on the massacre and its aftermath. It can be read for free at this site. It is awfully dry, though. I recommend instead, this  brief article.

Frustratingly, the name of the father of Philip, Lawrence, Henry, and Michael Myers; that is, the “founder of the family,” is apparently unknown, even to this very well-sourced author. I am sure it is Valentini (or some variant); I believe I have that in some document from cousin Gail, as well as from the Mainz church records (see previous post). But I have yet to find any documents relating to the father’s presence in Maryland.The “Pennamites” were the Tory settlers who had aligned with the Indians and British, still making “troubles” ten years after the massacre at Forty Fort. One can easily imagine the spiral of revenge upon revenge that ravaged both sides. The narrative now backs up to 1777. It  implies both brothers are present; Lawrence must still be a private:Here is Wikipedia’s account of the Americans’ defeat at Germantown.

Note that no children are mentioned of Lawrence Myers and Sarah Gore. That will figure into Philip Myers’ family in the next post. Stay tuned.

Cousin Gail Myers and some other relatives traced Dan Myers’ ancestry back to a certain immigrant Philip Myers, born in Mainz, Germany in 1759. Using LDS sources, I found Philip’s birth record in the German churchbooks, along with several generations before him.

Philip Myers' birth record, 1759

More problematic has been Philip and his family’s early life in Maryland. I found one reference to him in the following source:As for his parents, Valentini Myers and Theresia, I have found nothing at all so far. I did find Philip’s military pension claim, along with a land grant to a Lieutenant Lawrence Myers. There are rumors that Philip Myers had a brother Lawrence, which would make sense, considering the presence of a “Lawrence” in each succeeding generation.

So far, I have encountered no documentary evidence that this Lt. Lawrence Myers is Philip’s brother. It is a little troubling that the first source makes no mention of any siblings, only Philip and his unnamed parents.

Philip has quite a few descendants, as evidenced by his appearance in no less that 18 family trees registered with Ancestry.com. One of those trees includes a note that reads, “He followed his brother Lt. Lawrence and then Henry to the Wyoming Valley (PA).” There are no source citations, and the email address given for the owner of this family tree is not valid. Note that there are Henry’s in succeeding Myers generations, as well as Lawrence’s. This genealogist may be onto something; I hope I am able to contact her some day. Stay tuned.