Only a few months later though, in November 1778, the Delaware Indians struck again. This time, while the men of the family were away from home, the Indians took Frances Slocum and her retarded younger brother Ebenezer from their home.
Frances Slocum was only five years old at that time. Mrs. Slocum pleaded for the Indians to give her children back. To get Ebenezer back, the Indian's made her proclaim "See, the child is lame; he can do thee no good!" The Indians released Ebenezer, but refused to let go of Frances, carrying her away, never to be seen by her mother again.
For years, Mrs. Slocum and her brothers searched endlessly and hopelessly for Frances. Meanwhile, Frances was raised among the Delaware tribe and married a Delaware in her late teens. That marriage didn't last for long, and she eventually married a Miami chief named Dead Man. They moved to the Mississinewa River Valley in Indiana and had four children. Frances became known as Young Bear.
Frances remained hidden as an Indian for 59 years. In 1835, a white man named Colonel Ewing, who had good relations with the Miami tribe spent the night in Dead Man's village. The women who owned the cabin that Ewing stayed at revealed to Ewing that she was actually a white woman, and that she remembered her birth name was Slocum. At the time, Frances was widowed and living with her extended family. It is believed that Frances revealed her identity because she was old and sick and wanted to let go of a deep secret.
Upon returning home, Ewing sent a letter to Lancaster, Pennsylvania asking if anybody in the Slocum family had a relative taken by Indians. The letter was lost for two years, until one of Frances' brothers finally answered. In 1837, two of Frances' brothers went to see if their sister really was found.
Frances' brothers knew it was really her when they saw her, especially because they recognized the scar she had on her hand from when she was a child. However, they did not find the Frances they remembered. Frances communicated with them only through a translator and spoke only when spoken to. Despite her brothers' pleading for her to come home, she refused, saying she would feel like a fish out of water. She remained in her Indian settlement and eventually died there in 1847.
Frances Slocum
Frances became known as the "Lost Sister of Wyoming" as her story travelled the country. People from all around wrote stories about her and painted portraits of her. The following is a poem written by one of Frances' nieces named E. L. Schermerhorn:
"Let me stay at my home, in the beautiful West,
Where I played when a child—in my age let me rest;
Where the bright prairies bloom and the wild waters play,
In the home of my heart, dearest friends, let me stay.
'' 0, here let me stay, where my Chief, in the pride
Of a brave warrior youth, wandered forth by my side;
Where he laid at my feet the young hunter's best prey,
Where I roamed a wild huntress—O, friends, let me stay!
"Let me stay where the prairies I've oft wandered through,
While my moccasins brushed from the flowers the dew—
Where my warrior would pluck the wild blossoms and say
His White Rose was the fairest—0, here let me stay!
'' 0, here let me stay! where the bright plumes from the wing
Of the bird that his arrow had pierced, he would bring;
Where, in parting for battle, softly would say,
' 'Tis to shield thee I fight'—O, with him let me stay!
'' Let me stay, though the strength of my Chieftain is o 'er,
Though his warriors he leads to the battle no more;
He loves through the woods, a wild hunter to stray,
His heart clings to home—0, then, here let me stay!
"Let me stay where my children in childhood have played,
Where through the green forest, they often have strayed;
They never could bend to the white man's cold sway,
For their hearts are of fire—0, here let them stay!
'' You tell me of leaves of the Spirit that speak;
But the Spirit I own, in the bright stars I seek;
In the prairie, in the forest, the water's wild play,
I see Him, I hear Him—0, then, let me stay!"
Where I played when a child—in my age let me rest;
Where the bright prairies bloom and the wild waters play,
In the home of my heart, dearest friends, let me stay.
'' 0, here let me stay, where my Chief, in the pride
Of a brave warrior youth, wandered forth by my side;
Where he laid at my feet the young hunter's best prey,
Where I roamed a wild huntress—O, friends, let me stay!
"Let me stay where the prairies I've oft wandered through,
While my moccasins brushed from the flowers the dew—
Where my warrior would pluck the wild blossoms and say
His White Rose was the fairest—0, here let me stay!
'' 0, here let me stay! where the bright plumes from the wing
Of the bird that his arrow had pierced, he would bring;
Where, in parting for battle, softly would say,
' 'Tis to shield thee I fight'—O, with him let me stay!
'' Let me stay, though the strength of my Chieftain is o 'er,
Though his warriors he leads to the battle no more;
He loves through the woods, a wild hunter to stray,
His heart clings to home—0, then, here let me stay!
"Let me stay where my children in childhood have played,
Where through the green forest, they often have strayed;
They never could bend to the white man's cold sway,
For their hearts are of fire—0, here let them stay!
'' You tell me of leaves of the Spirit that speak;
But the Spirit I own, in the bright stars I seek;
In the prairie, in the forest, the water's wild play,
I see Him, I hear Him—0, then, let me stay!"
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