August 18, 2025 • 6 mins
In 1755, twelve-year-old Mary Jemison was captured by Native Americans, marking the beginning of a remarkable journey that would define her life. This compelling narrative recounts the tragic murder of her father and family, her profound struggles, and the complexities of her marriages to two Native men. Mary’s account reveals the harsh realities she faced, the brutalities of the French and Revolutionary Wars, and the historical truths that have long remained untold. Join us as we explore her extraordinary story, as narrated by James Seaver.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter thirteen of A Narrative of the Life of Missus
Mary Jemison. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. A Narrative of the Life
of Missus Mary Jemison by James E. Seaver, Chapter thirteen.
(00:21):
A year or two before the death of my husband,
Captain H. Jones sent me word that a cousin of
mine was then living in Leicester, a few miles from Guardeaux,
by the name of George Jemison, and as he was
very poor, thought it advisable for me to go and
see him and take him home to live with me
on my land. My Indian friends were pleased to hear
(00:43):
that one of my relatives was so near, and also
advised me to send for him and his family immediately.
I accordingly had him and his family moved into one
of my houses in the month of March eighteen ten.
He said that he was my father's brother's son, that
his father did not leave Europe till after the French
(01:03):
War in America, and that when he did come over,
he settled in Pennsylvania, where he died. George had no
personal knowledge of my father, but from information was confident
that the relationship which he claimed between himself and me
actually existed. Although I had never before heard of my
father having had but one brother, him who was killed
(01:26):
at fort necessity, yet I knew that he might have
had others, And as the story of George carried with
it a probability that it was true, I received him
as a kinsman and treated him with every degree of
friendship which his situation demanded. Beginning a footnote, Missus Jimison
is now confident that George Jemison is not her cousin,
(01:48):
and thinks that he claimed the relationship only to gain assistance.
But the old gentleman, who is now living, is certain
that his and her father were brothers. As before stated
and a footnote, I found that he was destitute of
the means of subsistence, and in debt to the amount
of seventy dollars, without the ability to pay one cent.
(02:10):
He had no cow, and finally was completely poor. I
paid his debts to the amount of seventy two dollars
and bought him a cow, for which I paid twenty dollars,
and a sow and pigs that I paid eight dollars for.
I also paid sixteen dollars for pork that I gave him,
and furnished him with other provisions and furniture so that
(02:31):
his family was comfortable. As he was destitute of a team,
I furnished him with one, and also supplied him with
tools for farming. In addition to all this, I let
him have one of Thomas's cows for two seasons. My
only object in mentioning his poverty and the articles with
which I supplied him, is to show how ungrateful a
(02:52):
person can be for favors, and how soon a kind
benefactor will, to all appearance be forgotten. Thus furnished with
the necessary implements of husbandry, a good team, and as
much land as could till he commenced farming on my flats,
and for some time labored well. At length, however, he
(03:13):
got an idea that if he could become the owner
of a part of my reservation, he could live more
easy and certainly be more rich, and accordingly set himself
about laying a plan to obtain it in the easiest
manner possible. I supported Jemison and his family eight years
and probably should have continued to have done so to
(03:33):
this day, had it not been for the occurrence of
the following circumstance. When he had lived with me some
six or seven years, a friend of mine told me that,
as Jemison was my cousin and very poor, I ought
to give him a piece of land that he might
have something whereon to live that he could call his own.
My friend and Jemison were then together at my house,
(03:56):
prepared to complete a bargain. I asked how much land
he wanted. Jemison said that he should be glad to
receive his old field, as he called it, containing about
fourteen acres, and a new one that contained twenty six.
I observed to them that, as I was incapable of
transacting business of that nature, I would wait till mister
(04:16):
Thomas Clute, an neighbor on whom I depended, should return
from Albany before I should do anything about it. To this,
Jemison replied that if I waited till mister Clute returned,
he should not get the land at all, and appeared
very anxious to have the business closed without delay. On
my part, I felt disposed to give him some land,
(04:37):
but knowing my ignorance of writing, feared to do it
alone lest they might include as much land as they
pleased without my knowledge. They then read the deed which
my friend had prepared before he came from home, describing
a piece of land by certain bounds that were a
specified number of chains and links from each other. Not
understanding the length of a chain or link, I describe
(05:00):
the bounds of a piece of land that I intended
Jemison should have, which they said was just the same
that the deed contained, and no more. I told them
that the deed must not include a lot that was
called the Still Place, and they assured me that it
did not. Upon this, putting confidence in them both, I
signed the deed to George Jemison, containing and conveying to him,
(05:23):
as I supposed, forty acres of land. The deed being completed,
they charged me never to mention the bargain which I
had then made to any person, because if I did,
they said it would spoil the contract. The whole matter
was afterwards disclosed when it was found that that deed,
instead of containing only forty acres, contained four hundred, and
(05:46):
that one half of it actually belonged to my friend,
as it had been given to him by Jemison as
a reward for his trouble in procuring the deed in
the fraudulent manner above mentioned. My friend, however, by the
advice of some well disposed people, a while afterwards, gave
up his claim, but Jemison held his till he sold
it for a trifle to a gentleman in the south
(06:09):
part of Genesee County. Some time after the death of
my son Thomas, one of his sons went to Jemison
to get the cow that I had let him have
two years, but Jemison refused to let her go and
struck the boy so violent a blow as to almost
kill him. Jemison then run to Jealous Clute Esquire to
(06:29):
procure a warrant to take the boy, but Young King,
an Indian chief, went down to Squawky Hill to Esquire
Clutes and settled the affair by Jemison's agreeing never to
use that club again. Having satisfactorily found out the friendly
disposition of my cousin towards me, I got him off
my premises as soon as possible. End of Chapter thirteen
Chapter thirteen of A Narrative of the Life of Missus
Mary Jemison. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. A Narrative of the Life
of Missus Mary Jemison by James E. Seaver, Chapter thirteen.
(00:21):
A year or two before the death of my husband,
Captain H. Jones sent me word that a cousin of
mine was then living in Leicester, a few miles from Guardeaux,
by the name of George Jemison, and as he was
very poor, thought it advisable for me to go and
see him and take him home to live with me
on my land. My Indian friends were pleased to hear
(00:43):
that one of my relatives was so near, and also
advised me to send for him and his family immediately.
I accordingly had him and his family moved into one
of my houses in the month of March eighteen ten.
He said that he was my father's brother's son, that
his father did not leave Europe till after the French
(01:03):
War in America, and that when he did come over,
he settled in Pennsylvania, where he died. George had no
personal knowledge of my father, but from information was confident
that the relationship which he claimed between himself and me
actually existed. Although I had never before heard of my
father having had but one brother, him who was killed
(01:26):
at fort necessity, yet I knew that he might have
had others, And as the story of George carried with
it a probability that it was true, I received him
as a kinsman and treated him with every degree of
friendship which his situation demanded. Beginning a footnote, Missus Jimison
is now confident that George Jemison is not her cousin,
(01:48):
and thinks that he claimed the relationship only to gain assistance.
But the old gentleman, who is now living, is certain
that his and her father were brothers. As before stated
and a footnote, I found that he was destitute of
the means of subsistence, and in debt to the amount
of seventy dollars, without the ability to pay one cent.
(02:10):
He had no cow, and finally was completely poor. I
paid his debts to the amount of seventy two dollars
and bought him a cow, for which I paid twenty dollars,
and a sow and pigs that I paid eight dollars for.
I also paid sixteen dollars for pork that I gave him,
and furnished him with other provisions and furniture so that
(02:31):
his family was comfortable. As he was destitute of a team,
I furnished him with one, and also supplied him with
tools for farming. In addition to all this, I let
him have one of Thomas's cows for two seasons. My
only object in mentioning his poverty and the articles with
which I supplied him, is to show how ungrateful a
(02:52):
person can be for favors, and how soon a kind
benefactor will, to all appearance be forgotten. Thus furnished with
the necessary implements of husbandry, a good team, and as
much land as could till he commenced farming on my flats,
and for some time labored well. At length, however, he
(03:13):
got an idea that if he could become the owner
of a part of my reservation, he could live more
easy and certainly be more rich, and accordingly set himself
about laying a plan to obtain it in the easiest
manner possible. I supported Jemison and his family eight years
and probably should have continued to have done so to
(03:33):
this day, had it not been for the occurrence of
the following circumstance. When he had lived with me some
six or seven years, a friend of mine told me that,
as Jemison was my cousin and very poor, I ought
to give him a piece of land that he might
have something whereon to live that he could call his own.
My friend and Jemison were then together at my house,
(03:56):
prepared to complete a bargain. I asked how much land
he wanted. Jemison said that he should be glad to
receive his old field, as he called it, containing about
fourteen acres, and a new one that contained twenty six.
I observed to them that, as I was incapable of
transacting business of that nature, I would wait till mister
(04:16):
Thomas Clute, an neighbor on whom I depended, should return
from Albany before I should do anything about it. To this,
Jemison replied that if I waited till mister Clute returned,
he should not get the land at all, and appeared
very anxious to have the business closed without delay. On
my part, I felt disposed to give him some land,
(04:37):
but knowing my ignorance of writing, feared to do it
alone lest they might include as much land as they
pleased without my knowledge. They then read the deed which
my friend had prepared before he came from home, describing
a piece of land by certain bounds that were a
specified number of chains and links from each other. Not
understanding the length of a chain or link, I describe
(05:00):
the bounds of a piece of land that I intended
Jemison should have, which they said was just the same
that the deed contained, and no more. I told them
that the deed must not include a lot that was
called the Still Place, and they assured me that it
did not. Upon this, putting confidence in them both, I
signed the deed to George Jemison, containing and conveying to him,
(05:23):
as I supposed, forty acres of land. The deed being completed,
they charged me never to mention the bargain which I
had then made to any person, because if I did,
they said it would spoil the contract. The whole matter
was afterwards disclosed when it was found that that deed,
instead of containing only forty acres, contained four hundred, and
(05:46):
that one half of it actually belonged to my friend,
as it had been given to him by Jemison as
a reward for his trouble in procuring the deed in
the fraudulent manner above mentioned. My friend, however, by the
advice of some well disposed people, a while afterwards, gave
up his claim, but Jemison held his till he sold
it for a trifle to a gentleman in the south
(06:09):
part of Genesee County. Some time after the death of
my son Thomas, one of his sons went to Jemison
to get the cow that I had let him have
two years, but Jemison refused to let her go and
struck the boy so violent a blow as to almost
kill him. Jemison then run to Jealous Clute Esquire to
(06:29):
procure a warrant to take the boy, but Young King,
an Indian chief, went down to Squawky Hill to Esquire
Clutes and settled the affair by Jemison's agreeing never to
use that club again. Having satisfactorily found out the friendly
disposition of my cousin towards me, I got him off
my premises as soon as possible. End of Chapter thirteen
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