Mary Jemison : Short Biography

Photo: Letworth Park History

Mary Jemison was born somewhere in the Atlantic on the ship William and Mary to parents Thomas and Jane, who, along with their other children were bound for Philadelphia from Northern Ireland.  On arrival they joined other Protestant Scots-Irish who were headed west seeking cheaper land.  They went to the Marsh Creek settlement and began building a life.  Over the next decade they became fairly wealthy, according to the standards of the time. 

In 1755, conflict had begun in the French and Indian War – the North American front of the Seven Years’ War – between France and Britain.  This messy conflict saw both sides working alongside Native American allies.  One day that year when Mary was 12 a raiding party made up of six Shawnee men and four Frenchmen captured Mary and her family, with the exception of her two oldest brothers who managed to escape.  They brought the family to Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh) and killed and ritually scalped all but Mary and a neighbour boy who had also been captured.  Mary was given to two Seneca who took her to their settlement and she was adopted to a Seneca family there.  They renamed her Dehgewanus, meaning pretty girl.  Mary learned the ways of the Seneca over the next years and as an adult chose to stay with them rather than return to British colonial life.  She married twice in her life and had seven children.

During the American Revolutionary war the Seneca were allies of the British.  Mary and other Seneca in Little Beard’s Town (present-day Cuylerville, NY) helped supply Joseph Brant (Mohawk) and his force who fought against the rebel colonists.  After the war the Seneca sold much of their land and Mary proved to be a very capable negotiator, helping them to win more favourable terms.  A 2 acre tract of land was reserved for Marys’ use and she was known by locals as the “White Woman of the Genesee”. 

Late in her life, Mary told her remarkable story to minister James E. Seaver and he published “Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison”.  Mary died on September 19^th, 1833.  A bronze statue of her, created in 1910 by Henry Kirke Bush-Brown marks her grave. 

(sources: The Irish Times, Letchworthparkhistory.com, claesjonsson.com)