Combat
Brigadier General
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Thought this was an interesting news account here in Gettysburg given the upcoming JJ release of frontier settlers defending themselves in a blockhouse. This incident occurred during the French-Indian War:
Panel preps to observe 250th anniversary of Mary Jemison abduction
Although the official announcement will not be made until next week, work already is under way to mark the 250th anniversary of the abduction of one of Adams County’s best known “daughters.”
Born on a ship enroute from Ireland, Mary Jemison was 15 when she was taken from her home in the Buchanan Valley by a group of Shawnee Indians.
Some of her siblings were killed at the farm, but Mary and her parents were taken away westward.
“They put moccasins on her feet, so her mother knew she was going to be spared,” said Upper Adams County historian Debra McCauslin.
Mary’s parents were not spared, but the teenage girl was. She later was traded to a group of Seneca Indians near Pittsburgh. She became a member of the Seneca Nation and married a chief.
When he died, she remarried, to another chief. When opportunities arose for her to return to the white world, she refused.
“She was thinking of returning,” McCauslin said, “but she realized they (the white population) would never accept her children.”
McCauslin and Gettysburg restaurateur Jacqueline White head a Remembering Mary Jemison committee working to commemorate the event, now marked by a monument at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church in Buchanan Valley.
Other committee members include: Harold Griffie and Timothy H. Smith, of the Biglerville Historical Preservation Society; Land Conservancy of Adams County President Richard Mountfort; storyteller, actress and drama teacher Ann Griffith (who will portray Jemison as an adult); Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau Marketing and Public Relations Manager Stacy Fox; writer and editor Christine Little;and Gettysburg YWCA Executive Director Deb Yocum.
Programs will be sponsored by the BHPS.
McCauslin said the idea came as she was guiding tours during the 2007 Apple Harvest Festival, and realized 2008 would be the 250th anniversary of the abduction.
“We have so many people who move into the county and don’t know this story” she said of Jemison and her place in county history.
The committee’slogo, inspired by the monument, is being designed by Kris Driscoll of Gettysburg’s Bare Hands Design, and funded by McCauslin’s historical production company, For the Cause Productions.
The logo will be unveiled during a proclamation ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m., Jan. 2, in the county commissioners meeting room of the Adams County Courthouse.
Panel preps to observe 250th anniversary of Mary Jemison abduction
Although the official announcement will not be made until next week, work already is under way to mark the 250th anniversary of the abduction of one of Adams County’s best known “daughters.”
Born on a ship enroute from Ireland, Mary Jemison was 15 when she was taken from her home in the Buchanan Valley by a group of Shawnee Indians.
Some of her siblings were killed at the farm, but Mary and her parents were taken away westward.
“They put moccasins on her feet, so her mother knew she was going to be spared,” said Upper Adams County historian Debra McCauslin.
Mary’s parents were not spared, but the teenage girl was. She later was traded to a group of Seneca Indians near Pittsburgh. She became a member of the Seneca Nation and married a chief.
When he died, she remarried, to another chief. When opportunities arose for her to return to the white world, she refused.
“She was thinking of returning,” McCauslin said, “but she realized they (the white population) would never accept her children.”
McCauslin and Gettysburg restaurateur Jacqueline White head a Remembering Mary Jemison committee working to commemorate the event, now marked by a monument at St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church in Buchanan Valley.
Other committee members include: Harold Griffie and Timothy H. Smith, of the Biglerville Historical Preservation Society; Land Conservancy of Adams County President Richard Mountfort; storyteller, actress and drama teacher Ann Griffith (who will portray Jemison as an adult); Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau Marketing and Public Relations Manager Stacy Fox; writer and editor Christine Little;and Gettysburg YWCA Executive Director Deb Yocum.
Programs will be sponsored by the BHPS.
McCauslin said the idea came as she was guiding tours during the 2007 Apple Harvest Festival, and realized 2008 would be the 250th anniversary of the abduction.
“We have so many people who move into the county and don’t know this story” she said of Jemison and her place in county history.
The committee’slogo, inspired by the monument, is being designed by Kris Driscoll of Gettysburg’s Bare Hands Design, and funded by McCauslin’s historical production company, For the Cause Productions.
The logo will be unveiled during a proclamation ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m., Jan. 2, in the county commissioners meeting room of the Adams County Courthouse.
