Her name is
synonymous with Adams County history and is one of the best known
Indian captive stories of the French and Indian War period. On April
5, 1758, 15 year old Mary Jemison and her family along with the
visiting neighbors were taken from their frontier home in Buchanan
Valley (10 miles west of Gettysburg) by a raiding party of Shawnee
Indians and their French allies. Mary's two older brothers escaped
the raid by being at the barn and only Mary and one of the neighbor
boys were spared by the Indians - the rest suffered cruel deaths
during the trip to the forks on the Ohio (present day Pittsburgh).
Mary was adopted
by two Seneca sisters as a replacement for their brother who had
been killed in the French and Indian War. Mary remained by choice
with the Seneca until her death in 1833 at age 91. As an Indian
woman, she lived out most her life in the Genesee Valley of New
York State at what is now known as Letchworth State Park. Monuments
in her honor stand in both Letchworth State Park and in Buchanan
Valley, the site of her capture. The Taking of Mary Jemison
is historical artist Robert Griffing's masterful painting depicting
that fateful day in April of 1758.
Open Edition print "Mary Jemison" (below)
now available. These are not signed or numbered and represent just
a "detail" of the limited edition print image.