Psalm 23: 4 – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death … thou art with me.
She was born at sea in the fall of 1743 by parents who were journeying to the New World from what is now modern-day Northern Ireland. Thomas and Jane Jemison named the child “Mary” as the Jemisons were sailing on the “William and Mary” at the time of the child’s birth. Upon their arrival in Pennsylvania, the baby Mary and her family ultimately settled in what is now Orrtanna in Adams County. Their frontier home was close to the present-day St. Ignatius Loyola Catholic Church which still holds worship services in Orrtanna. By 1755, the Jemison family had cleared land in this frontier area and managed a rather successful farm. One crisp morning early that year, a party of six Shawnee and four Frenchmen appeared on the Jemison property. They rounded up the Jemisons and a young mother with two children from a neighboring farm. Mary would have been 12 at the time.
For several days, Mary and the others hiked through the mountains and woodlands of central Pennsylvania. At a point somewhere along the way to Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh, the Jemison family and their neighbor were killed and scalped. Only Mary and one of the neighbor boys were spared, and upon arriving at Fort Duquesne, Mary never saw the surviving neighbor boy again. She was completely on her own with her captors. Mary’s story has always fascinated me, and for this reason I chose to write about it this week. Mary was adopted by two sisters from the Seneca tribe who had lost a brother in battle. Over the course of Mary’s life, she assimilated into her adopted family’s culture – learning the language, marrying, and having a total of eight children. She and her family ultimately migrated to western New York, where she lived the remainder of her 90 plus years.
Mary has a unique position in the history of our great land. She knew the hard work, faith, and big dreams of her pioneer family who settled in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania. The love and grief she carried for the family she lost remained with her throughout her long life. Yet … she also lived and ultimately embraced life as a Seneca woman who experienced first-hand the harsh reality of dwindling land and Native lives lost to European expansion. It is said that Mary became a fierce negotiator for the Seneca when land treaties were negotiated between their great nation and representatives from the fledgling U.S. government. Mary is buried in what is now Letchworth State Park, about 35 miles south of Rochester. A statue in honor of Mary is also located in Adams County, near her family’s homesite in Orrtanna.
Sometimes when I’m hiking in our mountains, I think of Mary and her family. Their story lingers through time, in all of its hope and tragedy. I find strength in Mary, though! Her determination, versatility, and forgiving spirit enabled her to recon with the death of her parents and to embrace a new life, offered to her by the two Seneca sisters who adopted her.
Dear Lord, we thank you for the life of Mary Jemison, and others like her, who courageously forgave in spite of unimaginable grief, and whose inner strength enabled them to positively impact the world they were thrust into. We thank you for the bridge Mary created between the European settlers she encountered later in life and the Seneca family she ultimately chose to stay with and protect.
Blessings to all as we celebrate our local heroes!
Diana
Resources:
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Church History – https://www.stignatiusofloyola.org/church-history
Mary Jemison, Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jemison
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