Civilization of the Indian Natives / or, a Brief View of the Friendly Conduct of William Penn Towards Them in the Early Settlement of Pennsylvania

by Halliday Jackson

At the request of the Indians, also, in the summer of 1816, four lads, two from Buffalo, and two from Alleghany, were brought into Chester county, within forty miles of Philadelphia, and placed with suitable persons under the care of the committee, to be instructed in school learning, and some of the mechanic arts.

In the Eighth month this year, a Friend who had formerly devoted many years to the instruction of the natives, proceeded again with his wife to the Alleghany settlement, accompanied by a young man in the capacity of a schoolmaster; and the family who had resided there for some years past returned from thence. The school was again opened at Cold Spring town, in the Tenth month, where about twenty different scholars attended, in an irregular manner, owing, in part, to the scarcity of provisions. This scarcity of food was occasioned by unusually early frost, which destroyed more than half their corn, and likewise many other vegetables. This calamity was felt through all that part of the country bordering on the lakes.

Although the Indians had had the fairest prospect of a plentiful supply, yet, from the foregoing circumstance, many of them were compelled to resort to their former source of dependence, and with their families, retire to the woods and hunting encampments, where they remained a great part of the winter.

The Indians at Cattaraugus were conspicuous sufferers by this calamity; many of them having their crops of corn entirely cut off, while they had as yet scarcely recruited from their sufferings during the late war. Friends duly considered their distressed situation, and granted five hundred dollars to be applied in supplying them with provisions, and three hundred more to be administered to the necessities of those on the Alleghany reservation. These donations were gratefully received by the Indians, and were peculiarly useful in enabling them, the following spring, more generally to attend to their agricultural pursuits, without being compelled from necessity to retire to their hunting grounds. It was said five hundred and twelve individuals at Alleghany, and three hundred and ninety at Cattaraugus, partook of this timely donation of Friends.

In the spring of 1817, the fears of the committee were strongly excited for the safety of the Indians, from the various concurring accounts, that plans were again devising to induce a removal of many of them in the state of New York, from their present seat, to one very remote among the western tribes. A measure of this kind would not only tend to unsettle the Indians in their agricultural pursuits, but if carried into effect, would entirely frustrate the plan of their civilization, and render of little avail the labours of Friends for twenty years past, and the expenditure of more than forty thousand dollars in promoting their advancement toward a civilized state.

The committee, therefore, being fully impressed with the great loss the Indians would inevitably sustain by a removal to a distant clime, communicated their views by a written address; and with a view of setting them in a more permanent possession of the soil, recommended a division of their land into lots, suitable to accommodate each family, to be held under such regulations, that it might descend from parent to children, and other near connexions; and under such restrictions as would debar individuals from selling, leasing, or transferring it, in any way, to white people.

This measure being of an important character in the disposition of Indian affairs, it was believed expedient, by the committee, to present a memorial to the President of the United States, in their behalf, by which he was fully made acquainted with the plan proposed to the Indians for a division of their land; and being visited, also, by a deputation from the committee, and furnished with various documents, it opened the way for a free communication of sentiment on the subject, and the president gave assurance of attentively perusing and duly considering the documents and memorial.

In the Ninth month this year, the settlements of Tunesassa and Cattaraugus were again visited by four of the committee, who spent several weeks among the Indians, in attending to the various services of their appointment. They inspected, particularly, the state of improvement at both the settlements, and also had divers interviews with the Indians in council, at both places.

With respect to the improvements at Cattaraugus, the author being one of the deputation now visiting them, had a fair opportunity of judging of the advances they had made in three years past. Their settlements at this place were now extended about ten miles in length—and they had fenced in many fields and laid out their farms much more detached from each other—and were gradually advancing in agriculture. It was supposed they had more than two hundred acres of corn growing, (and it generally looked well,) besides one hundred acres more under cultivation; spring wheat, oats, potatoes, and a great variety of garden vegetables. Their stock of cattle and horses was much increased, and divers of them had enclosed lots of grass on which they gathered hay for winter. Many of the women had made considerable progress in spinning, so as, in the course of the last year, to make about one hundred and seventy yards of cloth.

The Alleghany settlement was said to consist of about seventy families, all of whom, except four, had horned cattle, amounting in the whole to upwards of four hundred.