Frances Slocum, Kidnapped White Woman

Frances Slocum, daughter of Quaker parents Jonathan and Ruth Tripp Slocum, was taken as a young child by Delaware Indians from her home near Wilkes-Barre, PA, in September 1778. At some point later in her life, she married a Miami Indian chief who was called Deaf Man, and they had 2 sons and 2 daughters. They lived near present-day Peru, IN. When her husband retired as chief, Francis Godfroy became the new chief.

On 6 Nov 1838, the government granted Frances' daughter Yellow Leaf (not Frances herself because she was not considered an Indian) a section of land on the Mississinewa River. Two years later, on 28 Nov 1840, "at the Forks of the Wabash, in the state of Indiana", another treaty gave the Miamis 5 years to remove to the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Frances' brothers (who had since found her) convinced her to appeal for an exemption and, on 17 Jan 1845, it was granted. Frances died there in 1847, long after her husband. In spite of her elderly brothers' pleadings, she would not return to white civilization - she did not speak English and remembered nothing of white man's ways.