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Part of the American
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Aboriginal Women of America
We find among all the accounts of the
aboriginal women of North America that the status of these women
was much better before the advent of the white settlers. The
Indians were divided into what was known as jens, organized
bodies of consanguineal kindred, and these into tribes.
Different customs prevailed in the different tribes. The early
settlers divided them into what was called the Five Nations, and
in many of these the line of descent was through the mother. The
father was so little considered that the children would not
provide for him if he became disabled or too old to make proper
provision for his family. The life of a woman was rated at a
higher value than that of a man and we have Father Raguneau's
statement that among the Hurons thirty-five gifts were
considered compensation for the death of a man and forty for the
death of a woman. Women frequently took part in the councils of
their nation, and, we are told, frequently led the warriors to
battle. There is even an account of a woman having been made
chief of her tribe, "Queen of Pamunkey," who was the widow of
Totapotamoi, a great Indian chief in the Virginias. She had been
summoned to the council to give a promise of assistance, and is
described as a woman of commanding appearance and of
intellectual powers, remarkable in her race.
We also read of "Queen Esther,"
who was a noted Indian woman and took a prominent part in the
massacre of Wyoming, in 1788. She was a half-breed woman. Her
mother, Catherine Montour, had been captured by the Senecas, and
it is told that she was sent to the council of the Indian
commissioners and delegates from the Sixth Nation, held at
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, and was made much of by the
ladies of Philadelphia. During the Wyoming massacre the name of
Mrs. Mary Gould, wife of James Gould, is mentioned for
conspicuous heroism.
Pocahontas ~ 18th Century depiction
A noted character, and the one with
which we are the most familiar, is Pocahontas, the daughter of
Powhatan. Everyone has read of her saving the life of John
Smith. It remains a debatable question even to this day whether
it was her love for him, or because she desired to adopt him as
her brother, which was permitted in those days by the Indians to
those captured, which made her exert herself so conspicuously in
his behalf. Suspicion by many historians has been cast upon the
wily chief Powhatan, who might through Smith's adoption have
opened an avenue for the establishment of more friendly
relations with the whites. Some years later Pocahontas was
herself captured by one Captain Argall, who bought her from some
Potomac Indians, and it is stated the price paid was a copper
kettle. Soon after her capture she married John Rolfe, and was
taken by him to England. Here she again met Captain Smith, who
showed scant appreciation of her sacrifices for him. After she
was presented at the Court of King James, she was given the name
of Lady Rebecca. She died in England, in 1617, leaving one
child, by Rolfe, and it is said that through this child her
blood flows in the veins of some of the best families in
Virginia.
In the Seminole War, Osceola, the great
chieftain, was the son of an Indian woman by a white man by the
name of Powell. Little is known of his mother except that she
was a very remark-able character, and it is believed it was
through her influence that her son was selected as chief.
Before the dawn of the last century the
influence and power of these aboriginal women among their tribes
was fast disappearing and the position of woman retrograding. To
the lowering of the standard of morality was largely due her
changed position. We find among the Pueblo Indians, however,
that the matter of divorce was in the discretion of the woman.
At the time of the occupation of North America by the English
and French, there was a very remarkable Indian among the Ottawas,
Pontiac, who was not only the chief of his own tribe, but had
made other tribes acknowledge him as their leader. After the
defeat of the French on the plains of Abraham, the English took
possession of Detroit and the Indians were so harshly treated
that great trouble arose and the Indians threatened to drive out
their new rulers. The Indians proposed to capture Detroit, which
was then a fort and not a city. The plans for the attack were
fully agreed upon and Pontiac was to call a council with Major
Gladwin who was in command of the fort at Detroit, and here by a
signal from Pontiac all the officers were to be murdered and the
entire garrison meet a like fate, or that of captivity. Among
one of the tribes was a girl named Catherine, with whom Major
Gladwin was in love. She, having heard of the plans of Pontiac
and his followers, went to her lover, told him of the plot on
the part of the Indians, and the entire garrison was saved, the
Indians being taken instead. Through this girl's loyalty to her
white friends, the English supremacy in North America was saved.
Sacajawea ~ Bird Woman
We have a story of another Indian whose
services to the white settlers were invaluable, that of
Sacajawea, known as the "bird woman." She was made a captive by
the Black Feet when a child and sold into slavery by them to a
Frenchman, one Chabonneau. When Lewis and Clark reached the
Mandan villages, they found this Indian woman, who acted as
their guide and interpreter along the Upper Missouri across the
divide into the mountains, until she finally again found her own
people, the Shoshones, who through her gave their services to
the explorers further on toward the Pacific. One of the most
valuable services rendered by this woman was that of saving the
valuable records and instruments of these explorers. The story
which has lived in song and poetry of Hiawatha is sup-posed to
have had its foundation in fact.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
Images: Wikipedia
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