The Slocum Cemetery

Maconaquah had a decision to make. She could continue the life she had known for over 58 years, or return to civilization with her siblings.

Born in Rhode Island in 1773 as Frances Slocum, she was captured by Delaware Indians in November 1778 from her home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She was taken west by the Delaware into what would later become the states of Ohio and Indiana. She married a Delaware Indian who mistreated her, and after leaving him, she returned to her parents. While living with them, she encountered a Miami Indian man named Shepocanah, who had been wounded in battle. Shepocanah was nursed back to health, and before his death, Frances’s father gave both Frances and her mother to him. Frances married Shepocanah and was given the Miami name Maconaquah.

Shepocanah later became a Miami chief but relinquished the role after losing his hearing. He was known to white settlers as Deaf Man. Shepocanah and Maconaquah lived along the Mississinewa River near present-day Peru, Indiana. They had four children: two sons who died young and two daughters. Their daughter Kekemosheshwah had no children and died on March 13, 1847, four days after her mother. Their second daughter, Ozahshinquah, also known as Jane, died on January 25, 1877, leaving her husband and nine children surviving. Shepocanah died around 1833.

In 1835, a traveler passing through the Mississinewa River area spoke with Maconaquah, and she revealed that she had been born a white child. Although she no longer spoke English, she reported that her name had been Slocum and that her family were Quakers living along the Susquehanna River. The traveler sent a letter recounting Maconaquah’s story to the postmaster in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Two years later, the letter was published in a Lancaster newspaper, where it came to the attention of Joseph Slocum, one of Frances’s brothers.

In September 1837, Joseph, along with his brother Isaac and sister Mary, traveled with interpreters to Deaf Man's Village and spoke with Maconaquah. After nearly 58 years, they did not recognize her, but they were able to identify her by a damaged forefinger on her left hand, injured during childhood. Although they asked her to return with them, she declined and lived the rest of her life with her family. She died on March 9, 1847, in Deaf Man’s Village.

This cemetery is not the original location of her burial, as the grave marker notes. Her grave and those of her family were originally located at Deaf Man’s Village along the Mississinewa River but were relocated in 1965 when the Army Corp of Engineers built the Mississinewa Reservoir. 80 graves and the entire town of Somerset was relocated to create the reservoir.

Many state properties and other sites are named in honor of Frances Slocum, and one is named after Maconaquah, in both Indiana and Pennsylvania. These include:

• Frances Slocum Elementary School, Marion, Indiana
• Frances Slocum Neighborhood, Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Frances Slocum State Forest, Lagro, Indiana
• Frances Slocum State Park, Wyoming, Pennsylvania
• Frances Slocum State Recreation Area, Pioneer, Indiana
• Frances Slocum Trail / County Road 275 E, Butler Township, Indiana
• Old Slocum Trail (road), Somerset, Indiana
• Maconaquah High School, Bunker Hill, Indiana

Ultimately, the decision she made was to remain Maconaquah and stay with her daughters and grandchildren. History, however, would remember her as Frances Slocum.