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Mary Jemison
White Woman of the Seneca
"With two children on her back, nine-year-old John beside her, and Tom astride a horse in front, Mary inched her way through the lonely forest. It was almost too empty. She hadn't remembered it ever seeming so barren, so absolutely clean of leaves or dead branches. She wondered if wars did such things.... Did her Seneca brothers know? Did they understand that killing people often meant killing land?" (Rayna Gangi)Basing her novel on Mary Jemison's own account of her life, Rayna Gangi tells the true story of the captive white girl who became the wife of a Seneca warrior chief during the French and Indian wars. Captured at 15 during a raid, this daughter of Scotch-Irish parents was rapidly assimilated into full tribal membership and the responsibilities of womanhood. She bore eight children and became a respected elder in her adopted community. By "becoming" Seneca, Mary Jemison developed the strength, values, and enduring commitment that -- together with her native courage -- sustained her through wrenching personal tragedies in the aftermath of a war the Seneca could not win. An accurate account of many of the events that shaped the destiny of the Seneca people, this book has been sanctioned by the Seneca Nation.
152 pp — ©1995
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