Eunice Williams ~ Captive Taken by Mohawk Indians

Eunice Williams ~ Taken Captive

Eunice Williams, taken captive in the Deerfield, Massachusetts raid in 1704, at the age of seven, lived the rest of her life among the Kanienkehaka (Mohawks).  Eunice bridges the cultures of the indigenous and colonists in America.  A true example of courage and love .

Eunice Williams was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696, the daughter of Puritan minister Rev. John Williams.

In 1704, the Williams' home was attacked during a raid led by French and Mohawk fighters that became known as the Deerfield Massacre. Eunice's six-week-old sister and brother were killed by hatchet. Eunice, her parents, and four of her siblings were taken captive and forced on a strenuous march northward. The next day, her mother was killed by hatchet after she fell while crossing the icy waters of the Green River.  

 

Eunice and the surviving members of her family reached the area near Montreal, where she was adopted by a woman who had recently lost her own daughter in a smallpox epidemic. Eunice was given the name Waongote, meaning "one who is planted like an Ashe", and was instructed in the Mohawk language and customs. The years passed. In 1713 Rev. Williams learned she had married a Mohawk brave, named Arosen. The Reverend hired a trader in Albany, who was friendly with the Mohawks, to visit her in Canada to urge her to return to her family in Deerfield.  The trader, John Schulyer, reported that the girl and her husband were brought to him, and the girl no longer knew English.

"She looking very poor in body,
bashfull in the face,

but proved harder than steel in her breast"

Her father, Rev. Williams always sought to find Eunice.  She was difficult to locate in the wilderness. He met with Eunice on two occasions.   The Mohawk declared, however that they "would as soon part with their hearts as the child.”  When asked if she wanted to return, Eunice quietly murmured "Jaght oghte" meaning "maybe not", a polite way of saying "No." 

The Reverend and his group began to realize she truly might not be coming.  He was heartbroken, as he said in a letter, that "she is yet obstinately resolved to live and dye here, and will not so much as give me one pleasant look." Eunice never returned to live in Deerfield.  But she often returned to visit with her original family.

Eunice had several children and remained married to her husband Arosen.  Eunice and her Mohawk family frequently travelled to Albany, NY to trade furs.  Eunice visited her 'white' family in Deerfield numerous times, camping out in the nearby forest, where she felt comfortable.    

 Mohawk Indian Kenneth Williams, her descendant: 

"This (story) speaks of the most powerful force in the universe, whether a Mother's love for a child, a brother for a sister, or love of one's country. 

We should not forget these things."

NASA Studies the Mystery of Bear Hibernation

The ingenious purpose of bear hibernation is to prevent starvation during times of unavailable food.  

During 6-7 months bears do not drink, eat, urinate, or defecate.  

Their heartbeat may be 8 beats per minute, body temperature falls 10 degrees.  And metabolism drops 75%.

NASA  is thinking about inducing a torpid state or hibernation in voyaging astronauts to reduce boredom, and reduce energy requirements.

It is likely that the genetic basis for this ability is ancient and widespread and that it could be exploited for various purposes.  Its research could discover how to reduce metabolic rates and oxygen demands in human tissues, and could possibly save lives.  The implications are many:  osteoporosis, renal disease, heart, circulatory disease, etc.

Scientists search for the substance that will induce hibernation or the "hibernation induction trigger: or  "HIT" but haven't located it yet.  They have induced hibernation only in thirteen-lined ground squirrels  but it doesn't seem to work with other creatures such as hamsters. 

Bears helping us explore space ...

Indian Stamina -- Settler Accounts

1913 Cherokee Stickball Players

A lifestyle so connected with the outdoors over thousands of years  produced a hardy, athletic race of people, adapted to weather and  subsistence. Relatively small tribal populations in relation to vast  expanses of lands kept human impact well within the carrying capacity of the land.  Indian runners whose endurance was renowned carried  communications across the mountains.

William Gerard DeBrahm, an important British surveyor recorded in 1796:

They all walk very straight, upright,  and rather with stiff Knees, which they scarcely bend.  They are very  dexterous and nimble in their next Exercises, which is wrestling,  jumping, throwing and running; as also in their third Exercise, hunting  and shooting, both with arrow and Guns.  An Indian once kept up, running  afoot, for three hours, with the Author, who kept his Horse in a  constant Gallop, from Keowe to Estetowe, and never left him.

James Adair:

. . . but those towns that lie among the  Apalahche mountains are very pinching to such who are unaccustomed to a  savage life. The ice and snow continue on the north-side, till late in  the spring of the year: however, the natives are well provided for it,  by their bathing and anointing themselves.  This regimen shuts up the  pores of the body, and by that means prevents too great a perspiration;  and an accustomed exercise of hunting, joined with the former, puts them  far above their climate: they are almost as impenetrable to cold, as a  bar of steel, and the severest cold is no detriment to their hunting. 

Acclimation and Bathing

The Indians bathed daily in the rivers and streams where their towns  and farms were almost always located.  White people were amazed at their  immunity against cold and rain. 

They were acclimated because they were  hardened against the elements by living with the elements. Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins traveled through the north Georgia Cherokee country using Cherokee guides to take him from the Coosa River of Alabama to Creek Country.

He recorded in his detailed journal, “My guides spoke their  native tongue only. I gave them directions when I set off, and had the  aid of an interpreter, which they follow with great exactness."

On December 5, 1796, he recorded: 

My guide in the evening told me we had  traveled 34 miles--here I saw a Creek Indian, near his hunting camp, he at first was a great distance from me and walked hastily on till he came up with me, gave me his hand, told me who he was and conversed for some time with my guide, who had been instructed to inform every one he saw  on the path who I was. 

In the course of the evening it rained. I had  prepared for a shelter in time which was covered with a blanket, bear  skins and oilcloth cloak. I was surprised at the little effect the rain  had on my two Indians, the old man had a leather shirt and legings, the  young one leather legings and an old shirt, they had each a small  halfworn blanket, the young man every evening pulled off his shirt and  spread it under him. They both slept soundly the whole time it rained,  got up once and ordered my attendants up twice to endeavor to preserve  our fire by the addition of wood, but they never stired till daybreak;  they are small eaters, use no salt, and but little bread. 

They carry  their parched corn meal, Wissoetaw, and mix a hand full in a pint of  water which they drink. Although they had plenty of corn and fowls they  made no other provision than a small bag of this for the path. I have  plenty of provisions, and give them some at every meal. I have several  times drank of the Wissoetaw and am fond of it with the addition of some  sugar. To make of the best quality I am told the corn should be first boiled, then parched in hot ashes, sifted, pounded and made into flour.

The first and principal Exercise of the  Indians is bathing and swimming, in which they are very dexterous.   Every Morning, immediately after rising, both in Summer and NB in  Winter, coming out of their hot Houses, they take their Babes under  their Arms, and lead their Children to the River, in which they enter be  it ever so cold. The Mothers learn their Babes swimming before they can  walk, which greatly increases their Strength, and of Course their  Growth.

source:   Wild South

The Puritan Captive Eunice Williams

Eunice Williams ~ Taken Captive

Eunice Williams, taken captive in the Deerfield, Massachusetts raid in 1704, at the age of seven, lived the rest of her life among the Kanienkehaka (Mohawks).  Eunice bridges the cultures of the indigenous and colonists in America.  A true example of courage and love .

Eunice Williams was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696, the daughter of Puritan minister Rev. John Williams.

In 1704, the Williams' home was attacked during a raid led by French and Mohawk fighters that became known as the Deerfield Massacre. Eunice's six-week-old sister and brother were killed by hatchet. Eunice, her parents, and four of her siblings were taken captive and forced on a strenuous march northward. The next day, her mother was killed by hatchet after she fell while crossing the icy waters of the Green River.  

 

Eunice and the surviving members of her family reached the area near Montreal, where she was adopted by a woman who had recently lost her own daughter in a smallpox epidemic. Eunice was given the name Waongote, meaning "one who is planted like an Ashe", and was instructed in the Mohawk language and customs. The years passed. In 1713 Rev. Williams learned she had married a Mohawk brave, named Arosen. The Reverend hired a trader in Albany, who was friendly with the Mohawks, to visit her in Canada to urge her to return to her family in Deerfield.  The trader, John Schulyer, reported that the girl and her husband were brought to him, and the girl no longer knew English.

"She looking very poor in body,
bashfull in the face,

but proved harder than steel in her breast"

Her father, Rev. Williams always sought to find Eunice.  She was difficult to locate in the wilderness. He met with Eunice on two occasions.   The Mohawk declared, however that they "would as soon part with their hearts as the child.”  When asked if she wanted to return, Eunice quietly murmured "Jaght oghte" meaning "maybe not", a polite way of saying "No." 

The Reverend and his group began to realize she truly might not be coming.  He was heartbroken, as he said in a letter, that "she is yet obstinately resolved to live and dye here, and will not so much as give me one pleasant look." Eunice never returned to live in Deerfield.  But she often returned to visit with her original family.

Eunice had several children and remained married to her husband Arosen.  Eunice and her Mohawk family frequently travelled to Albany, NY to trade furs.  Eunice visited her 'white' family in Deerfield numerous times, camping out in the nearby forest, where she felt comfortable.    

 Mohawk Indian Kenneth Williams, her descendant: 

"This (story) speaks of the most powerful force in the universe, whether a Mother's love for a child, a brother for a sister, or love of one's country. 

We should not forget these things."

Scientists Search for Magic Bullet of Hibernating Bears

The ingenious purpose of bear hibernation is to prevent starvation during times of unavailable food.  

During 6-7 months bears do not drink, eat, urinate, or defecate.  Their heartbeat may be 8 beats per minute, body temperature falls 10 degrees.  And metabolism drops 75%.

NASA  is thinking about inducing a torpid state or hibernation in voyaging astronauts to reduce boredom, and reduce energy requirements (food).

It is likely that the genetic basis for this ability is ancient and widespread and that it could be exploited for various purposes.  Its research could discover how to reduce metabolic rates and oxygen demands in human tissues, and could possibly save lives.  The implications are many:  osteoporosis, renal disease, heart, circulatory disease, etc.

Scientists search for the substance that will induce hibernation or the "hibernation induction trigger: or  "HIT" but haven't located it yet.  They have induced hibernation only in thirteen-lined ground squirrels  but it doesn't seem to work with other creatures such as hamsters. 

Bears helping us in space ...

Mankind once Spoke to the Animals

Many medicine men state there was a time when man and animals communicated freely and directly with each other   In modern days, man is not in tune with this deep link with animals.  This former communication allowed the animals to instruct man in man things, in medicine and survival.We Could Talk with the Animals

An old native Chief died in Alaska in the 1970’s.  His family  was a member of the Bear clan.  As his body was taken back to be buried in Angoon, as the truck rolled by bears materialized out of the woods and lined the road.  Some of the bears stood up. (Calvin Martin, Rutgers University)

“At other times, when too many bears came out of the forest some of the elders would talk to the bears, telling them they might scare the children, and to stay away.  Bears respected this.”

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Did native Americans have a radio? The Shaking Tent

The Shaking Tent

The shaking tent, or "conjuring lodge," as early chroniclers also called it, was the setting for a divinatory rite performed by specially trained shamans across much of the Great Lakes and Subarctic. It was a small booth built of saplings.  The medicine man entered it and summoned spirits.

In the early 1600’s, some native Americans described seeing future visions of the white settlers during a Shaking Tent ceremony – they were amazed at the different color clothing, having never seen this and the strange language.  This was in the early 1600’s long before the settlers migrated.

The lodge would shake from the power emitted.

After the shaman entered the frame, it was completely covered with bark or cloth. Onlookers could hear strange sounds issuing from inside as the tent swayed wildly from side to side. During his transcendent state, the shaman could dispatch a supernatural helper, usually a mystical turtle, to distant regions to answer questions from his audience about the most auspicious places to hunt, the well-being of distant relatives, and what would happen in the future.

Witness:   “there "was a kind of electricity in the air when it operated", and  "the shaman could communicate with people 'telepathically' while in the tent".  Native people said about the shaking tent, said "it's very similar to a radio...If there were people far away… and you wanted to communicate with them, then you could do the shaking tent."

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