A history of Jonathan Alder : his captivity and life with the Indians / by Henry Clay Alder ; transcribed and with a foreword by Doyle H. Davison ; compiled, annotated, edited, and with an introduction by Larry L. Nelson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alder, Henry Clay, active 19th century.

Contributor:

Davison, Doyle H.

Nelson, Larry L. (Larry Lee), 1950-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alder, Jonathan, 1773-.

Alder, Jonathan.

Indian captivities--Ohio.

Indian captivities.

Shawnee Indians--Social life and customs.

Shawnee Indians.

Mingo Indians--Social life and customs.

Mingo Indians.

Frontier and pioneer life--Ohio.

Frontier and pioneer life.

Manners and customs.

Ohio.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 222 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Akron, OH : University of Akron Press, 2002.

Summary:

A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life With the Indians is one of the most extensive first person accounts to survive from Ohio's pioneer and early settlement eras. Alder's reminiscence spans half a century, from his capture at the age of nine in 1782, when Ohio had no permanent European settlement and was still the exclusive domain of the Ohio Indian nations, to 1832, nearly a generation after the pioneer era had ended. Alder's recollection provides an exceptional look at early Ohio. The portrait of his captors is revealing, complex, and sympathetic. The latter part of his narrative is an extraordinarily rich account of early pioneer life in which he describes his experiences in central Ohio. Further, Alder was fortunate in that he encountered many of the persons and took part in many of the events that have become touchstones in Ohio's pioneer history, including Simon Kenton, Simon Girty, and Colonel William Crawford. He participated in the Battles of Fort Recovery and Fallen Timbers, and his recollection of these actions are among the few extant accounts that describe these events from a Native American perspective.

On a Brilliant spring morning in May 1782, nine-year-old Jonathan Alder and his older brother David set out to find a mare that had wandered from their isolated cabin in southwest Virginia and into the rugged mountains and dense forests of the surrounding countryside. Later in the day, the boys found their horse, but as they struggled to lead the reluctant animal home, they were attacked by a party of Indians from Ohio. David was killed and Jonathan taken prisoner. His captors brought Alder back to Ohio, where he was adopted by a Mingo warrior and his Shawnee wife. Here he spent the next thirteen years. During that time, Alder lived fully as an Indian. He learned their language and observed their customs. He hunted, traded, and fought at their side. In 1795, after the death of his adoptive parents, Alder left the Indians and eventually settled in Pleasant Valley, near present-day Plain City in central Ohio. At the urging of an acquaintance, he traveled to Virginia in 1805, where he had the extraordinary good fortune to find his mother and remaining siblings still living in the neighborhood where he had been captured as a youth. After his reunion, he married a woman from Virginia, returned to Pleasant Valley, and became something of a local celebrity as a result of his childhood adventures. In the late 1830s or early 1840s, probably at the insistence of his family and friends, Alder composed his memoirs, in which he recounted his life with the Ohio Indians and his experiences as one of the area's earliest pioneers.

Contents:

A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians 27.

Notes:

"The version within these pages is the Doyle Davison transcript of the Henry Clay manuscript held by the Ohio Historical Society ... "--Introd.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-215) and index.

ISBN:

1884836801

OCLC:

48383282