Allison Bruning's Blog, page 67

Up Close and Personal with the Shawnee

Week 1: Just Who are the Shawnee? This week we leave behind the series called Ohio Myths and Legends at Fleming Falls. In that story you were introduced to an environment where tribes fought against each other against the backdrop of new white settlers invading their lands.  Some tribes were friendly with the white settlers while others were not. Native Americans are not one but made up several different tribes with their own unique culture and beliefs. During the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War, the native populations fought on both sides of the conflict. During the time of the Fleming Falls story, the native populations in Ohio were often in conflict with each other over whether or not they should accept the white settlers onto their lands. To understand why the tribes acted in the story they way they did you must first understand their own culture. It would not surprise me if the tribes that disagreed were Shawnee.  But why? Who are the Shawnee? Books and movies have often portrayed these people conflicting with the white settlers. Yet often times what is portrayed in the media about them is pure propaganda. Propaganda is nothing new to the Shawnee. Lies, legends and myths have been spread about them since the first time the white man ever saw a Shawnee. This series will take the reader inside the world of the Shawnee.
I Am Shawnee!

Shawnee. The very word unifies them as a nation. Yet in all of Shawnee history, the only time they ever came together as one people was when there was a threat against all Shawnee people. The Shawnee have always lived an independent lifestyle. To be an adult Shawnee meant you could live wherever you wanted without the need to answer to anyone.  This allowed the Shawnee the freedom to settle anywhere which is why when the settlers began to explore the wilderness it was very easy for them to run into a Shawnee.
One of the problems the Europeans faced with the Shawnee people was the idea of political unity. The Europeans' concept of leadership was completely different than the Shawnee. They were coming for a culture where monarchy was the rule of the land. This meant everyone obeyed one leader. To the Shawnee this was a foreign concept. While they did have chiefs, they could leave the chief's leadership if they disagreed with the chief. So when a chief makes an agreement with another he is speaking for his village but if a person does not agree with the comprise he or she is free to leave without any political repercussions. The Europeans had expected if a compromise was made with a Shawnee chief then it was to be followed by all Shawnee. In the Shawnee's eyes, the compromise was made only with his or her village not the entire nation. The cultural differences in this belief often mistakenly lead the Europeans in conflict with the Shawnee.

Shawnee Leadership
The Shawnee people lived a life that revolved around their conservative religious beliefs. They believed their creator, Our Grandmother, created five division of their people. These five division were: Chillicothe (Chalahgawtha) [Chalaka, Chalakatha], Hathawekela (Asswikales, Sweickleys, etc.) [Thawikila], Kispokotha (Kispoko) [kishpoko, kishpokotha], Mequachake (Mekoche, Machachee, Maguck, Mackachack) [Mekoche] and Pekuwe (Piqua, Pekowi, Pickaway, Picks) [Pekowi, Pekowitha]. Each division had their own set of responsibilities. We shall go into this further in another posting. For now, let us focus on the Chillicothe and the Kishpoko.
Ideally the leadership of a village was lead under two chiefs. All villages had a council of elders that were like advisers to the chief. No chief could make a decision without seeking the advice of the elders. Council meetings were often longer than one day but no less than three.
The two chief were the peace chief and the war chief. The two did not come from the same division nor did they lead their people at the same time.
Chief Cornstalk, principal peace chief of the ShawneeThe peace chief came from the Chillicothe division. He was responsible for leading the village in times of peace and only answered to the principal peace chief. The principal peace chief was the peace leader over of all the Shawnee. Each summer the village peace chiefs would travel to the principal peace chief's village for a great council. The position of peace chief was hereditary. It could only be passed from father to son. The principal chief was chosen from the independent village chiefs. A famous Shawnee peace chief was Chief Cornstalk.  The peace chief's wife was known as the female peace chief. She had the responsibility of overseeing the female duties of the village, ordering when to plant and sow the fields and scheduled the cooking for the feasts. Women had a strong voice in the tribal government because the Shawnee honored women more than men.


Tecumseh, war chief of the ShawneeOne of the most well known war chiefs was Tecumseh.  
The position of war chief was not hereditary. After the war chief died any Kishpoko could compete for the position. The competors were given men underneath their leadership for the duration of three seperate village attacks. They had to prove themselves by gathering a scalp from each attack and arrive home without any of their warriors killed or injured. Than man who could do this three times was said to be chosen by Our Grandmother to replace the war chief. A war chief could only come out of the Kishpoko division since these were the warriors of the Shawnee nation. Tecumseh's father was the principal war chief until his death when Tecumseh was still a boy. Tecumseh was too young at that time to fight for his father's position.
The war chief lead the village during the times of war. He was also responsible for training all boys to become warriors and strong providers. Whenever the village was at war it would be the war chief who was in charge and not the peace chief. You could always tell the distinction between the chiefs because a war chief always wore a red tipped tomahawk on his hip. The war chief, like the peace chief, also answered to a principal chief and travelled in the summer to the a great council. Another responsibility of the war chief was to ensure law and order in the village. He was the emissary sent to other tribes to speak on behalf of his village. So more often, the Europeans, when they were encountering a village leader it was not the peace chief they were speaking too but the war chief. The war chief would not make a decision without consulting the peace chief first. This is why they rarely made a decision when speaking to the Europeans about anything. They would have to take the information back to the village, discuss it with the peace chief and council then deliver the decision to the tribe or Europeans. The Europeans did not understand this and often grew impatient waiting for their reply.
Like the peace chief, the war chief's wife also served beside her husband in the leadership of their people. Known as the war woman, she was responsible for examining the captives. If her husband was about to attack a village or kill a captive and she disapproved she could speak up against it. He could not act without her consent if she decided to protect them.



 If you could be either a peace chief or war chief which would you want to be? Why?

Letting Our Soldiers Die In Vain: Have We Forgotten Memorial Day?

Lest We Not Forget!

Pack the car its Memorial Day weekend. Families all over the United States begin their summer vacations. State, county and federal parks exploded with visitors. Small towns celebrate with festivals. Campgrounds fill. Friends and family open their grill for the big backyard barbeque. But wait, is that why we celebrate Memorial Day? What is Memorial Day?

Between the years 1861 to 1865 the United States of American fought the Civil War. The bloodiest war fought in America, the war tore families apart. Nearly 1,100,000 men suffered casualties and more than 620,000 lost their lives. More than 10,000 war-time battles occurred, many of them claiming lives on both sides. By 1865, women of Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia decorated the graves of fallen soldiers. The following year, members of a Columbus, Mississippi women’s memorial association, laid flowers upon both Confederate and Union graves. The humble actions of the southern women never went unnoticed. Poet Francis Miles Finch wrote of their deeds in his poem “The Blue and the Grey” published in the Atlantic Monthly. An editorial piece in the New York Tribune commented on the women’s actions as well. Songwriter, Mrs. L. Nella Sweet dedicated her 1867, Kneel Where Our Loved Ones Lay Sleeping to the Southern woman.

General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, ordered the establishment of Memorial Day on May 5, 1868. First observed, May 30, 1868, families, following the southern women’s traditions, strew flowers upon their loved ones graves at the Arlington National Cemetery. By 1890, all states, except the south, accepted Memorial Day. The South would not unify with the North in honoring the dead on May 30th until after WWII. The unification of honoring the fallen also expanded to any soldier of any war. Some southern states celebrate not only a national memorial day but have added a state memorial day to honor their fallen Confederate soldiers. Another tradition to the holiday was added in 1915, when Moina Michael wrote,
“We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.”
The red poppy, worn on the chest, came to symbolize the blood the fallen had shed. By 1924, the VFW began to sell artificial red poppies. Mrs. Michael was honored in 1948, with her image on an United States stamp. Every year, since 1951, Cub and Boy Scouts of America of Saint Louis, visit Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery only to place flags on 150,000 graves. During the late 1950’s, soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry placed flags at the head of more than 260,000 gravestones in Arlington National Cemetery. They ensure each small flag stands while patrolling the area 24hours. In 1971, the United States Congress passed the National Holiday Act of 1971. The act solidified Memorial Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday of May, allowing for a three day Federal holiday weekend. In 1998, Girls and Boy Scouts joined the continued efforts. Each year, they place flags upon 15,300 grave sites located at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Memorial. Washington D.C. reinstated the Memorial Day Parade in 2004. Unfortunately, while soldiers buried within National Cemeteries receive attention many city and town cemeteries do not.


We must remember our soldiers fight for our freedom. Will we honor them when they are gone? Or shall their graves be left cold without a person who remembers the sacrifice they gave?

Something New: Tasha Turner Blog Tour

The Tasha Turner Coaching Virtual Blog Tour Has Begun!

This week marks the beginning of the Tasha Turner Coaching Blog Tour. Each Sunday I will be adding a posting from my guest blogger for that week. I have written a blog post as well which can be seen on Linda Bolton's blog at http://lindabolton.blogspot.com/2012/....

My guest for this week is Anjiie Haart.


The Thin line between lying and storytellingWhen I was a child, my mother worked as a domestic helper and nanny to a family with three children. She worked from 6am to 6pm Mondays to Saturdays. We lived in a small flat cottage with little  apartments. When my mother would come off the bed around 3am to prepare for the day; cooking, cleaning and washing, I would get off as well and lie on the chair in the little living room. Before she left for work I would have already had a bath, had my hair combed and decorated with my school ribbons and I would also have been semi dressed.Being semi awake since 3am and already dressed and waiting from 6am to 9am, when school would be called in, was boring. So most days I would leave home since 7, sometimes 7:30 am and wait outside the closed school on the verandah, unknown to my hardworking mother, of course. Soon, that too became boring. There were two or three children who came that early for school. So, to keep us entertained I used to tell stories. Enid Blyton was the first author I read outside of nursery rhymes and most of my stories were inspired by her work. I told stories, which many children believed to be true, about little people living under my floor boards, about the spirit under the bamboo tree in the back of my yard, about the girl who danced through my street late at night and many more.Soon, it became hard to keep up with the stories I told, since they were all made up. I would mess up on the details and things would change day to day. Some of my listeners, an audience that had grown from two or three to five or ten, would notice. So, at nights I would write down my stories, keeping little exercise books with stories and information pertaining to them. This was how I kept track of my lies.When I wrote composition for exams in school, I would always be the first to finish because I always had a story in my mind. When I became a teenager my stories changed. I started reading Sweet Valley High, Mills and Boons, Harlequin novels and the like. My stories were now about rendezvous with dark and handsome men and there were times when I myself believed them. I kept a diary, but truthfully, my diary was boring in comparison to my exercise books of stories I wrote for friends. Somewhere along the way I lost those stories, those books, and leaflets of my lies, and tales. Life came at me fast and hard and all I managed was a scribbling here or there; a poem about a lost love, a beautiful butterfly, a pain within. It was scarcely done, but I always managed to write something or the other.   Then, Nanowrimo came and I searched for that girl within me, that liar who couldn’t stop telling tales. This is how I started to write and became inspired to continue telling more of those stories that created themselves in my head. Now I find that every time something happens to me, or I meet someone new I go into this sort of day dream where my mind thinks, “What if this happens, or that happens.” From these ‘what ifs’ I create my stories.I haven’t published anything, since my nanovel is still waiting to be edited. I am working on a novel called An Unexpected Desire, which I hope to publish soon. One day I hope to be called a novelist, whether I choose to self publish or traditional publish is yet to be seen.I started writing to escape boredom, and continued writing to escape life. I read because I can escape into another world, another country or another scene. Writing and reading makes my life exciting and adventurous.* *       *          *          *          *          Anjie Harrte: Romance with some Caribbean flavourAnjie Harrte is a twenty nine year old mother of one who resides in sunny Guyana, South America. Sometime between running a small business, having a full time job and being a mother and partner she finds time to pursue her passion for creating stories. Anjie dreams up stories of contemporary fiction splashed with some romance, a little dose of murder or an ounce of suspense and sometimes when no one is looking she dashes in a little twist. When she isn’t doing any of that, she is decorating a cake, knitting a chair back or sewing her latest design. Anjie even finds time to lurk around and stalk people and pages on facebook and you too can stalk her if you like at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anjie-Harrte/  or you can follow her on twitter @anjieharrte or keep updated with her writing at http://authoranjieharrte.blogspot.com/

The life and times of Daniel Boone Part Three

                            The Making of an American Legend


Daniel's Youth

Daniel's youth had been normal for a boy of his culture and times. Native Americans often visited his Quaker community to trade and were entertained by the families. His friendly interactions with the native populations would prepare him for his adventures in the wilderness. When Daniel wasn't visiting with the Native Americans, Daniel was either visiting his uncle, John Webb or helping his father on the farm. He developed a love of nature early on he easily became fixated with. Every time he helped his father with the cattle he would pay careful attention to his natural surroundings. He developed a keen sense of the natural world from his observations. That awareness would stay with him his entire life. Daniel created his first weapon in his youth; a wooden staff he called his herdsmen club. He developed his keen eye for marksmanship by trying to sneak up on birds and small animals in order to kill them. When he was 12 he asked his father to buy him a rifle. Squire had refused his son's request at first. With time, his father submitted to his son's desire and bought Daniel his first rifle. That same year, Daniel killed his first bear without adult supervision. Daniel would always remember that kill because not many boys his age could kill a bear by themselves. Daniel's love for the hunt soon became an obsession. He would often neglect the cattle he was supposed to be caring for in order to hunt. While his obsession had upset his parents they couldn't complain much. Many nights he brought fresh meat him for his family. Daniel Boone once told his children that he had never gone to school. In fact, his father taught him how to shoot a gun, survive in the wild and how to be a gentleman. Daniel apprenticed under his father in his father's smithing shop. There he learned the mechanical knowledge of gunsmithing that would aide him in his wanderings. When Daniel was 14 years old, his older brother Samuel (7 yrs his elder) married Darah Day. Darah took it upon herself to teach Daniel how to read, write and do arithmetic.
Paradise Lost
Life in Pennsylvania had been good for Squire and his family. Although they had not fared as well as his older brother, Squire had enjoyed a good standing with the Oley Meeting House. In 1736, he was a trustee of the church and on October 27, 1739 he was elected as an overseer. He had raised all of his children in the church. The Quaker foundations that had been laid in Daniel Boone as a boy would solidify Daniel's faith. He was known to be a gentle man with a strong faith. Life was good for the Boone family. Yet that would all come to an end when Squire's eldest child Sarah "Sally" Boone married an outsider, John Wilcox. Squire was soon reprimanded by the church for allowing his daughter to marry someone from outside the church. This wasn't the first time he had been scolded by the church for the way his children conducted their lives. His eldest son, Israel Boone, had also married outside of the church before that encounter. Squire resented the church's overbearing desire to control the way he raised his children. His children had married for love. Determined no other of his children should marry an outsider, he uprooted his family in 1750, sold his farm and started towards North Carolina. The family stayed for a year in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In 1751 they moved into Yadkin River Valley of North Carolina. Squire and his family would never again join a Quaker church. Many of his children would leave the Quaker faith behind and become Baptist. It was here Daniel meet and fell in love with Rebecca Bryan.

Ohio Myths and Legends: Fleming Falls

Fleming Falls and the Ohio Valley Native Americans
Last week I introduced you to a Camp  Mowana legend, Hoppy. Close to the cave where the residents of Mansfield found Hoppy is a small waterfall that leads out of Fleming Creek into a bottomless pond. Our legend this week takes up back in time to the early 19th century when settlers had begun to pour into Ohio. During this time there were several Native American groups in Ohio. The largest population being the Shawnee. Although the Shawnee are the most prevalent when speaking about Native American cultures in Ohio there are other groups worth mentioning who dwelt there too. Not all tribes were native to the region. As Europeans began to settle along the Eastern coastline the native populations were pushed westward. Five native groups relocated to the Ohio Valley during this time. These included the Miami, Delaware (Lenape), Ohio Seneca (Mingo), Ottawa and Wyandot. The Shawnee, Kickapoo and Erie tribes were bombarded not only with settlers but with these populations encroaching on their lands. With the greater population there was a larger demand on natural world to provide food, timber, and other needs. Not all tribes share the same belief systems as well. Some of these tribes fought against each other. It is during these turbulent times we find the Fleming family who settled along the Fleming Creek close to present day Mansfield, Ohio.

                                                 THE LEGEND OF FLEMING FALLS On top of the smooth rock bed of Fleming Creek there once sat the mill and home of the Fleming family. The Fleming's mill was known for miles around to both natives and other settlers. A few years after they began their operation the Flemings became friends with a neighboring Native American village. Every year the chief of the village would visit upon the family and trade for their flour. Both the villagers and the family enjoyed the friendships. The Native Americans would even protect the Fleming's from other tribes who wished to do harm to the settlers. In return, the Fleming's agreed never to trade with the friendly village's enemies. The pact between the two had been kept for years and peace came to the Fleming's home.
The enemy tribe soon became jealous of the village. They wanted the flour too but knew the Fleming's would never sell it to them. The Fleming family was not only honest but loyal to the other village. The enemy chief decided if he can't persuade the Fleming's to give his village the flour then perhaps he could convince the other chief that the Fleming's had betrayed them. They were after all white people. All natives knew you could never trust a white person. White people speak with the forked tongue of the evil serpent. So he went the friendly village's chief with a peace offering. He told the friendly chief his village had been able to make it through the winter because the Fleming's had sold them flour. Enraged that the family would betray them the friendly village’s chief went with a war party to the Fleming’s mill. The family went out to meet their friends only to be met with hostility. The natives captured the family and demanded an explanation. Mr. Fleming denied ever selling the flour to the enemy village but the chief didn’t believe him. He ordered the warriors to kill him and his family for betraying them. After the family was brutally executed the natives threw their bodies over the waterfalls then burned the mill and home.
 A winter passed. Word had spread fast to all the tribes of what had happened to the Flemings. That spring, the enemy chief went to the friendly chief and confessed he had lied to them about the Flemings. He told the friendly chief he had never expected him to kill his friends. He only wanted the Flemings to be released from their agreement so other villages, including his own, could buy flour from them. Saddened by his grievous mistake, the friendly chief recalled the family’s pleas. The family has spoken in truth and he had ordered the execution of innocent blood. The chief and his warriors went back to the creek where the mill and home once lay. They searched the pond for the family’s bodies so they could be properly buried in the native ways. The deeper the warriors the dove the farther the bottom of the pond went. They dove until they could dive no more. Unable to find the bottom of the pond and the family’s bodies, the natives asked for forgiveness in a ceremony on the site where the mill used to stand. Afterwards, they carved faces into the smooth bed rock and boulders around the site as a memorial. Every time it rains the faces cry showing the eternal sadness the chief and his warriors felt. If you go to Fleming Falls, the faces are hard to find. You can still see the imprints in the smooth rock bed of the creek where the mill and the home use to stand.
And the bottomless pond? During the middle of the 20th century, a woman once dropped her purse into the pond. Everyone who knew the story of Fleming Falls had warned her that the pond was bottomless and dangerous. Divers had tried to dive into it to retrieve it but was unable to find the bottom of the pond. It seems the natives were right. The pond at the bottom of Fleming Falls is truly bottomless. A boardwalk has been built for hikers to walk around the pond. It is not advised anyone should stray off the boardwalk to explore the bottom of the falls, least you fall in and never be heard from again.

 I often wonder what else is down there other than the Fleming family and the purse? What do you think?

CALICO IS FREE!

I am pleased to announce the second edition of my book Calico, published through a new publishing house, Little Acorns Publishing, and with a new cover will be free on Friday, May 25th and Saturday May 26th. http://amzn.to/JSNRpm

The Life and Times of Daniel Boone - Part Two

Daniel Boone's Religion
What is a Quaker? During the 17th century Europe experienced a turbulent time of religious persecutions. Catholic and Protestant Churches maintained political power of their given country. Those who did not conform to the mainstream church were considered heretics, arrested, tortured and eventually killed. Both the Protestants and Catholic churches maintained there was only one true faith. In order to preserve the uniformity of the faith dissenters must be punished without mercy. For example, In 1630, one Puritan lay person had been found guilty of heresy and had been given the following punishment: life imprisonment, his property confiscated, his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded "S.S." (sower of sedition). To evade religious persecution, different groups such as the Quakers soon migrated to American colonies where they could worship peacefully and begin better lives for themselves. The Quaker movement had been founded in 1652 by George Fox of England. Like, Martin Luther, he never sought to start a religious movement yet as he preached he began to gather a following. George's ideas at the time were radical. He believed: ·  Rituals can be safely ignored, as long as one experiences a true spiritual conversion.·  The qualification for ministry is given by the Holy Spirit , not by ecclesiastical study. This implies that anyone has the right to minister, assuming the Spirit guides them, including women and children.·  God "dwelleth in the hearts of his obedient people": religious experience is not confined to a church building Indeed, Fox refused to apply the word "church" to a building, using instead the name "steeple-house", a usage maintained by many Quakers today. Fox would just as soon worship in fields and orchards, believing that God's presence could be felt anywhere.·  Though Fox used the Bible to support his views, Fox reasoned that, because God was within the faithful, believers could follow their own inner guide rather than rely on a strict reading of Scripture or the word of clerics.·  As the Bible makes no mention of the Trinity, Fox also made no clear distinction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (wikipedia)Quakers were pacifists, which meant they would not fight in any of the king's wars nor would they pay taxes if they believed the money was to aide in the military. They also believed in total equality. A Quaker would never bow down to a noble because they were equals. The belief in total equality also meant Quaker women found greater freedom than their Orthodox Christian counterparts. Women were allowed to preach, take part in politics, and speak in their meetings. To the nobles, a Quaker could never be trusted since Quakers did not believe in taking oaths. The Orthodox Church in England viewed the Quakers as a threat to the uniformity of the true faith and began to persecute them. During the 1650's a thousand Quakers were held in English prisons. During this time, George Fox's view of traditional and social practices within the church had become hardened. He outlawed water baptism, stating a person's conversion should be evident through an inner change and not marked by baptism. During this time, the Quakers grew in population and began to hold larger meetings. They also travelled to the different prisons where the other Quakers had been held in order to get the testimony of their sufferings. The various stories would be gathered then presented once a year at the Meeting for Sufferings. Twenty years later, the Quakers were still be persecuted in England while some of their members had begun a new life for themselves in New Jersey. According to the website Religion and Founding of America, "by 1680, 10,000 Quakers had been imprisoned in England, and 243 had died of torture and mistreatment in the King's jails." In 1681, William Penn, gave his fellow Quakers an opportunity of a lifetime. Leave England for a land of religious freedoms and no tax-supported churches. Four years later, there were as many as 8,000 Quakers in Pennsylvania. A quarter of the heads of households had been in English prisons.
The Quakers are alive and well in the United States. To learn more about the Quakers visit:  http://www.quaker.org/ http://www.quakerinfo.org/

QUESTIONS

1) What else would you like to know about the Quakers?

2) What is your favorite color to wear?

3) What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word Quaker?

Paranormal : Ohio Myths and Legends

Hoppy's Grave at Camp Mowana, Ohio
Ohio has always been a mysterious land of myths and legends even before the white man ever crossed the Allegheny Mountians. The Iroquois named this land, Ohiyo, meaning "it is beautiful." The historic tribes of Ohio (Shawnee, Kickapoo, Iroquois, Mingo, Miami and Delaware) often spoke of a mysterious tribe who had once inhabited the land and built the sacred mounds. Ohio is beautiful and mysterious. Drenched deep within its lands are myths and legends that span the ages. Unexplain happenings happen daily somewhere in Ohio. As a child I was very familiar with some of Ohio's paranormal happenings and found them fascinating. There are haunted bridges, roads, cementaries, houses and more in Ohio. Ghosts aren't the only paranormal creatures in Ohio either.  Almost every decade in Ohio there are new stories of strange encounters and incidents. This series will trace a few of these myths, legends and paranormal events. First up on our tour of the paranomral in Ohio - Hoppy's Grave.
Hoppy's Grave
Deep within the woods of Camp Mowana located near Mansfield, Ohio lies the secret grave site of Hoppy. Long before anyone claimed the woodlands Hoppy, a short hunchbacked hermit, lived by himself. No one ever knew where he had come from or how long he had lived in the wilderness by himself. Hoppy was a gentle soul who loved animals. They in turned loved him. He survived on his own, sleeping in caves, communing with the animals and depending on the wilderness. Even though the wilderness provides much to a man who knows the forest well, there are still supplies one cannot live without. Hoppy was no exception.

Ohio winters can be fierce. Each fall Hoppy made the long walk to Mansfield, Ohio. He gathered supplies he needed for the winter, exchanged pleasantries with the locals then off he went into his wilderness home. At the melt of the snow, Hoppy returned to Mansfield, repeating his routine. This went on for years. Hoppy came and Hoppy went like clockwork. One fateful spring Hoppy never returned to Mansfield. Days turned into a week. The townspeople worried. It wasn’t like Hoppy to never come into town after winter had ended. The concerned citizens quickly gathered together. Something was wrong. They could feel it in thier souls. The concerned townsfolk walked into the woodlands, desperate to find their little friend.

The search went on for an entire day. The people roamed every place they could think of. They searched the caves, the river, the woods and then just as they had almost given up hope of every finding Hoppy someone yelled, "I found him!" The search party gathered at the location. Hoppy's frozen body lay deep within a cave with his arms embraced around a fawn. He had laid his small body on top of the young deer, hoping to save it from the bitter cold, only to lose his own life in the end. Hoppy, friend of the forest, had tried everything he could think of to save the abandoned deer.  Against all hopes, Hoppy failed. Both he and the deer had frozen to death. Heartbroken at the lost of their friend, the townspeople gathered Hoppy’s body and buried him deep within his beloved forest.  The following Spring the new trees near Hoppy’s grave began to grow in an arch. Years passed. Each new and old tree bowed over and around his grave. Not a single tree to this day stands perfectly erect.

Over the years the land in which Hoppy's Grave and Cave stand have changed hands several times. Before the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America bought the land to create Camp Mowana, the camp had been a Boy Scout Camp. One day, a couple of boy scouts decided to hunt for Hoppy's Grave. Although the location of Hoppy's Grave has always been kept a secret it isn't hard to miss if you know to look for the hunchbacked trees that surround the grave. The boys soon discovered the location in their wanderings. A large beehive hung off a branch from a tree that lie directly over the head of Hoppy's unmarked grave. The boys decided to see if the legend of Hoppy had been true. They knew since it had been over fifty years since Hoppy had died his body would no longer be recognizable but perhaps they could find his skeleton in the grave. The boys began to dig into Hoppy's grave. No sooner than they had begun the bees within the beehive began to swarm at the boys. The boys ran as fast as they could. The bees gave chase until the boys had run far away from Hoppy's Grave then the bees returned back to their hive. The animals continue to protect Hoppy's grave to this day. If you ever visit Hoppy's Grave you can be sure the animals are watching you. You too will face their wrath if you dare disturb Hoppy's Grave.

Hoppy’s Grave, now resides within the Lutheran Camp Mowana. http://www.lomocamps.org/camps/mowana
For generations, the story passed from counselor to camper to camper’s children since 1941. To this day, the forest and animals continue to honor Hoppy.

Camp Mowana welcomes visitors as long as the camp is not in session. If you would like to visit Hoppy's Grave and Cave you can contact them at 1-419-589-7406 . Camp Mowana is located on 186 acres of woods, streams and Fleming Falls. Their address is 2276 Fleming Falls Road Mansfield, OH 44903.

Something To Ponder:

How do you think it came to be that Hoppy lived alone in the Ohio Wilderness?

The Life and Times of Daniel Boone - Part 1

His Parents and Birth
We all know his name. Daniel Boone, the original American frontiersman. Immortalized forever in songs, stories, films, dramas, memorials, statues and public buildings; his very name stirs the imagination. Yet who in reality was this man? How can we separate the facts of his life from fiction?  If we are to truly understand this remarkable man we must first explore where it all began. In his childhood home.

Daniel Boone's father, Squire.Daniel's parents were Squire and Sarah Boone of Pennsylvania.  A member of the Religious Society of Friends, (aka Quakers)  Squire Boone had emigrated from his home in Bradnich, Devonshire, England with his older brother, George and their sister, Sarah  on July 27, 1713. While most Quakers had left England to join William Penn's newly formed colony of English dissenters in Philadelphia County to escape perscuation in Europe, Squire and his siblings had come to the new land for George's marriage to Deborah Howell, who lived in the colony. Soon after George and Deborah married, George joined the Abingdon Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Squire and his sister lived with the newlyweds until their parents arrival in 1717. There is no evidence of Squire and Sarah ever joining the meeting house their brother belonged to. While in the colony, Squire took up the occupation of weaver and blacksmith. Sometime between his parent's arrival and 1720, Squire moved with his parents and sister to Oley Township in Pennsylvania County. Their lands would later become a part of the infamous Lancaster County where today sits a large Amish community. The family began to attend the Gwynedd Friends Meeting House of Philadelphia County. There Squire met Sarah Morgan, the daughter of Welsh Quakers who had first settled in Towamencin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1708. As per Quaker custom, the young couple announced to the entire group within the meeting house their intentions to marry. On September 23, 1720,  Squire and Sarah were married at Gwynedd Friends Meeting House. Below is an excerpt of their marriage record found in the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Whereas Squire Boone Son of George Boone of ye County of Philad & Province of Pensilvania Yeoman and Sarah Morgan Daughter of Edw Morgan of the Said County and Province Haveing Declared Their Intention of Marriage of Each Other before two Monthly Meetings of ye People Called Quakers Held at Gwynedd in ye Said County According to ye Good Order Used Among Them Whose Proceedings Therein After a Diliberate Consideration Therein and haveing Consent of Parents and Relation Concerned Their Said Proceedings Are Allowed of By Ye Said Meeting Now These Are to Certify All Whom it may Concern that for ye Full Accomplishing of Their Said Intentions This Twenty Third Day of ye Seventh Month In ye Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty They ye Sd. Squire Boone and Sarah Morgan Appeared At A Solemn Assembly of ye Said People for ye Purpose Appointed at Their Publick meeting Place In Gwynedd Afforesd And ye Said Squire Boone Took ye Said Sarah Morgan by ye Hand Did In A Solemn Manner Openly Declare he Took her To Be his Wife Promising To be Unto Her A Faithfull and Loveing Husband Untill Death Should Seperate Them And Then & There In the Said Assembly the said Sarah Morgan Did Likewise Declare She Took ye Said Squire Boone To be her Husband In Like Manner Promiseing to be Unto him a Faithfull and Loveing Wife Untill Should Seperate Them And Moreover The Said Squire Boone & Sarah She According to ye Custom of Marriage Assuming ye Name of Her Husband as Farther Confirmation Thereof Did Then and There to these presents Set There Hands And We Whose Names Are Under Written Being Among Others Present at ye Solemnization of the Said Marriage And Subscription in Manner Afforesd
As Witnesses Thereunto have also to These Presents Set Our Hands ye Day & Year Above Written

Samll Thomas
Mary Webb
Squire Boone
Jenk Evans
Eliz Morris
Sarah Boone
Robt Jones
Dorothy Morgan
Geo Boone
Morgan Hugh
Eliz Hughs
Edw Morgan
Jno Edwards
Mary HamerEliz Morgan
Tho Evan
Eliz Morgan
Geo Boone
Cadr Evan
Jane Griffith
Ja Boone
Rob Evan
Eliz Griffith
Wm Morgan
Jno Cadwalader
Margt Jones
Jno Morgan
Jno WilliamEllen Evans
Danll Morgan
Jno Humphrey
Gainor Jones
Morgan Morgan
Jno Jones
Jos Morgan
Jno Jones
Jno Webb
Evan Griffith
Jno Webb
Row Robert
Amos Griffith
Cadwalader Jones





Four years after their marriage, Sarah delivered their first child they named after her. The couple continued to have children every two years after Sarah's birth. In 1731, Squire acquired land on the arm of Oley Township close to present day, Reading, Pennsylvania. Only one wall was built of native stone while the rest was wood. There he built a two story cabin around a large stone fireplace with the basement of the house serving as a springhouse. The springhouse provided easy access to water for cleaning, cooking and drinking. It also provided cool storage.

In the fall of 1734, Sarah gave birth to Daniel Boone. Because the Gregorian calendar was adopted during his lifetime, the date of Daniel's birth can be quite confusing. Before the Gregorian calendar was adopted, his birth had been recorded as  October 22, 1734. Afterwards it had changed to November 2, 1734. Throughout his lifetime, Daniel would never claim the Gregorian calendar because his mother never approved of it. Sarah had always insisted he had been born on October 22, 1734 even though modern records record his birth as being in November.

Daniel spent much of his young childhood on the homestead in the frontier of Pennsylvania. In 1741, Squire expanded his property with the acquisition of 25 acres. Sarah had given him there more children after the birth of Daniel. In order to meet the growing need of finacial resources Squire decided to add a third occupation, dairy farmer. He used the land he had acquired to pasture his dairy cows. Daniel spent much of his youth tending to his father's cattle. During the summer months, Daniel would often live in a rustic cabin on the edge of the pasture where he could protect the herd from black bears, mountain lions and bobcats. By 1750, Sarah had delivered two more children for a total of eleven. The couple would have no more children.

Daniel's childhood wasn't without controversy. The 1750's brought much distress to his devout Quaker parents that would persuade Squire to uproot his family and head further west into the frontier. Next time we will explore Daniel's childhood.

Questions: How would you feel if you had been born on date only for it to change when the calendar changed?

How do you think it would feel to have ten siblings? Do you think Daniel ever got lost in the mix? Or how do you think his parents must have felt? Thirteen mouths to feed. That's alot of people in one household. Do you have a large family? If so, what is that like? If you don't would you want one?

Squire and Sarah's house can be viewed at http://www.danielboonehomestead.org/

Six Lines on Sunday 5-6-12 - Something NEW!

This Sunday's excerpt is from one of the new chapters in Calico.

Alexander walked out of his bedroom, grabbed the rifle from over the fireplace and stumbled to the door. His head pounded, sweat trickled into his eyes. He hoped the trader would take the warning and leave. He was in no condition to fight or give medical attention to anyone. Alexander walked out of his cabin and closed the door behind him. He swayed to the left and braced himself against the wall of his home. Oh, this was going to be harder than he thought. The crisp morning air burned his lungs. He clutched his shaking hands on his rifle, leaned his back on the wall and closed his eyes. Whatever happened to him didn't matter. He had to protect Chief Little Owl until help arrived. Alexander inhaled a deep breath. He grunted with pain as his chest fought the intake of the cold, fresh air. He continued to breathe deeply until he had forced his body to accept the fresh air in his lungs. He concentrated on the noises to his left. The woman was speaking to the children in French? He shook his head. That must be his imagination. Unless! He opened his eyes and grasped his long rifle with a tighter grip. Unless the woman had been related to the man he had murdered. Perhaps the man wasn't her husband but an official from the Spanish-held territories come to arrest him! Oh, they definitely had to die. If the British ever learned he hadn't given them Pierre's head then he would be sent back to the Tower of London. He didn't want to lose his head.

Alexander gathered his strength. He quickly crept along the side of the house with his rifle extended and scanned the barn. The man had disappeared. The French woman stood with her back to him in front of her children. He aimed the rifle on the seven-year-old's head with a plan.He'd take the children out first—that should get the man's attention. Then when the man came out, he'd have the rifle on the woman. When the man protested he'd shoot the man then the woman. But Alexander was going to need more ammunition for his plan to work. He peered at the board on the bottom of his house then at the covered water barrel beside him. Alexander kicked the base board of his house. It fell to the ground, revealing another rifle, ready to use. He backed up against the house, lowered his body, and retrieved the extra rifle. Alexander carefully positioned it behind his back then flipped the lid on the rain barrel. Two Irish flintlock pistols with a bag of shots and a powder horn lie in the secret compartment. He heaved, clenched his teeth, pushed past the pain, and then aimed at the young boy. Alexander slowly began to pull back the trigger.

"Alex! Stop," Doctor Ephraim Garrick yelled, running from the barn beside him.
Calico is available at http://www.amazon.com/Calico-Children-Shawnee-ebook/dp/B007Z8V982 and has received 12 five star reviews.

What reviewers are saying:

 I truly enjoyed reading Calico. The professional way in which the book is written makes for an enjoyable read. Allison's way of staying true to the languages is great and makes for an authentic feel. I also enjoyed the adventure of the characters and the time of the world. She made me feel like i was back in the day. A very excellent book! Read It! You wont be disappointed. Lets get the second one already! (Jon Pew)

Calico has a strong cast of characters that Mrs. Bruning manages quite well. The story simmers along, gradually picking up speed and drawing you into the world just a little bit more with each event that takes place. Allison represents the Native Americans in a genuinely respectful, entertaining way that I found most humbling. As an author, I respect her ability to adhere to their ways and portray them so fearlessly. Her facts are stated with enough clarity and confidence that readers of any age can follow them. Calico is full of people dealing with real struggles, living real lives and loving in real ways. There is an element of romance that I found surprising and sweet.  (PrincessJen)