A statue of Mary Jemison, depicted as a young woman, stands in the valley where she was kidnapped on April 5th, 1758, during the French and Indian War.
Jemison (1743-1833) was born on a voyage from Ireland to the New World. The family settled in Marsh Creek, Pennsylvania, and built their homestead. During the French and Indian War, 15 years old Jemison and her family were captured by a raiding party of Shawnee warriors and French soldiers. All her family members were massacred while she was sold to the Seneca Indians, who adopted her as their daughter and named her Dehgewanus– Two Falling Voices. Since then and until several days before she died, she lived as one of the Senecas, married and widowed twice, had eight children, and became known as the “White Woman of the Genesee.” Forty years after she passed away in Buffalo Creek, her remains were brought to the banks of the Genesee. A statue of her stands above her grave in Letchworth State Park.
Mary Jemison’s stone statue was unveiled in June 1923 by Father Will Whalen. The statue’s stone base was brought from the original Jemison’s homestead. The plaques were added in 2006.
About ten miles from Jemison’s statue is the Gettysburg National Military Park, located in the historic site where the Battle of Gettysburg took place during the American Civil War. We recommend visiting the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, the Gettysburg National Cemetery, and several memorials, including the Gettysburg Women’s Memorial.
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