A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jemison

"Mary Jemison's story ... is a vivid personal account of Iroquois life and the forces affecting the Seneca in some of the darkest years of the tribe's history. It provides a valuable record of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and other events seen through the eyes of a Seneca woman. It is both a captivity narrative and an 'as-told-to' Native American life story. . . . Namias's introduction provides useful ethnohistorical background, explaining what was going on in northeastern America and Iroquois country during Jemison's life and discussing such issues as the role of captive-taking and adoption in Iroquois culture, the relatively high regard for women in Iroquois society, and the negative images of Indian women entertained by nineteenth-century white society."-American Indian Culture and Research Journal "Born in 1743 to a Protestant Irish family that settled in western Pennsylvania, [Mary Jemison] was captured during the French and Indian War by a French and Shawnee raiding party and traded to two Seneca sisters, who had recently lost a close relative. She lived most of her life among the Senecas .... In 1823, while living in Genessee Valley, she told the story of her life to James Seaver who published the narrative the following year. The present edition ... thanks to June Namias's superb introductory analysis, must be considered the standard edition."- New York State Historical Association "This is a priceless document of Indian pride and culture that every modern student of eastern Indian traditions should read."- Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly June