THE FRANCIS SLOCUM CEMETERY

Francis Slocum at the age of 6 was taken by the Delaware Indians from her home in Wyoming, Pennsylvania November 1, 1778. Like other captives of woodland tribes, she was adopted into a Delaware family and became a member of the tribe. She would eventually make her way to the Eel River near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana. There she would meet and marry the Miami War Chief Shepoconah and would be given the Miami name Maconaquah. They would raise a family together and even though her Pennsylvania family would eventually find her by chance, she stayed with the Miami of Indiana.

Maconaquah would die on March 9, 1847 and be buried in what became her family cemetery. Her family would be continued to be buried there until August of 1965. The Army Corp of Engineers wanted to dam up the Mississinewa river to create the current day Mississnewa reservoir. As part of that plan, the area where the cemetery sat would have been buried under the water formed by the reservoir.  80 graves were moved by the Army Corp across the Mississenwa River and little upstream from the original site to the current site on the south side of the Bowman Road, about 11 miles southeast of Peru Indiana.

Today a monument for Frances Slocum is in the Center of the cemetery and is surrounded by her family. To this day, some of her present-day family has been or will be buried in the cemetery.

Please Help Us Honor Our Ancestors, The Original Inhabitants Of Indiana!

Since the Tribe had its federal recognition illegally taken in 1898, we do not qualify to receive support and grants that federally recognized tribes do. Won’t you please consider  a donation to help the Miami of Indiana preserve the memories of some of Indiana’s original inhabitants and help us honor our ancestors?