Col. Graham rescues Elizabeth from the Indians

David Graham's 
History of the Graham Family (1899)
Col. Graham rescues Elizabeth from the Indians

 
 
[ History of the Graham Family ]
[ Cover page ]
Preface
Grahams are Scotch Irish
From Scotland to Virginia
John Graham's Will
John Graham's Children
Anne, daughter of John Graham, Sr.
[ The descendants of Lanty Kincaid ]
[ Betsy, daughter of John Graham, Sr. ]
Florence Graham married
House of James Graham, Sr., at Lowell
Early settlement of Lowell
[ The descendants of Samuel and James Guinn ]
[ Other Early Settlers ]
James and Florence Graham's Family
Joseph and Rebecca Graham
Joseph and Rebecca Graham's children
More concerning early settlement of Lowell
Elizabeth Graham captured by the Indians
Col. Graham rescues Elizabeth from Indians
Elizabeth Stodghill, nee Graham
Civil jurisdiction of Lowell
James Graham's estate
John Graham, Joseph's brother
Robert Graham of Fort Chiswell
Michael Graham's family
Slaves of James Graham, Sr.
Clayton's balloon ascension
The exchange took place at Limestone creek, where is now Maysville, Ky. It is said that af- [97] ter the exchange was made that the rescuing party consisting of Colonel Graham and some of his friends, who had accompanied him, reversed the shoes on their horses, so if pursued by the Indians, the horses’ tracks would seem to be traveling in an opposite direction. This precaution was doubtless taken on account of a failure to secure his daughter on a former trip, at which time every necessary arrangement for her ransom seems to have been made, when he was counseled by the Indian agent to go without her, as he saw in the conduct of the young warriors that they were determined to follow him and either recapture or kill his daughter.

Upon the return of Elizabeth to her home, the customs she met there were new and strange to her. On one occasion when her mother asked her to “soak the bread” and afterwards asked her how it was getting on, she replied, “very well” that she had taken two loaves and “thrown them in the river and put a rock on them”. To this new mode of life she could not easily be [98] reconciled and ever and anon would clamor for the wild life of the wigwam. At one time when she threatened to return to the Indians, her mother told her sister, Jane, to pretend as if she would go with her to see whether or not she would actually make the attempt. She readily accepted Jane’s proposal to accompany her to the Shawnee towns and the two sisters crossed the river in a canoe and proceeded but a short distance, when Jane inquired of her what they would eat on their journey, to which she replied by pulling up some bulb root herbs from the ground and eating them saying they could find plenty of the same kind along the way to keep them from starving. Jane remonstrated with her, saying that she had not been accustomed to eating herbs and would starve and finally succeeded in persuading her to return home. This account was given the writer substantially as stated by David W. Jarrett, who is a son of Elizabeth’s sister, Jane, and he says he has it from the lips of his mother.