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c Continued froip page 1.)Not long after his arrival, Henri out fishing in a canoe, when a squall came up suddenly and drove him shoreward. Not being very ex-pert in its management, the frail ea-uoe capsized, leaving him struggling m the water of the lake, Anoonk, ^vho had witnessed the accident, swam out and aided him to reach the beach. Henri was taken to her father s camp more dead than alive where -he remained until he had recovered from the effects of his adventure in the lake. Anoonk wa sa. young squaw of great personal attraction, possessing thq- lithe figure of the Indian and that elasticity of movement imparted by out door life. Henri, who was still full of resentment over the estrange-went between him and his fiancee in far away Paris, perhaps was more susr •ceptible to the charms of the pretty .sqtiv/, He visited the Indian camp with great frequency, becoming deeply enamored of Anoonk, who proved reciprocal to the love manifested. Ow-•g to the fact of the girl having sav*d his life, his attentions were of the host honorable nature only, so he ,ook Anoonk for his wife according to the rite of the Indians, and later had the ceremony legalized by a civil magistrate.His white friends who could condone any degree of intimacy with Indian women, whose want of chastity •at the time was more the result of intercourse with the settlers than .any predisposition to vice, made him the butt of ridicule, ostracizing him from their comradeship, for having lowered himself by marrying a squaw. The outcome was that he did not return with Joseph Bonaparte to his home in New Jersey that fall but remained with his Indian wifce and friends. The little party moved that autumn to a camp on the Black river near Carthage, where they remained for the winter selling baskets and Indian medicines to the settlers of the vicinity. Carthage, which lies in the town of Wilna, known as Long Falls for many years, was much frequented' by St. Regis and other Indians. It was a thriving village in 1828, but not incorporated till 1841. The following spring, as soon as the river was clear of ice, the Indian band proceeded up the river in canoes, towing a fiat boat loaded with camp equipage and food-•stuffs. They pitched their camp on a site near the present Valley House, from which point Jacques and Henri set out daily to sell ointments and herbs to the people of Lowville.This village, named in honor of Nicholas Low, who owned it in 1796, was a very pretty place and successful trading center. It was populating fast, being incorporated in 1854. The party split up late that summer, Jacques and family traveling northward, and Henri with his squaw going to French Settlement where they built a camp on the Beaver river close by the*\big rock which lies on the northwesterly bank of the river at Croghan. A papoose was born to them here. No .settlers were then located at French Settlement. Mr. KWtfer was but beginning his work of colonization. However, many trappers and hunters came up the river each season. Henri, the squaw-man, remained at his camp for several years. He became known to Mr. Kieffer and others of the first pioneers. Later, he abandoned his •camp by the big rock and went up the river to a point where it spreads out into Beaver lake, which is one of the most beautiful in the Adirondack region. This lake, from me time of the first settlement of the Black River valley, became a great resort for hunters and fishermen. Some of LowviUe’s most distinguished men used to visit It regularly for a forest retreat. An attempt was made to settle the land surrounding it. Ten men were each given a hundred acres of land free to start a settlement, and moved with their families to the lake, but the eon-ques of the wilderness at Number Four ultimately proved abortive. One of the settlers, Orrin Fenton, who moved with his family to Number Four in 1826, remained and established an inn there, for the entertainment of hunters and travelers, which later became one of the most famous of the big woods.Henri Delmar with his little family spent a couple of years at the lake, -after which he again returned to French Settlement. How long he remained this time is not known. He later appeared in Lowville and Carthage, following his vocation as an herbalist. It was about the year 1840 that he received notice of his father’s death, which had occurred several years previous in Paris, from a French officer he had formerly known. He took his wife and child (no other children having been born to them), to the camp of her people on the St.Lawrence, to be cared for during his absence. After reaching New York he sailed on the first vessel leaving port. He arrived in Paris as expeditiously as possible, and received the portion of his father’s fortune due him. He found his former betrothed married to an attorney in the city. Twelve years residence in the wilderness of the new world had changed him -considerably. The lure of the wild was on him and he hastened back at the end of a year to the Indian wife he loved. He came back to the little camp on the St. Lawrence only to find that both wife and child together with several other Indians had died of small pox some months previous. With the loss of of his family he became plunged in grief and the wilderness had no*further interest for him. According to the friend who kept a record of his career he returnedto New York, where lie took pas-; on a barque for New Orleans. The ship encountered a terrific gale off Cape Hatteras and foundered near the coast with all hands on hoard.We trust that this digression from the main subject of our story of the French settlers will be condoned by our readers, as it relates to one who could have adorned a high position in life, hut who chose otherwise and became a nomad whose course led him
Newspaper Details
Lowville Black River Gazette
Lowville, New York, US
Thu, Apr 09, 1914
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 05 Oct 2022
Other Publications Near Lowville, New York
Lowville Times and Lewis County Independent
Lowville Lewis County Democrat
Lowville Journal and Republican
Lowville Black River Democrat
Lowville Black River Gazette
