Frances Slocum - Young Bear's Legacy Among The Miamis

Young Bear's Legacy Among The Miamis

Much of Young Bear's story is clouded with the perceptions of Euro-Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Details of her years spent with the Slocum family and her years as an elderly woman after reuniting with her white relatives have been recorded in history. Very little detail exists on the majority of her life which was spent with the Miamis. Perhaps this is because she told very little of her life directly to whites. Young Bear and the other inhabitants of Dead Man's Village are barely on the history records, most glimpses of their world come from outsiders, like George Winter. Understanding of her world best comes from the oral traditions of the Miamis. An oral tradition told by Chief Clarence Godfroy, the great-great grandson of Young Bear was written down in the 1960s. He told a story of woman who was revered by the Miami community, especially after her husband, Dead Man died. Members of the community often went to her for council. She also enjoyed breaking ponies and playing games right alongside the men. While this behavior by a woman would have been shocking in the Euro-American pioneer setting, it was not uncommon for women to have these roles within the Miami tribe.