The Daily Messenger from Canandaigua, New York • Page 32

Daily Messenger's 175th Anniversary April 28,1972 Sec. Ill, Page4 ec.III, Page4 I I I -J Jasper Parrish Was Interpreter Between U.S., Indians Jasper Parrish, the famous Indian interpreter, came Canandaigua 1792--in the very earliest years of the settlement--to be the official interpreter at meetings between the United States government and the Indians of the Six Nations. At first he lived in a small frame house near the lake on the east side of Main Street. In 1824, he built the large frame house on the Parrish farm at the corner of Parrish Street and South Main street, occupied now by the McElwee's. He built the house with the thought in mind of befriending his loyal friends the Indians.

In the basement he installed a large fireplace, and provided plenty of floor space for them to sleep upon. He stocked the basemen! with wood, blankets and food. There was hardly a day during his association with the Indians that some did not call for help, as he had been appointed by the government to look after their welfare. When he was a boy of 11, he and his father were working in the field at the head of the Delaware River in New York State when a band of Monsie Delaware Indians came along and carried them into captivity. 'Hie father was released after two years, but the boy Jasper was held prisoner for six years and eight months.

His first home was with an Indian family that did not treat hirn too kindly. He tells in his own life-story that once he was forced to pass between two columns of Indian youths who clubbed him badly until his master ordered them to stop. His master was finally murdered by another Indian. At another time', during the Jasper, now a boy of about 17 winter he was made to jump years of age, was at last free, through a hole in the'ice, in with full knowledge of the In- order to harden him. dian tongue, but he had When General Sullivan' forgotten his native language, marched through the Genesee -English.

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Cordially, MARY GREGG RODERICK 92 So. Main Canandaigua "Between Country to drive the Indians, out, Jasper was taken to a place of safety, with the squaws, behind the line at Newtown (near Elmira) where the Indians took a stand to meet Sullivan's army. The Indians were badly beaten, and Jasper found himself being taken up the river to Painted Post, and on to Fort Niagara, the British In a short time, all of the Indians of the Six Nations who were driven out of the Genesee Country by General Sullivan, camped near Fort Niagara, as they were allies of the British. In this mass, retreat of the Indians, who were destitute of shelter, food and clothing, chaos reigned for awhile, and Jasper saw one Indian murder another. 5 Murders Witnessed In less than one hour the whole body of Indians were involved in terrific fighting, and the boy Jasper witnessed the slaying of five Indians before order could be restored.

While at Niagara, Jasper learned that the British were offering bounty money for the scalps of Yankees. One night Jasper overheard some drunken Indians discussing a plan to take his scalp, and as they came toward him, he escaped into the forest and did not return until morning, after they had sobered up. The Indians who owned Jasper tried repeatedly to sell him, but without success, until they finally came upon a good Mohawk Indian by the name of Captain David Hill who paid $20 for him. In the Hill family, Jasper's life was not so rugged. He was treated with more kindness, and was allowed to go fishing and hunting, and trapping with the Indian boys.

During his captivity, Jasper learned the Delaware language, and now he learned the Mohawk tongue. During his six years and eight months with the Indians, he fluent with the language of all the Six Nations. And so it came to pass that in He set out to find his family, from whom he had heard nothing. Finally, after much inquiry, he located 'them at Goshen, Orange County. He was sent to school for nine months to relearn English.

In 1790 he was asked by the United States officials to serve as interpreter. In 1792, he was named by President Washington, through Col. Timothy Pickering, as a standing interpreter, and was ordered to live in Canandaigua, as an aide to General Israel Chapin, the Indian agent for the frontier. Chief Interpreter He served as chief interpreter at the Pickering Treaty signing at Canandaigua in 1794, and received much praise from the government for a great work well done. He became a leading citizen of Canandaigua, being asked to join many business activities, and community projects.

He was a Director of the Ontario Bank. He transacted all the financial business between the government and the Indians, and that was a trying task. He married a daughter of General Edward Paine, and raised six children, three sons and three daughters. One of his sons, Isaac Parrish, became a farmer on the West Lake Road, and is thought to be the captain on the first steamboat on the IN 1824, Jasper Parrish built the house that is now McElwee's Funeral Home. Parrish (photo at right) had been captured by Indians when he was a small boy.

In 1792 he came to what is now Canandaigua as an interpreter for President George Washington to assist in negotiating the Pickering Treaty with the Indians. He remained in Canandaigua where he became a leading citizen until his death in 1836. the same house he built, after a long, honorable and useful life. He is buried in the Pioneer lake "Lady of the Lake." One Cemetery in Canandaigua. of his daughters married His portrait hangs in the William Gorham, son of Court House Gallery.

Nathaniel Gorham, the 2nd, and built the stone house on 500 acres of land on the end of Parrish 'Street Extension, recently occupied by the artist Mrs. Sidney Wilkins, and now 'Foreign' Bride (County Times--Jan. 13,1864) The star of fashion in Chicago is a half breed. She is said to be occupied by the family of Dr. surprisingly beautiful, and is Robert Fackler.

the petted and idolized wife of a The Indians were deeply rich man, who took her when a attached to Jasper Parrish. In mtle child from her mother's recognition of the fine services lodge, had her educated in a he had rendered to them as convent, and for a time set all interpreter, they once CMca'go, wild with his lovely presented to him a cane made foreign bride, by themselves. The cane is preserved in the Historical Gift Certificates 1784 a Treaty of Peace between. Museum. Also in the Historical the Indians and the Museum is a table from States was drawn at Fort" r.the Parrish home, upon which.

Stanwix (Rome) at which the Indians agreed to deliver to the United States all white people held in captivity. tradition says, the Pickering Treaty was signed in 1794, by the sachems and white men. Jasper Parrish died in 1836, in Early Canandaigiian Modernize Haw RCA Remote Control Color (Less than TV without Remote Control) 'r Move up to RCA Portable Color at this low price RCA Computer Crafted Portable Color TV- compact design- generous screen size. And the price is right. Computer-designed picture tube, powerful New Vista' 1 chassis.

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He was the second minister to preach in the new meeting house, erected in 1812, and still standing to this day. Mr. Johns was a well-educated man of Welsh descent. It is said he could speak several languages. He was a preacher of the deepest religious commitment, and was held in the highest respect.

He must have been a man of some means, because he built his own house, which is still standing on North Main Street, where he continued to live until his death in 1849. He is buried in the old Pioneer Cemetery, along with many notables. In the Rev. Mr. Johns' family lived a young lady, Miss Sybil Mosely, who came with them to Canandaigua.

She was a most active and enterprising person. She was busy from morning to night, teaching day school, Sunday School, calling on the sick, helping with ministerial affairs, and other activities. Miss Mosely opened up a school in higher learning for girls in the library of the Academy. She and Miss Esther Kibbe opened up a girls' school in neighboring Clifton Springs, and remained there a week to get it started properly. The local church had been in existence for 18 years, and no effort had been made for the formal religious education of the youth of the settlement.

Miss Mosely felt it important to do something about it. so she, in company with two other women friends, Miss Elza Phelps, and Miss Esther Kibbe, went out into the highways and byways, and gathered in the children of all ages and denominations, and organized them into the first Sunday school in the community, meeting Sundays in the old Ontario County Court House on the Square. It was largely due to Miss Mosely that the Saturday evening prayer meeting was established, and continued to flourish for many years after her departure. Miss Mosely was of such a lovely character that people were attracted to her, and anxious to work with her. Canandaigua was at that time a young village, and was attracting many wealthy landowners and lawyers.

Miss Elza Phelps, who was her close friend and supporter'in all her endeavors for doing good, was granddaughter of Oliver Phelps who was one of the owners of the vast Phelps and Gorham Purchase, comprising much of western New York. In the late summer of 1819 Miss Mosely dismissed her class of girls at the Academy in Canandaigua, and journeyed to Hartford, to visit her sister. It was only a step to Goshen, where she met Hiram Bingham. After a short courtship, they were married, just six days before they sailed on the good ship "Thaddeus" as the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands. They sailed on Oct.

23, 1819. In 1869, on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the founding of the First Congregational Church of Canandaigua, a Supreme Court Justice of New York, the Hon. Henry Taylor, read a paper from which I quote, "In the family of Mr. Johns resided a young lady, Sybil Mosely. She had established a private female school of a high order, which supplied a previously pressing want, and was undoubtedly the moving impulse which finally resulted in the formation of our female seminary.

"All the graces of a pure, lovely Christian spirit so irradiated her countenance as well as her daily life that none could know her but to love. "In one of her vacations she made a visit to her friends in England. She soon thereafter became the wife of the Rev, Hiram Bingham and sailed with the first party of missionaries who ever visited the Sandwich Islands, and there she lived and labored and spent a large portion of her life in self- denying effort to christianize the people of those islands." Mrs. Sybil Mosely Bingham's children were all born in Honolulu. Their second child, Lucy Bingham, came to this country, and was educated in the Ontario Female Seminary in Canandaigua, under Miss Hannah Upham, head Here she made many lifelong friends.

She married a Rev. Mr. Reynolds. In 194S, the First Congregational Church of Canandaigua celebrated its 150th anniversary "of, its Miss Katherine Reynolds, daughter-of Lucy" Bingham sent a donation and a letter which I still have. I answered the letter, but the postmaster returned the letter slating she had died.

I was very sorry. Had she lived I am sure she would Have told me much of the Bingham family history. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the Congregational Church felt that it was quite necessary to secure the services of a -printer to produce pamphlets, spelling books, elementary lessons, and other printed matter for the education of the natives of the Sandwich Islands. A young man by the name of Elisha Loomis, son of a farmer in the town of Rushville, a neighboring town of Canandaigua, applied for this mission and was accepted. Loomis was engaged as a printer in the publishing house of James Bemis in Canandaigua, the same town from whence came Sybil Mosely.

He was 20 when he left for the Sandwich Islands, on the "Thaddeus" with the Binghams. He took along a printing press and type. He made" the Hawaiian language phonetic, so the natives learned lo read and write overnight. There is no doubt but that Loomis contributed greatly to the advancement of the natives of the Sandwich Islands, It is a coincidence that two of the important people in that group of missionaries who sailed out of Boston in 1819 on the ship "Thaddeus," Sybil Mosely, wife of the leader Hiram Bingham, and Elisha Loomis, printer, came from Canandaigua and Rushville, neighboring villages in western New York. I am indebted to Robert Moody of Rushville for the information on Elisha Loomis.

ONE CENT REWARD (Ontario Repository- April 19,1826) Ran away sub- an apprentice boy, named Marinus G. Eaton, seventeen years old. All persons are forbid harboring or trusting him on my account. The above reward will be paid for his apprehension, but no charges. Malhew Millspaugh, Seneca 4.