A Lenape among the Quakers: The Life of Hannah Freeman

by Dawn G. Marsh

On July 28, 1797, an elderly Lenape woman stood before the newly appointed almsman of Pennsylvania’s Chester County and delivered a brief account of her life. In a sad irony, Hannah Freeman was establishing her residency—a claim that paved the way for her removal to the poorhouse. Ultimately, however, it meant the final removal from the ancestral land she had so tenaciously maintained. Thus was William Penn’s “peaceable kingdom” preserved. 
A Lenape among the Quakers reconstructs Hannah Freeman’s history, traveling from the days of her grandmothers before European settlement to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The story that emerges is one of persistence and resilience, as “Indian Hannah” negotiates life with the Quaker neighbors who employ her, entrust their children to her, seek out her healing skills, and, when she is weakened by sickness and age, care for her. And yet these are the same neighbors whose families have dispossessed hers. Fascinating in its own right, Hannah Freeman’s life is also remarkable for its unique view of a Native American woman in a colonial community during a time of dramatic transformation and upheaval. In particular it expands our understanding of colonial history and the Native experience that history often renders silent.

Genres: Native American, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Read For School, Religion

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[claire]

a bit of an intentional fallacy, but that’s narrative history, I guess?

[David Olmsted · Rating 4 out of 5]

While most early native American history focuses on the tribes of New England or Virginia this book refocuses attention on the Lenape tribe located in the central colony of Pennsylvania. Additionally, it is a common people's history focusing on the life of a single Lenape woman known locally as Indian Hannah (1730-1802) who lived during the transition from native settlement patterns to the more intensive European settlement patterns. In Pennsylvania this transition occurred peacefully but still unjustly as the Europeans enclosed the land a bit at a time depriving the Lenapes of both their treaty lands and their traditional livelihood. This in turn forced them to either move further west or to take seasonal jobs on the farms of the European settlers. The women of Hannah's family stayed behind and this is their story of survival.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an important book for me to read. As I go about my daily life in the Brandywine River Valley, I see the remnants of early Quaker life in this area - the Meetinghouses, family homes, ruins of old barns, and think of those landmarks as representing the history of this area. This book gave me a taste of the forgotten and true history of the land as a lost ancestral home of the Lenape tribe.

The author's indictment of the Quakers could upset some readers. While I feel more forgiving than the author seems to towards the Quakers who dealt with Hannah on a daily basis, it truly is an outrage what the European settlers did to the Lenape overall (the Walking Treaty is one example), and I think more people need to be aware of this.

[J. Dorner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads the way a TV documentary sounds. Chapter 3 has valuable insights and I wish more people knew these details. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in history, especially early American history.
A fascinating factoid from the book:
Pennsylvania's homicide rate in the 1720's alone exceeded London's rate for all of the 18th century.
(Every time a politician talks about violence like it's a new problem, think about that fact.)
There is excellent insight to how the European settlers created poverty in a land that once had none. Then sections that show how they complained that people they made poor were now in poverty and, as such, a burden. There's even an excellent description of what a poorhouse was and how it came to exist.
The book reveals Pennsylvania's false history, the settlers lie that there was an absolute extinction of all Indians in Pennsylvania. Hannah's death was part of their evidence. But the book also mentions that the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission reports 50,000 PA residents with Native American lineage, some of who are Lenni-Lenape like myself.
The reasons I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5 are as follows:
I'm not sure that the Shackamoxon meeting under the Elm tree is actually well known by all Pennsylvanian children, though it should be. How the actual "naming" process works isn't revealed until page 78, so it might be confusing as to how the Lenapes names are assigned or assumed by the colonists before that section. The difference between Minsi and Munsee should have been touched upon, especially given how often people mistakenly use them interchangeably. Page 115 starts using the term "The Delawares" without mentioning how that name came into use, or who Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr is. The Walking Purchase mentions the runners, but doesn't note the wildly boasted— that they were identical siblings. (This cheating strategy is well known enough to be parodied in modern comedies.)

[Sally Ann Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder about the history of the Lenape in the Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania. In this book, there is much insight about Lenape-Quaker interactions (which were not as benevolent as we were lead to believe) as filtered through the story of one Lenape woman who lived from about 1730 to 1802 in the area. Although this is some redundancy in the narrative and some inferences can only be guessed at, there are important descriptions of the social and economic upheavals in 18th century Pennsylvania that I only knew the vaguest of outlines of before I read this account of Hanna Freeman's experience of life the the Brandywine River Valley. It's unusual to get history on such a granular scale that encompasses your own "backyard" and your state's history while adding to the discussion of how to reconcile European and Native American people's past and our present. -Sally Ann Sims, author of Halt at X: A North of Boston Novel

[Easyreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a surprising book. Written by a professor and published by a university press, it presents itself as a history. But it is the most speculative history I have ever read. The first paragraph of chapter 1 contains 3 words of possibility, the third paragraph 5 -- by which I mean locutions like "perhaps," "may have," "must have," "possibly." Usually works of historical scholarship for which sources cannot be found are either abandoned for more well-documented subjects or morph into fiction. This book just feels as if the author is guessing at situations, and since her basis for such guesses is not presented, the work does not appear to me to be worth my time. I did not finish reading it.

[Karen Mcpherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book offers a brief history of Pennsylvania and William Penn's attitude toward land acquisition. European settlement did have a disastrous affect on the Lenape, many of whom left the area. Hannah Freeman was among those who stayed. As the title states, the book talks about Hannah's life among the Quakers. However, the scholarship was very poor. The author attributes modern sensibilities to 17th century Quakers and Lenapes and I was left with the impression that the purpose of the book was to let others know how wonderful the author was for writing it.
I don't recommend this book.

[Chuck Steffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well documented biography

For all who are trying to understand preColonial history and the consequences of the actions of our ancestors. My ancestors were part of this sordid tale. To all Lenape relatives I apologize.

[Heather Ann Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important story. I wish it had been better written and edited.

[Miriam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and well researched story of “ Indian Hannah” for whom there is a memorial in Chester County describing her as “ the last of the Lenape”. Uh, no.