Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/39



We find among all the accounts of the aboriginal women of North America that the status of these women was much better before the advent of the white settlers. The Indians were divided into what was known as jens, organized bodies of consanguineal kindred, and these into tribes. Different customs prevailed in the different tribes. The early settlers divided them into what was called the Five Nations, and in many of these the line of descent was through the mother. The father was so little considered that the children would not provide for him if he became disabled or too old to make proper provision for his family. The life of a woman was rated at a higher value than that of a man and we have Father Raguneau's statement that among the Hurons thirty-five gifts were considered compensation for the death of a man and forty for the death of a woman. Women frequently took part in the councils of their nation, and, we are told, frequently led the warriors to battle. There is even an account of a woman having been made chief of her tribe, "Queen of Pamunkey," who was the widow of Totapotamoi, a great Indian chief in the Virginias. She had been summoned to the council to give a promise of assistance, and is described as a woman of commanding appearance and of intellectual powers, remarkable in her race. We also read of "Queen Esther," who was a noted Indian woman and took a prominent part in the massacre of Wyoming, in 1788. She was a half-breed woman. Her mother, Catherine Montour, had been captured by the Senecas, and it is told that she was sent to the council of the Indian commissioners and