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BATTLE CREEK BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
John Stewart, Sr. settled at Ypsilanti in 1834. He with several of his-sons and their families came to Goguac some time in 1831 or 1832. Although a small man, he had been active and strong. Was now, 1836, in his ripe old age. He had had two wives, was now living with the third, and was the father of twenty-one children. A native of New York State, he had lived a number of years in Canada, where he became acquainted with the celebrated Mohawk chief, Brandt. Uncle John was social and a good narrator. Many an evening have I listened by his fireside, to the stories of the revolutionary war, as he had heard them from the lips of Brandt—the man who had been the terror and scourge of the Mohawk valley. The old warrior was silent about some things, but always denied that he had anything to do with the "Cherry Valley Massacre. " Our old friend had drank many a glass with him at their. accustomed resort—the tavern in Canada. It was here that Brandt one evening, in a drunken brawl, had stabbed one of his own sons, who died in the bar-room. Uncle John's brother Peter and his neighbor Miller were at the massacre of Wyoming. They were among the captives that were marked for death by the tomahawk. With an Indian holding them by each arm they were led out to the arena, while a squaw came forward with a tomahawk to do the work of death. They both, by a signal that they had agreed upon, wrenched their hands from the Indians and escaped. Miller was shot in the shoulder while they were swimming across the Susquehanna He got well, and lived many years afterwards to tell of his miraculous escape at Wyoming. This worthy old pioneer, Uncle John Stewart, after having
lived a life of usefulness, died full of years at his home in South Battle Creek, some time in the year 1843.
Michigan
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