TONAWANDA FALLS LYCEUM

   An additional feature of ELY's PLACE were what he referred to as "PORCH-TALKS".  Local "folks" were offered opportunity to share their personal Vignettes and Anecdotes concerning community history.

  Many of "the Talks" introduced on these Pages are merely Summaries of what was actually said.  We intend these to serve as Introductions with just a few salient facts since we expect "Listeners" to follow-up through independent research.

     PORCH-TALK #1

  Ely was especially fond of hearing people talk about their personal Family History.  One of his motivations for establishing "Porch-Talks" was to afford community-members opportunity to share Genealogical information.  He modeled the idea by describing such inspiration as he derived from knowing about his Forebears.  Of these the two personalities of whom he was proudest were the prophet HANDSOME LAKE and the Seneca Orator RED JACKET who served in many respects as his  "role-model" for life.  His own relationship to these individuals came through his mother, Elizabeth Parker.

  RED JACKET, so-called because of the British-officer's coat he had been given prior to the American Revolution was a Seneca chief of the Wolf-clan who distinguished himself as an Orator.  As an elected Sachem he represented his People in major negotiations with the U.S. Government.  He vociferously defended the rights of the Iroquois to retain ownership of their lands.  His best remembered "gesture of protest" - according to Ely - came at the Big Tree Council of 1797 when he personally terminated the Treaty Negotiations by "kicking out the Ceremonial Campfire" following an impassioned speech opposing cession of Seneca lands in the Genesee Country.

  As was generally the case, the Orator's words were as "dust in the wind"!  At Big Tree he was ignored and perhaps humiliated.  During the Revolution he had sided with the British who following their defeat offered him little by way of material reward as they did for his rival, Joseph Brant, who received a sizable land-grant in Canada.  In 1792, when he represented Native Peoples in their negotiations with the U.S. Government, all he received in compensation was a large silver plate-like Medal.

  Ely likewise vowed to emulate his Ancestor, HANDSOME LAKE, as "Defender of Iroquois Culture".  This Seneca leader was best known as a prophet who was instrumental in preserving his People's unique Identity.  Based on a Vision he personally experienced HANDSOME LAKE developed what eventually became "a Code of Conduct" for Woodland People to protect themselves from the detrimental effects of Caucasian Culture.  Principal among these "Evils-to-avoid"  was the use of Intoxicating Spirits which had long been the bane of Native Americans including both RED JACKET and HANDSOME LAKE himself. 

 Chief Red Jacket - Native American hero

 Handsome Lake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

       PORCH-TALK(alt.)

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    PORCH-TALK #2

  One of Ely Parker's favorite "local celebrities" was a person who never actually came to Western New York.  Despite this fact Ely spoke of him as one of his personal "best friends"!       

  His name was HENRY DAVID THOREAU.  He was a resident of Concord, Massachusetts.  Ely knew him from his writings, mainly "WALDEN" also known as "LIFE IN THE WOODS", the story of his sojourn at a place just outside Concord where he built himself a small cabin and lived alone for two years, two months and two days to experience "Life at its deepest

  Upon first reading, Ely was impressed with the similarity between this exploit and what for him had been a customary part of his Woodland Culture.  As an adolescent he himself had "gone to the woods" to demonstrate to the Elders his readiness for Manhood.  Unlike Thoreau, his "passage" had lasted a full week during which he survived by Wit and Stealth.  For a Native American this was analogous to a traditional Jewish Bar Mitzvah.

  Following a subsequent reading, Ely decided to invite the erstwhile Thoreau to visit Tonawanda Reservation so he could show the Author "how to do it right".  He was entertaining visions of collaborating with the New Englander  on a Sequel to WALDEN.

  The young Seneca also was seeking an opportunity to explore with a genuine Transcendentalist the comparisons and contrasts between the views of Nature as published by RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Thoreau's patron and the teachings of his own ancestor, HANDSOME LAKE.  Ely had read with great interest the philosophical views promulgated by a group of Concord scholars  who called themselves "Transcendentalists".

  Unfortunately for the eager Ely Thoreau did not respond to his invitation as had been his hope.  The reason cited for this was that he, Thoreau, was scheduled to speak at a number of Lyceums in and around Boston as well as having assumed responsibility for operation of Concord's own Lyceum.  These responsibilities, he claimed, severely circumvented his time for travel other than within the New England environs.

  Ely was  of course disappointed at this response though it did initiate a brief correspondence between the two gentlemen.  He was ever-after quick with offers to show the letters he received from H.D.T. to visitors.  Those items ranked prominently among his proudest possessions.

  Perhaps the most significant result of his association with Thoreau was his subsequent decision to establish the Tonawanda Falls Lyceum.  Thoreau's references to "my Lyceum responsibilities" probably marked Ely's awareness of such Institutions.  He was certainly knowledgeable about such phenomena when residing at Galena, Illinois, where he and U.S. GRANT were wont to participate in Lyceum-affairs.

   A consideration for him when engineering formation of a Lyceum at Tonawanda Reservation may well have been that one day he might entice his "pen-pal" to mount the platform locally.  Though there is no official record  "to prove  the point" it is likely that Ely Parker upon learning of the untimely death of HENRY THOREAU considered naming his brain-child as a tribute to the man whose memory he cherished so highly.  Accordingly, it came "within an arrow-shaft" of being "the Henry David Thoreau Memorial Lyceum at Tonawanda Falls"!

 Henry David Thoreau - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Ralph Waldo Emerson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Ulysses S . Grant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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      PORCH-TALK #3

   At the FARMERS' MUSEUM in Cooperstown, N.Y., there rests a cabin which was originally sited at the Tonawanda Seneca Reservation located in Western New York.  Said structure is advertised as "The Seneca Log House".

  According to at least one Legend, this was originally the domicile of a Seneca Sachem known to the British as LITTLE BEARD.  Allegedly this cabin had been erected by soldiers from Fort Niagara for the Chief when he refused to join the exodus of displaced Iroquois to Ontario, Canada.

  This gentleman had formerly commanded a large Seneca settlement bearing his name on the site of modern-day Cuylerville, N.Y..  He was known for his cruelty as well as his prowess in warfare.  His credits included atrocities perpetrated during raids on settlements in the Mohawk Valley, especially Cherry Valley, as well as the inhumane treatment of two Continental Soldiers captured during the CLINTON-SULLIVAN CAMPAIGN of 1779.

  Ironically, as a consequence of this latter incident, his Town of 125 homes was discovered and subsequently destroyed by the Invaders.  As a result, multiples of families were left without food and shelter for the oncoming winter, thus forcing them to seek refuge at Fort Niagara where the British were unable to provide sustenance for them.  The result was several months of starvation and death for the masses of people who had looked to LITTLE BEARD for guidance.

  Eventually, the Mohawk JOSEPH BRANT led remnants of the once powerful Longhouse Confederacy to the GRAND RIVER RESERVE in Canada to establish a new homeland.  LITTLE BEARD refused to join the exodus thus remaining to live out his days on the banks of Tonawanda Creek. 

  As a youngster, ELY PARKER, may have known LITTLE BEARD as a very elderly man.  As a Sachem he probably recognized the significance of his predecessor to Seneca History though it is unlikely that as a scholar and humanitarian he could ever justify the deeds for which this man claimed fame.

 Little Beard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Fort Stanwix National Monument - The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779 (U.S. National Park Service)

 Joseph Brant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  Wapedia - Wiki: Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation