Sarah Catherine Friend House (Bokavar), of the Shawnee - Disconnect from Okawela, WHY?

Hi Laura McKenzie, A125538 LM2

I’m disconnecting from the current parents showing.

I do see these notes:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-421914

While Israel Friend and then John Valentine House were her husbands, there is no evidence she was a Native American or Shawnee.

"Both Patrick Smith, who authored several volumes for the Friend Family Association, and Dr. Peter S.Craig, who was the Swedish Colonial Society's historian and genealogist, have discounted or refuted the claim that Sarah was Native American." [1]
Descendants report no evidence of Native American DNA markers.

Sarah Friend, wife of Israel is of unknown origins. Many people claim without proof that she was Native American. She is included in the Don Greene Shawnee Heritage books

Some claim, without proof, that Sarah was Shawnee. Some state her real name to be Bokavar Hokolesqua, sister of Cunnawehala Hokolesqua B 1690, Sowege Gliding Swan Hokolesqua 1710 - 1820, Keigh tugh gua Cornstalk Hokolesqua 1720-1777, Holowas Silver Heels Hokolesqua 1730-1804.

These are the children of Akulusska Ben Whitefish Hokolusqua 1662- 1777. Cunnawehala was among the 6 chiefs of the five nations that granted Israel Friend land.[citation needed]
One source for this story is the fictional book Bokavar: Tales from the story fires which tells of Cunnawehawa being Sarah's oldest brother. [2] This same source says "[T]he reason [DNA is] not showing native on the 111 test is because it is just trace. Use the old 25 test and it will show up as c3 I believe."

This has been refuted, by others who claim that she inherited property. In 1720 Pennsylvania, married women were allowed to own and manage property[3], however at the time it was not legal for native Americans.[4] ...

I am uploading the deed naming Israel as "brother" and signed by Cunnawehala, Taw-Senaw, Captain Sivilite, Toile Hangee, Shoe Hays, and Callakahatt, "for love to our brother Israel Friend". Please note the date and location. Israel was on the land given to him by the list above before any other person of European origins. Who is to say she was not Native American. I don't imagine she was physically involved in registering the deed or that Israel would truthfully declare her race. Dr. Craig's has flaws that I've found. I don't discount everything he wrote but I do go back and do my own research because his was biased.

As I am a descendant and have Native American markers as do many of my cousins who also descend, perhaps someone did not ask enough people.

Lastly, I corresponded with both Dr. Craig and Ms. Diller many years ago and the reason I decided to look at the Friend research myself was that Dr. Craig called Ms. Diller names and indicated a strong bias against her. A very strong bias.

Just as Dr. Craig, who seemed to be unhappy at not only Corinne being a woman but also tying a Swedish Friend to Native Americans, denies Sarah's origins, the book "Shawnee Heritage IV" by Don Greene proclaims it. https://books.google.com/books?id=WtAeCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA261&lpg...

And this is one example of Corinne Diller's research. It appears to me to hardly be the "ravings of a stupid woman". http://www.perrinhistory.net/Narrative/Sect7Johnsr/newlook.html

And why did the Shawnee protest white incursion on their land right up to the point where Israel Friend was given land there but GAVE him land? " Monocacy and Catoctin: Some Early Settlers of Frederick and Carroll Counties, Md and Adams County, Pa and Descendants 1725-1985 Vol. 1" (Vol 1, page 50.)

Can you list the names & dates of the parents as you know them?

PS I did not do the disconnect you originally queried about.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/friend/1332/

Dr. Peter S. Craig found in his findings that in the mid-1730s, Israel moved to the near area of present Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where he was granted two patents, one for 300 acres and the other for 100 acres. He sold the 100-acre tract in 1746 and still owned the 300 acres when he signed his will on 12 August 1749, directing that his land be equally divided among his three sons, Jonas, Jacob and Charles Friend. By law, his widow was entitled to her dower share (1/3) during her lifetime, or 100 acres. This left 200 acres to be divided among his three sons. The eldest son Jonas Friend and his wife Sarah (Skidmore) sold their third, described as 66½ acres, in September 1754. The deed described this as being his share of 300 acres, originally patented to Israel Friend, 3 October 1734, thus confirming that Israel Friend’s widow Sarah then owned her dower interest. It is the theory of some that Sarah was a full-blooded Indian, based on “family legend” and the “fact” that she received no dower interest in the land is offered as “proof” of this theory. However, as shown above, Sarah Friend, widow of Israel, did receive her dower interest. Further, if in fact she had been an Indian, under the law of that time her marriage to Israel Friend would have been void and her children would be illegitimate children of Israel, not entitled to any inheritance. This obviously was not the fact. Israel Friend died in 1750, near Harpers Ferry, Virginia, (now Bakerton, WV.). Source- Dr. Peter S. Craig. On 6 May 1746, a deed from Israel Friend of Frederick County, Virginia, to William Stroop sells 100 acres originally patented 12 November 1735 on the west side of the Cohongo (aka Potomac) River, taken from the south end of his tract. Dower was released by his wife Sarah. His will was dated August 12, 1747. On 9 May 1750, in Frederick County, Virginia, administration of the estate of Israel Friend was filed by executrix Sarah Friend.

On 12 August 1749, Israel Friend, styling himself "of Frederick County, Maryland " made his will. To his wife Sarah he left one third of his estate, excluding lands. To his eldest son Jonas he left land. To his second son Jacob he left the land where Israel lived. To his youngest son Charles he left 120 acres. He also left legacies to daughters Catherine and Mary. His Negroes were to be equally divided between his three sons. The executors were his "brother" Charles Friend, and Captain Thomas Swearingen. Witnesses were Nathan Shepherd, Isaac Horsey Sr., and Anne Lennard. His inventory was filed on 10 November 1750, in Frederick County, Virginia, total personal assets being L.168.7.1. At his Virginia plantation his assets included much livestock, including 14 horses (but no buggy or wagon), 3 female Negroes and 1 female Negro child, 3 spinning wheels, two sets of bed and bedding, one book "The Whole Duty of Man", and a violin. This represents only part of his estate). From 1754, through 1790, land of Israel Friend along the Potomac River is mentioned in no fewer than ten deeds as adjoining land that was be being sold. Though his children scattered, his name seems to have lived on as a reference point in the neighborhood. It was common in Virginia to maintain an estate intact until after the death of the widow. Sarah married John Valentine House after Israel died. Whether Sara was still alive as late as 1790 cannot be said). Sources- Israel Friend’s Last Will & Testament and Corinne Hanna's (Israel Friend-Frontiersman), she notes her sources in the article. The Friend Families of Greenbrier/Monroe County, WV. George, Abraham and Charles Friend by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig, F.A.S.G., he notes his sources in the article.

http://www.perrinhistory.net/Narrative/Sect7Johnsr/newlook.html

Israel Friend had lived on the upper Potomac for a long time, perhaps since the early 1720's, and by 1727 he had definitely earned the trust of the Natives. The presumption was that he (and his father before him) held great influence with the Shawnee. They were hired to carry messages encouraging the Shawnee to act against their own principles, and return the slaves. When this did not happen, the people in power in the east did not understand. Someone had to pay. Israel Friend seemed easy to target. Family legend adds another detail: by 1725 Israel Friend had married a Shawnee girl . Did this make him a further target of the wrath of planters who were losing slaves?

For more about Israel Friend: MGSB, (Summer 1999) 40: 411-28

http://www.wvgenweb.org/clay/israel.htm

ISRAEL FRIEND, FRONTIERSMAN

By Corinne Hanna Diller

On 10 January 1727, a deed was made from six chiefs, styled
"Kings of the Five Nations", named Cunnawehala, Taw-Senaw, Captain
Sivilite, Toile Hangee, Shoe Hays, and Callakahatt, "for love to our
brother Israel Friend," for land on the Potomac River and Antietam Creek,
described as 100 shoots of an arrow in such-and-such a direction, etc.(3)
This land was above Harper's Ferry, in present Washington Co., Md. The
original deed was said to have been written on birch bark. Different
branches of descent claim that Israel's wife Sarah was actually
"Bokavar", an Indian princess. Much has been made of the language of
this deed, however nothing has been found to prove who his wife was, one
way or the other.

http://www.perrinhistory.net/Narrative/Sect6ThomasPA/earlyupperpoto...

Israel Friend was born circa 1693 near Chester, Pennsylvania . In 1720 he would have been 27 years old, a single man, ripe for adventure, and likely traveled and traded on his father’s behalf. His maternal grandfather, uncles, and cousins can all be shown to have interactions with the Natives. His father followed the Shawnee from Cecil Co., Md., to Opessa’s Town, and by 1721 his Dalbo cousins had done the same.
By 1724 he was married to a Shawnee girl known in family lore as Bokavar, later known as Sarah .

He could have been married to her earlier. Their eldest son was born by 1725, an estimate that is widely-accepted, however the activities of the son indicate he could have been older.

By 1725 he had earned the trust of the Shawnee to a degree that he was also deputized to negotiate with them on behalf of Maryland . Further evidence of this esteem is borne out by the fact that the Natives granted him a deed in 1727 on Antietam Creek .

https://www.nps.gov/rap/archeology/PDFs/CHOH%20Handbook.pdf Page 30

This was a true meeting of cultures. These Iroquois diplomats were able to make the leap from their own mental maps of the upper Potomac to Philemon Lloyd’s pen scratchings, understanding that the two kinds of maps depicted the same landscape. Those Potomac lands were a place where many cultures met and overlapped. Among the people who travelled the Potomac in the colonial period were Seneca, Shawnee, Susquehannock, Piscataway, Catawba, Miami, and Delaware Indians; French and Swedish traders; English, German, and Scottish settlers; French and English soldiers; Quaker pacifists; Moravian missionaries; and many others. On the Potomac frontier, people from all these groups met and interacted ...

Philemon Lloyd knew something of the upper Potomac from an acquaintance, an Indian trader. This man’s house is shown on the map at the mouth of Conococheague Creek, labeled “An Indian Traders Habitacon @ 40 Miles from Monokkasey.” This man was almost certainly Andrew or Anders Friend. Despite his name, Friend was not an Englishman but a Finn from the old Swedish colony on the Delaware River.
Indian traders made their livings at the intersection of native and European cultures. They had to work in both worlds, the Indian’s and the white man’s. In the early days of the Potomac frontier, most of them were not English. Some were French Canadians, like Pierre Bisaillon, who acted as the Pennsylvania agent for a network that spanned the continent from Quebec to New Orleans. Others were Swedes or Finns like Andrew Friend. Sweden set up a colony on the Delaware River in the 1630s, with the help of dissident Dutch merchants. More than 600 settlers spread out along both sides of the river in what is now New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania (Figure 41). In the 1600s Finland was ruled by Sweden, and many Finns emigrated to New Sweden. Finland, like America, was a land of vast forests, and these Finns made important contributions to America’s frontier culture. Building with logs was barely known in the crowded countries of western Europe, where forests were scarce and wood expensive, but it was the norm in Finland. The log cabin, the icon of the American frontier, may have been introduced by these Finnish settlers (Figure 42).

Israel Friend’s Deed
By 1712 traders had set up cabins at the mouth of the Monocacy, and in the 1720s they had pushed west of the Blue Ridge. In 1727 Israel Friend, one of the sons of Andrew Friend, tried to solidify his position in the valley by purchasing a large tract of land at the mouth of Antietam (Andahetem) Creek from the Susquehannock Indians. The grant was issued by six Susquehannock chiefs who lived at Conestoga. This seems to be one of only two Indian land purchases ever recorded for the mid-Potomac. The deed (see box) has several fanciful details, including measuring out the parcel as so many arrow “shoots” — the distance an arrow flies when shot from a bow — and one might guess that the deed was a forgery. However, a letter written to the Maryland government on January 12, 1731/1732, by Captain Civility, a Susquehannock chief, states “. . . We have give no body Land yet but Israel Friend at the mouth of Andahetem . . .” (AM 20:10). The letter was co-signed by another Indian chief, Toyl Hangue, whose name, along with Captain Civility’s, also appears on the deed. In the letter the chiefs say they represent “all the five Nations”; in the deed they are similarly styled as “Kings and Rulers of the five Nations.” If the deed is not genuine, it seems that a very similar document must have recorded the deal between Friend and the Susquehannocks.
The original deed of purchase was reputedly written on birch bark, but copies were made early on and can be found in the Maryland Archives. The chiefs signed with marks, some of which appear to represent animals.

ISRAEL FRIEND’S DEED (enrolled November 27, 1730)
Whereas be it known to all manner of persons whom it may concern, that we Cunnawchala, Taw Wenaw, Captain Sivilite, Toile Hangee, Shoe Hays, and Callakahahatt, being Kings and Rulers of the five Nations, for natural love and affection we bear to our brother Israel Friend.
We give unto him and heirs, executors, administrators and assigns a certain piece of land lying between the [lying and being upon] Potomack River, beginning at the mouth of Audietum Creek at some Box Elders marked with three notches on every side and [to] run up [the] said river two hundred shoots as far as an arrow can be flung out of a bow and to be one hundred shoots right back from the river so containing its square until [til] it intersects with the said creek again with aforesaid land against the mouth of the creek which said land we said Indians and our heirs do warrant and forever defend unto the said Israel Friend, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns forever with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging as fishing, fowling, hawking, hunting, and all other privileges thereunto belonging with paying unto some of us two ears of Indian corn for every year if demanded as witness our hands and seals this tenth day of January one thousand seven hundred and twenty seven.
[The six chiefs signed with their marks.]
Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of us. Thumberston Lyon
G.H. Margalith
Except for Toyl Hangue, all of the other chiefs who signed Friend’s deed are attested in Pennsylvania colonial documents as Susquehannock chiefs living at Conestoga in the early eighteenth century. Thumberston Lyon was a pioneer on the Maryland frontier mentioned in several other documents; Margalith is unknown.

Erica, i do know that you were not the one to disconnect Sarah from Okawela. And, i very much appreciate your addition of facts to the research. When lightning blew the top story of our up like a bomb, 30 years of research and correspondence were burned. It will take me a while to find that information again. As for family stories, when they are passed down through multiple lines who lost contact with each through the generations, these stories should be considered. As it seems to be a useful tool to argue that Native and white children were illegitimate and had no rights, that hammer is pulled out consistently so as to discredit mixed descendants. It takes no consideration to the fact that respected and useful citizens (and usually fellow family members of area leaders) were probably given special privileges. We are talking small communities where the law had to be flexible. Nevertheless that bludgeon is being effectively weilded and as a result, families like mine are cut off from their foundations.

Well, let’s try to put together the most factual and likely scenario. My advantage is studying this area is somewhat new to me (I see a Swearingen mentioned, so that’s “my” line) so I’m not bringing a lot of preconceptions, I don’t think.

My first question is about Friend. Was he Finnish out of the New Sweden Colony ?

in a Pension Claim for service in the Revolutionary War, Levi House presents evidence of service and indicates his parentage: Levi House, son of [John] Valentine House and Sarah Catherine Bachoffen/Bokavar, was born about 1754 in Ten Mill Creek, Frederick County, Virginia, and died 8 October 1846 in Ripley County, Indiana. He was buried in Napoleon, Ripley County, Indiana, Culver Cemetery. He married Sarah Presley/Pressley about 1782 in Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky. She was born 1765 in Virginia and died 1830 in Ripley, Jefferson County, Indiana.

This page contains some of the information about Israel's grandfather, Nils Larsson Frande (Friend) and his son, Anders, father of Israel. Some of this research I have verified. Some I have not been able to find the original sources for. http://www.friendfamilyassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/A...
I have always read that Nills was Swedish but would not be suprised if he was a Finn on a Swedish boat. It is a question I'll look at closely. I can say that according to consensus, Nils married Anna Andersdotter, daughter of Anders Anderson, a Finn. This bit of information has been consistent in family reports but I have not tracked down the original source of the marriage which I believe is Ander's will.

Erica, you found the source for the name Bokavar! This name was treated as a family tradition but nothing more as far as I have found. I am looking at the Swedish Colonial Society's Facebook page for information because at time they post Friend/Frande history.
Quoting
1.) Along with Nils Larsson Frände, and their associates, Olle Jönsson (also known as "Carringa Olle") was licensed by the New Jersey governor in 1668 to buy Indian lands on the east side of the Delaware River.
2.) Nils Larsson Frände's widow

After the death of Nils Larsson, his widow Anna and her eldest sons sold the Upland property and moved to Crum Creek. At the time of the census, Anna's household included her six youngest children: John (born c.1666), Susannah (c. 1670), Sarah (1672),Gabriel (c. 1674),Lars (c. 1676) and Barbara (c.1678). All would later marry, with Gabriel alone staying home to care for his aged mother, who was bed-ridden during the last 18-20 years of her life.* Source: The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig, p.84. Picture: Crum Creek.
*In an undated Chester County orphan's court affidavit, Gabriel Friend sought reimbursement from his brothers Andrew and John Friend for the care of his mother, claiming that Anna was '106 years and upwards' when she died. Her death must have occurred before August 22, 1735 when Gabriel Friend acquired the 665-acre 'Fishing Place' plantation from Enoch Enochson and his wife Susannah (Friend), property which was lately owned by Olof Dalbo and was then in Gabriel's possession.
3.) Nils Larsson arrived in New Sweden on the Swan in 1648 and, during Johan Classon Rising's administration, served as gevaldiger (policeman). By 1688, he had adopted the name Frande, meaning "kinsman"or "blood relative" in Swedish. In that year, with Olle Rawson and Olle Jonsson, he was granted a permit by the New Jersey governor to buy New Jersey lands from the Indians. His own residence at the time was Upland, where he continued to live until his death in December 1696. His house was the usual meeting place of the Upland court. Source: The 1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware by Peter Stebbins Craig, J.D., p. 84.
4.) The Swedish Colonial Society listed surnames of qualifying forefathers. Bachoffen is not there. A Guide to New Sweden Forefathers,

1638-1664 Arrivals

by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig
Fellow, American Society of Genealogists
Fellow, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

Historian, Swedish Colonial Society
originally published in Swedish Colonial News,
Volume 1, Number 18 (Fall 1999)
5. *On April 6, 1677, Governor Edmund Andros of New York authorized Israel Helm to acquire land from the Indians opposite Burlington Island, of which he was to retain 200 acres for himself. On November 13, 1677, the Upland court granted Nils Larsson Frände 200 acres adjoining Helm's 200 acres. William Penn later acquired both properties for his Pennsbury estate. As a replacement, Penn granted Israel Helm and Israel Helm, Jr., 474 acres on the Brandywine in New Castle County.
6.) Today in New Sweden: April 8, 1669

Nils Larsson Frände owned land, patented by Governor Francis Lovelace on April 8, 1669, described as bounded on the east by Jurian Keen, on the west by the village of Upland, and by the Delaware River.

Nils Larsson Frände also owned a house lot at Upland, which was the usual site for meetings of the Upland Court. Married to Anna, daughter of Anders the Finn, Nils Larsson had been a resident of New Sweden since 1648 and had children Brigitta (b. 1657), Anders (b. 1659), Catharina (b.1661), Maria (b. 1663), Johan (b. 1666), and Susannah (b.1670) by the time of this census. Subsequent children were Sarah (b. 1672), Gabriel (b. 1674), Lars (b. 1676), and Barbara (b. 1678).

Nils Larsson died in the winter of 1686-87. The family surname evolved into Friend. Source: 1671 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware by Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig, p. 31.

Erica, I get now why Anders Friend was thought to be a Finn in the one link you posted; his mother was a Finn. (Rereading your post from the National Park Service.) And as strange as it may seem, Finnish markers show up in some of the admixture reports.... THAT FAR BACK!. Anders Anderson is the only Finn I have found in my lineage to date.

I feel like we’ve made an amazing amount of progress. I’m a little shocked at myself actually - I’m not usually this good. :)

Now I’ll give you a couple of possible opinions, for what they’re worth; please don’t take them terribly seriously.

- The New Sweden Colony was “very” Finnish, which is (strangely? Maybe not so much) “not mentioned” a lot. There are a few clues out of the New Netherland & New Castle Colonies, Names like “Anders the Finn” for example.

- And what’s the difference? Forestry skills. That’s why I was starting with “who was Israel?”

- the name Bokavar is exceedingly odd, and I was very curious as to where “Sarah Catherine” came from, which is a Germanic name construction. Pair it with “Bachoffen” and there’s a bingo! I don’t think Swedish but I could be wrong: so I would start with the obvious - German, maybe Dutch. And that fits the Migration pattern into Wheeling WV; remember I have Swearingen. He was Dutch into the St Mary’s Colony in Maryland after a time at the New Castle Colony in Delaware. These colonies were a bit more diverse from Europe than we realize: Old Peter Stuyvesant was recruiting from a fairly wide area.

- I have “not” in my mind ruled out a Shawnee wife for Israel, but you don’t know her name or origin. In fact it would have been rather odd for an Indian Trader “not” to have taken a native woman; it was the social and kinship currency. However the pattern was to have (at least) two wives: remember the native culture was polygamous if the man could afford it; or that the marriage was temporary, with both parties moving on as they desired.

- I do not know the Shawnee family practice as well as I might know other cultures, so my generalization may not apply. But children stayed with the mother and her people if the family broke up. My reading yesterday was that the Shawnee were highly mobile at this period & not in settled villages.

- So I postulate:

— Israel was Finnish
— His widow was Sarah Catherine Bachoffen who inherited the widow’s dower & remarried to Haus & had more children
— it is possible he had an earlier Native wife prior to 1725, mother of Jonas
— the guess is Shawnee due to his good relationship with them (but I wouldn’t count on that because he was in Delaware & Lenape Territory before he showed up in Wheeling ....)
—- the term “brother” in the property agreement should not be taken literally. It meant they were “brothers of the heart,” not literally brothers in law, which is a European concept that does not apply here.

Do I make any sense?

Bachofen is a Swiss name.

And I see Alsatian here:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/vitals/LK7C-KKZ

http://sites.rootsweb.com/~chevaud/dutoit/d0000/g0000051.html#I11962

Somewhere in there is a Bachoffen family who emigrated to New Jersey.

In fact, why are we thinking Shawnee, when the property agreement was with the Susquehannock?

http://www.dickshovel.com/susque.html

Just adding another point about Sarah’s inheritance.

From https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/559129/israel-friend-and-his-wife-sara...

“First, from a technical perspective, it's correct that in most colonial jurisdictions, intermarriage between Caucasians and Native Americans was not allowed.

But it appears that Israel Friend's marriage and will were handled in Virginia -- and that was not the law in Virginia. See the blog post Intermarriage and the law, colonial style.

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2012/06/01/intermarriage-and-the-la...

So in this one case (and others like it in Virginia) no conclusions whatsoever can be drawn about the wife's ethnicity as being or not being Native American.

And of course even in other jurisdictions where the woman had been living quietly and peaceably in marriage with her husband for many years, people simply looked the other way when the time came for probate...”

——

BUT the only hard record we have on her name so far is an excellent one for Sarah Catherine Offenbach, and we know of at least one Offenbach family in America. So I’m psyched for you.

Bachoffen - sorry.

The “Bokavar” name was making me a little nuts because it does not sound like any sort of real name in any language.

As a corruption of Bachoffen however it makes sense.

“The Swedish lad from the Delaware River shore did historic things and saw remarkable changes during his lifetime.
Israel Friend, a three-part series by Dan Guzy in Conococheague Institute Blog - Exploring the clash and integration of cultures on the Conococheague frontier.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20160526041910/http://cimlg.org/ciblog/...

Israel Friend, a three-part series by Dan Guzy
Posted on November 7, 2014
Israel Friend

Part 1 of 3 – Indian Trader and Antietam Deed

By Dan Guzy

——
In 1724 or 1725, Israel Friend married his wife Sarah, who, according to one family tradition, was an Indian named Bokavar. Such interracial marriages were common among Indian traders. They had five children, three boys and two girls.

——

So - I submit the widow’s name got attached to the native wife’s name.