Elizabeth Foulks Whittaker

Elizabeth Foulks Whittaker

When Elizabeth Foulks was in her early teens (or younger), her husband-to-be purchased her from the Wyandot Indian tribe for a keg of rum. That's not a typical American courtship, even considering both were Indian captives.

That they had known each other for several years, while living with the Wyandots along Ohio's Sandusky River, is evident. In fact, James Whittaker was an elder brother of Samuel, who had been captured by the Indians in the same March, 1780, raid when Elizabeth (and her older brother, George) were taken. (Note: The Anglicized Whittaker name shows in many records variously as Whitacre and Whitaker.)

They were married by Indian rites, later to be married 'legally' by a British trader. Raised as an Indian, Whittaker was eventually to achieve freedom despite his captivity, building and operating a successful trading post.  One of the storied exploits of Whittaker's life among the Wyandots, is his rescue of a Peggy Flemming, a white girl who had been sentenced by Indians to be burned, and had been tied to a tree in preparation. Somehow, Whittaker was able to evade Indian guards, and rescue her. The remains of the tree still stand, on the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center at Fremont.

Whittaker sided with the Indians in signficant battles against the American settlers, including the Indian defeat by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers. Even after the Indian defeat, Whittaker was obviously able to maintain cordiality with both the Indians and the pioneers, serving as a translater...as did Elizabeth.

(Her brother, George, followed a different route. Escaping from his captivity, but trained by the Wyandots, he became a highly-regarded Indian scout (spy) for the settlers. He may have been with Wayne, at the same Fallen Timbers battle.)

The Whittakers' life together ended in 1804, when James died -- possibly poisoned by a business partner -- and left Elizabeth as a widow, in her thirties, with eight children.

The trading post operated by the 'Widow Whittaker' near Lower Sandusky (today, Fremont) prospered and flourished under her management. It became a gathering-spot for settlers and Indians alike, described as an 'oasis in the wilderness.'

Until the War of 1812.

Elizabeth had learned of an imminent British river-launched attack on the American Ft. Stephenson, upstream from her settlement. She warned the commander of the fort, and that warning was to lead to one of the more startling British defeats of the war. In retaliation, British gunboats retreating on the Sandusky River after their defeat, fired on the Whittaker trading post. It was obliterated.

An American commission later awarded the Widow Whittaker $8,000 in damage claims for the loss...but descendants say it was never paid.  She and her husband have been memorialized today by a historical plaque in Fremont, Ohio, one of several scattered around that area, honoring the Whittakers. Their gravesite,  located on private property ("Peninsular Farms"), is only a few hundred feet from the site of the Whittaker trading post. In 1998, the once-busy site is buried beneath a soybean field, its limestone-foundation location and contents already a past target for an archaelogical "dig" by researchers.

Elizabeth is cited as the first woman to have established, and raised, a white American family in the Northwest Territory, west of the Ohio River. It had to take guts, an indominable spirit, and a courage that few Americans need demonstrate today. She was a patriot.

Her full story is told in:
Elizabeth Foulks Whittaker, by Mina S. FouIks, Rebecca Griscom Chapter, East Liverpool, Ohio
Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, March, 1967

The magazine should be available in the archives of most large libraries.

For additional reading of Elizabeth's era:

-- Thom Foulks, Colorado Springs, 1997. (Updated July, 1998)

Photo Credits: Cris and LeAnna Hastin, Toledo, Ohio, 1998. (LeAnna is Thom Foulks' favorite sister!)

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