Ohio History Journal

THOMAS WILDCAT ALFORD (338)

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THOMAS WILDCAT ALFORD

 

 

A GREAT-GRANDSON OF TECUMSEH

Among the interesting persons present at the un-

veiling of the George Rogers Clark monument near the

site of the Battle of Piqua, the birthplace of Tecumseh,

was Thomas Wildcat Alford, a lineal descendant of that

great Shawnee chieftain. According to the Handbook

of American Indians, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge

and published by the Bureau of American Ethnology,

Big Jim, who died in 1905, was the grandson of Tecum-

seh. Thomas Wildcat Alford whose Indian name is

Ga-nwah-pea-se-ka is the nephew of Big Jim whose

Indian name was Wah-pah-meap-to.    Mr. Alford's

mother was a sister of Big Jim and a daughter of Nay-

thah-way-nah, the son of Tecumseh. We hope in the

next issue of the QUARTERLY to publish a fuller account

of the descendants of Tecumseh.

Mr. Alford, when he was twelve years old, was sent

to the Shawnee Mission School, then under the super-

vision of the Society of Friends to whose influence he

attributes the principles that have guided his life. When

he was nineteen years old, through the influence of the

Society of Friends, or Quakers, he was sent to the mili-

tary academy at Hampton, Virginia, where he finished

his education. For many years past he has been engaged,

in the leisure hours of a very active life, in translating

the Gospels into the Shawnee language. Some of the

pages of his manuscript he brought with him to the un-

veiling of the Clark monument, August 8. He hopes

(339)

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340      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications to publish this work and leave it as a contribution pre- servative of the language of his Indian forbears. One who has long known Mr. Alford intimately has said of him: Mr. Alford is a striking figure, combining as he does all the dignity and majestic bearing of the original Indian character, with the kindly, friendly hospitality of a gentleman and a scholar, commanding the respect of all who know him, not only for him- self but for the people he represents. Mr. Alford was born in 1860.     He lives on a farm near Shawnee, Oklahoma, which is worked by his two sons.     He has living a wife and eleven interesting chil- dren.     Two of his sons are World War Veterans.

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