Emma Camp Mead
Emma Camp Mead | |
|---|---|
 Emma Camp Mead, from a 1916 publication | |
| Born | Emma Jane Camp 1866 Indian Lake, New York |
| Died | December 4, 1934 Indian Lake, New York |
| Occupation(s) | Hotelkeeper, herbalist |
| Relatives | Polly Cooper (great-grandmother) Beulah Dark Cloud (cousin) |
Emma Jane Camp Mead (1866 – December 4, 1934) was a hotelkeeper and herbalist in the Adirondacks; she was a member of the Oneida people, like her mother; her father's family was Abenaki.
Early life and education[edit]
Emma Camp was born near Indian Lake, New York, the daughter of Elijah Camp and Elizabeth Kennedy Camp. Her father was Abenaki and her mother was Oneida. Her parents ran a hunting lodge, and her father worked as a wilderness guide.[1] She was a great-granddaughter of Polly Cooper. Actress Beulah Dark Cloud was her cousin.[2][3]
Career[edit]
With a large settlement from her former husband's family, Mead opened a dry goods store in Indian Lake, and later opened Adirondack House near Indian Lake, renting rooms and cabins to hunting and fishing vacationers in the area.[4] She also maintained a farm, and sold her own herbal remedies.[5][6] She also interpreted news reports for locals who were not literate in English, especially in the events leading up to the Indian Citizenship Law of 1924.[3]
Personal life[edit]
In 1882, Camp married Gabriel Mead, a white man. His family, opposing the marriage, paid her ten thousand dollars to agree to an annulment of the marriage.[7] This arrangement was reported in newspapers across the United States in August 1883.[1][8] The couple remarried in 1885, and had a daughter, Bessie, born in 1886. Gabriel soon left the marriage again,[8] and Bessie died in a fall when she was three years old. Emma Mead died in 1934, at the age of 68.[2][9] There is a collection of her papers held by the Indian Lake Historical Society.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "What Spoiled an Adirondack Romance". Little Falls Transcript. 1883-08-31. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Watson, Kandice. "Gold, Silver and an Annulment – Oneida Indian Nation". Oneida Indian Nation. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ a b c Bruchac, Margaret M.; Zobel, Melissa Fawcett Tantaquidgeon (2018-04-10). Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists. University of Arizona Press. pp. 48–54, 201, note 4. ISBN 978-0-8165-3706-8.
- ^ DeMarsh, Arnold W. (2007). Indian Lake, Hamilton County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-7385-5526-3.
- ^ "Emma Mead · Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks". Adirondack History Museum Exhibition Archives. 2005. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ "Emma P. Mead, Proprietor". American Indian Magazine. 4 (2): 177–178, photo between 190 and 191. April–June 1916.
- ^ Aber, Ted; King, Stella Brooks (1965). The History of Hamilton County. Great Wilderness Books. p. 23.
- ^ a b "A Twice Deserted Indian Bride". The Post-Star. 1887-07-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Funeral of Mrs. Mead". The Post-Star. 1934-12-08. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
External links[edit]
- A recipe described as being similar to Mead's crabapple relish, in The Adirondack Cookbook (2014)