The North Mountain Historical Society

Meeting: November 2002

November 18, 2002.

The North Mountain History Buffs met November 18 at the Brass Pelican Restaurant, Elk Grove, PA, with 35 attending. Jim and Ruth Vance along with Betty Ruckle, Secretary, were unable to attend the meeting, and in their absence David Kline chaired the meeting. The minutes of the October meeting were not read.

Katie Temple Shade, a Sullivan County resident until she was 15, and who now resides in Watsontown, Nordmont and points farther south, was the featured speaker. Her topic was "Queen Aliquippa," a first-person presentation.

Queen Aliquippa, for whom the town of Aliquippa, in Beaver County, is named, is best remembered not for her lifetime achievements, but for her brief encounter with a young militia officer named George Washington. The mention of Aliquippa's name in young Major Washington's journal in 1754 has over the ensuing years been the thing for which she is best remembered. It seems odd that a woman of such obvious influence and power in early western Pennsylvania history has been defined by a sarcastic remark penned by a 20 year old soldier. The story of Queen Aliquippa began long before 1754, in fact before white trappers were even venturing into western Pennsylvania. Queen Aliquippa left New York and migrated to central Pennsylvania for a time in her life, later traveled west to the Pittsburgh area. She was a strong, opinioned lady, a member of the Seneca Indian tribe. In her later years, she returned to Huntington, PA, where she lived with George Crogan, a famous English Trader until her death. Queen Aliquippa in the person of Katie Temple Shade, appeared at the Brass Pelican dressed as a Indian and explained her clothing and the research she has done about Queen Aliquippa. She also read part of a poem, which is quoted as follows:

Now Queen Allaquippa was the
Indian skipper
Of a tribe down Logstown way;
And George said, "I better win
this lady Indian
And without delay.
So he took her a coat and a jug
of whisky
And stayed a day or so,
And he came back a ridin' and a
lookin'and a walkin'
to the forks of the 0-hi-o.
--"The Forks of the O-hi-o," by Robert Schmertz

Our thanks to Mrs. Shade for an interesting and informative presentation.

The December meeting will be held on the 16th at the Brass Pelican. The speaker will be Tom Morris.

If you want to read more about Queen Allaquippa, go Here.

Katie Temple Slade, as Queen Allaquippa, Nov. 18, 2002