HISTORICAL CHRONICLES

 OF

 JAMES EDGELL  and his wife MARY ICE

James Edgell was born in 1775 in Caroline County, Maryland.

The historical information contained here centers on Mary Ice and her family.  Through her family,  the descending Edgell line is related to one of the most famous Indians east of the Mississippi.

The Ice family originated in Holland in the 17th Century.  The following article was written by Bill Cunningham.

 “Frederick Iaac Jr. Was born in 1680 in Holland and died in 1794.  He sailed to America about 1700.  Frederick Jr. Settled in 1722 on Christian Creek (named for Christian Ice), Spottsylvania County, VA (now Patterson Creek, WV).  Frederick was in the French and Indian War.  He drowned at Cheat Lake, WV at the age of 114 years.”

 “Frederick Ice was married to Mary Galloway in 1727.  She was the daughter of John Robert Galloway and Christina Bruin.  She was born in c1680.  Frederick Ice was a great friend to the Indians and the floor of his house was frequently the sleeping place of these wild men.  This good fellowship continued for many years until his wife Mary was killed by the Indians at Patterson Creek, WV, in 1745, and their four children were captured by them. One of the girls,  Marguerite, “Mary” is supposed to be the mother of Chief Techumseh.  She married an indian and was the mother of thirteen children, two of whom became famous amongst their red brothers,  Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet.  (This claim of the Ice family concerning the parentage of Tecumseh and his brother, is a straight tradition in the Ice family.)

A son,  William, escaped from the Indians, after about five years, and returned to his father.  He was nicknamed “Indian Billy”.  William Galloway “Indian Billy” Ice was born April1, 1730 and died February 1826.  Buried at Ice Cemetary, Barracksville, Marion County, West Virginia.”

There are several publications regarding Tecumseh and his brother.  Here is a brief summary.

Marguerite was barely a teen-ager when she was kidnapped.  It is believed that she was first kidnapped by the Charokee (who were settled in the Virginians and Tennesse Valley) and later she was traded or kidnapped from the Charokee by the Shawnee.  Techumseh was her third son.  Her third birth was to triplets, which, in Indian lore, was magical or religious.  The oldest of the triplets was The Prophet.

Before proceeding with Tecumseh,  it is necessary to explain the events of the time toward the end of the 18th Century.   William Henry Harrison was governor of the territory of Indiana and responsible for making peace with the Shawnee and taking their land for the settlers moving west.   According to some accounts, Harrison would sign peace treaties with the Indians whereby the government would pay them $9,000 a year for use of the land.   He also allowed them to buy on credit.   At the end of the year,  Harrison would settle the accounts and show the Indians how much they owed the government.  Since the Indians had no money, Harrison would take land, about a million acres at a time.

Techumseh was outraged by this dealing.  He and the Prophet preached to the indians that land could not be sold nor traded, just as the sky and the air cannot be owned.  They gathered young braves from Florida to Canada and settled in western Indiana on the Tippecanoe river.    At the same time,  the British in Canada were preparing for war against the colonies and saw the Indians as allies.   Tecumseh went to Canada and gathered support from the British (later made a General in the British Army) for his cause against Harrison.  While he was in Canada,  his brother The Prophet, attacked Harrison’s well trained army of 4,000 settlers.  There were few losses on each side, however, most of the braves returned to their homes.  This famous battle of Tippecanoe would later help Harrison win the U.S. Presidency as a great Indian fighter.   Twenty-seven years later, with his Vice President Tyler, Harrison ran on the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”.

Harrison was later proved to be a war strategist.  On October 5, 1813, he moved his 3,000 forces against a combined British and Indian army at the Battle of the Thames.   The British ran and the Indians were left to fight.  Tecumseh was killed early in the battle.

You will want to read more about these brothers.  They were staunchly anti-settlers and preached to the Indians to give back everything they had received from the settlers and Harrison.  There was a running dialogue between Harrison and the brothers.  At one point, Harrison publicly told the Prophet to stop the movement of the sun if he was so powerful.  Unfortunate for Harrison,  the Prophet replied he would and also do it on a certain day and hour.  When the total eclipse of the sun occurred as the Prophet predicted, Harrison cried foul.  Tecumseh was reportedly about six feet tall and a great orator.  He could speak for hours to crowds of Indians.

In 1998 I received email from Darrell Eck:

Darrell Eck
7970 Orabelle Court
Sacramento, CA 95828
("Eck, Darrell" eckd@pwa.co.sacramento.ca.us>)

Darrell wrote the following:

We are descended from James Edgell (b. Abt
1775 in Maryland) and Mary Ice.  I believe my grandfather may have had
some information prior to James but I am not sure right now and would
have to look back through his records.  At this time my database only
goes back to James and Mary.  I would be very interested in getting a
file from you, if you could put it in the GEDCOM format I can import it
into my database.  If you are interested I could send you a GEDCOM file
on our branch of the Edgell family.

Tecumseh, A Life:  John Sugden, Henry Holt Publishers, New York 1997
Tecumseh,  Robert Cwiklik, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1993