Emma Camp Mead

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.

Emma Camp Mead
A woman dark hair and eyes, fair skin, wearing a hat and a dark dress with a high collar
Emma Camp Mead, from a 1916 publication
Born
Emma Jane Camp

1866
Indian Lake, New York
DiedDecember 4, 1934
Indian Lake, New York
Occupation(s)Hotelkeeper, herbalist
RelativesPolly Cooper (great-grandmother)
Beulah Dark Cloud (cousin)

Early life and education

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

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

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
  1. "What Spoiled an Adirondack Romance". Little Falls Transcript. 1883-08-31. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Watson, Kandice. "Gold, Silver and an Annulment – Oneida Indian Nation". Oneida Indian Nation. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  3. 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.
  4. DeMarsh, Arnold W. (2007). Indian Lake, Hamilton County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-7385-5526-3.
  5. "Emma Mead · Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks". Adirondack History Museum Exhibition Archives. 2005. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  6. "Emma P. Mead, Proprietor". American Indian Magazine. 4 (2): 177–178, photo between 190 and 191. April–June 1916.
  7. Aber, Ted; King, Stella Brooks (1965). The History of Hamilton County. Great Wilderness Books. p. 23.
  8. "A Twice Deserted Indian Bride". The Post-Star. 1887-07-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Funeral of Mrs. Mead". The Post-Star. 1934-12-08. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-08-23 – via Newspapers.com.
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