An Indian Brother
After the death of his Indian father, in accordance with Indian law and custom Christian chose an Indian brother, to whom he also became deeply attached, and his love for this brother and the kindness he had received from the hands of the Indians generally made him very unwilling to leave them, and he found it hard to become reconciled to the ways of the whites after his return to them.
Taken from pp. 36,37 of Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler, by Rev. Harvey Hostetler, D.D., 1912. This portion was prepared by William F. Hochstetler.
After considering again the question of why some family members were spared, I am wondering if the issue of ability to help provide for the tribe entered in. We are told that Mr. Hochstetler was to provide game for those left behind when the men went on raids. Christian is given the care of (or given into the care of) an elderly Indian man -- but Christian did the hunting for them both. Joseph was adopted into the tribe. Mrs. Hochstetler and the little girl would not have been a help in this way, and Jacob Jr. was injured early on in the attack. Hm-m-m. What do you think?
2 comments:
I may have missed this somewhere else, but how old was Christian here?
Christian was about 10 when he was captured in 1757. Apparently there are several accounts of his life (I have not been able to find these documents yet). Some accounts say he was with the Indians 7 years; some say 11. So he would have been between 17 and 21 upon his return, according to these accounts.
I'll be posting more on this after we get Jacob Hochstetler home.
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