Buck Swift, Overseer
The Swifts Find Wives
A few months ago I related the odd story of Will and Tom Swift, twin brothers greatly divided by the effects of their father’s death. Will became “The Great Avenger,” determined to kill as many Indians as he could in revenge for the death of father Swift at the hands of an Indian who somehow felt he had the right to protect tribal land against the settlers. Will eventually notched his gun 100 times, one notch for each dead Indian. Will became known as the Sheriff who hated Indians. Tom, rather like the story of Cain and Abel, went a different and more peaceful way.
It was Tom who came to know the Lenape people and sought their help in farming his small plot. The tradeoff was fair … Tom paid a fair wage and worked with Lenape people teaching them to read and write while they helped him compete with neighboring farms that were …. in the manner of their times … made efficient by the use of African slaves. Like some of the other people of the region Tom also took a liking to a Lenape woman, Pakim.
The wedding ceremony was Lenape style. People were invited from all around … including some slaves who came without telling their masters. One slave guest was Will’s cook, Meg. Meg was a chocolate brown woman who could do more things with venison and berries than any fancy dish from that French trained Hemmings chef Thomas Jefferson brought back from Paris. Meg’s berries and deer pie was an awesome part of the wedding feast. ‘
Unfortunately, Meg was also Will’s shadow wife .. a common practice among slave owners unhappy with their official white women. Will and his white wife Jemma, both devout Christians, boycotted the pagan marriage ceremony but Will figured out what had happened.
That evening when Will came home, Jemma had tried to cook his dinner. Will was VERY upset. “No berries with meat? … and it is overdone! Who cooked this? Where is Meg?”
Although only 14, Jemma knew enough to run out of the cabin, narrowly avoiding the bowl of gruel that flew after her. The young wife hid behind a tree, as Will went to the fields and grabbed Meg’s brother Buck. Will grabbed Buck by the collar, throwing the slave down on the wet ground. “Where is your damn sister?” When Buck would not answer, Will pulled out a knife, ordering the frightened field hand to drop his pants.
The rest of the story is part of the legends of the Swift family. Will stormed into the wedding party, firing his gun in the air and screaming that Tom had stolen his woman. The singers went silent, the dancers stopped. The crowd parted in fear but all eyes turned to the impromptu shelter, covered with fall leaves and offerings of berries and apples. Will’s stallion trampled on the lean-to, driving the two lovers out with only the cover offered by their deer skin blanket. Fortunately, another slave guest, a large man whose name is lost in history, jumped on Will, pulling the angry Avenger off of the horse.
Will was able to hold his balance and turned, the loaded musket went straight to the assailant’s heart. As we know from the legend, Tom and Pakim were able to escape, eventually migrating to Ohio.
Will had a harder time. After the musket was discharged, the wedding party turned on the white man, beating him so badly that he would have died if it were not for Buck. Meg’s brother, seeing his sister was alive was so grateful to God, that he lifted his master and took the bleeding sheriff back home piggy back style. Will Swift recovered, paid a fair price for the slave he had killed but vowed vengeance for the sins of his brother. Grateful to God, Will Swift sought a new home, deeper in the South away from the abominations of people like brother Tom.
Will still had both Jemma and Meg. Buck was now overseer of a small plantation. More importantly, Will went on to found a small Church where his sermons often dwelt on the Ten Commandments, especially God’s rules about not coveting your brother’s property.