I was thinking of Ely Parker too.  He was born on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation which is mostly in the town of Alabama in Genesee County, NY. Prior to the Civil War, where he served as secretary to Grant, he went to Washington at the meer age of 18 (along with 2 Seneca Chiefs and their 2 attorneys)& helped to negociate the treaty of 1857 in which the Tonawanda Seneca Indians gained title to their land.  Because of his education, (first by the Baptists and then formal) he spoke English well enough not to get flim-flamed. Although it is a Reservation, they own it out right, including a deed filed in the Genesee County Clerks Office. He was also a civil engineer for the NYS Canal Board and later in life served as a clerk for the  New York City Police Dept.


--
Cindy Amrhein
Town of Alabama Historian
in Genesee Co., NY
Experience the Town of Alabama in Genesee County, NY.
http://www2.pcom.net/cinjod/historian/
APHNYS (Association of Public Historians of New York State)
http://www.tier.net/aphnys


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