Emma
Jane Camp was born in 1866 to Elijah and Elizabeth Kennedy Camp. Elijah was a
grandson of Indian Lake's first settler,Sabael Benedict. They ran a lodge at
Little Moose Lake where "Lige" would guide customers who had often
come up on the train from the New York City area. They would be met at North
Creek and driven over bumpy roads through Indian Lake and out along the Cedar
River near an area now known as the Moose River Plains.
As a young girl,Emma would help her mother
with the cooking and cleaning. The summer of 1882 saw Robert Mead,a wealthy
white man from Sing Sing [now Ossining] ,N.Y.,return for a stay . He brought
with him Gabriel,his son,who was a heavy drinker. Gabriel and Emma fell in
love,and when his father left for home,Gabriel stayed behind with Emma. They
spent the winter together,and on Dec.26,1882,the Rev. G.W. Farrington,pastor of
the Indian Lake Methodist Church,presided at their wedding.
But in May of 1883,Gabriel's father and
brother came to R.B. Jackson's house,located near the present Cedar River
Cemetery,and sent for Gabriel. The family had disapproved of Gabriel marrying an
Indian,and they were determined to put an end to this union. Gabriel was drugged
and taken to the train in North Creek. He was later put in the Utica Insane
Asylum.
The Mead family lawyer arranged for a
$10,000 payment to Emma for agreeing to an annulment of the marriage. She
reluctantly agreed,and bought a store in town with the money.
In 1885,Gabriel returned to Indian
Lake,and they were remarried. They were together for eight months,and when Emma
became pregnant,Gabriel decided he needed to see his father for money,so in May
he left.
A daughter,Bessie,was born on July
15,1886. Gabriel never saw Bessie,for she fell off an upper-floor porch in
1890,while Emma was tending the store. A distraught Emma kept her vow to never
marry again. Gabriel remarried,and did not return to Indian Lake.
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