• • • KETURAH ELIZA BUTTON l}?1J1q,1 !J&ce ncfa Jt ~ Submitted by Jessie K. Franich From a story told by Harriet Woodland when she was 92 years old in September 1960, to Sarah B. Boden. (Of Indian Decendsnt) My grandmother Keturah Button Andrews, was a trim built woman with large dark compelling kind eyes. She was a woman of great strength of character. Grandma Andrews stayed at home much of the time. She was a great reader. When she spoke there was meaning in her words. Said Aunt Hattie, "One day I put on my prettiest new dress. How do I look? I asked her, to which grandma replied, If you always behave as well as you look , you will be alright." Keturah was born on the 12'h or December 1810, Otisco, Onondaga, New York State. She was the daughter of Zebulon Button and Olive Cheney. Keturah had some Indian blood in her veins. How much or from whence it came, still remains somewhat of a mystery. Some have said that her red ancestors were from the proud Iroquois tribe, while other claim they were Cherokee. But what ever her status quo, she wielded a mighty influence over her sulky cousins of the western tribes. Samuel Boyd Shupe told "After the death of her husband, Amos Andrews, Keturah lived in a little house near her children and some of her grandchildren. There were times when the Indians came-many of them- to the dooryard of her home and they would just sit and sulk, not speaking a word. (Perhaps they were holding a grudge against the white man and his family for coming west and invading their land.) Keturah would go out among her visiting callers who sat on the ground under her shade trees. In her own perfect tongue she would speak to them sharply and with authority. Soon she would have them speaking their minds and telling of the enmity. "What would they say?" the children would ask. "You wouldn' t want to hear it if I told you." Keturah was a good faithful woman and died in December 1887 . lfl