The Simonton Boy, Thirty Years On

Did you know? In the fall of 1780 Indians attacked the home of Matthew Dean near Water Street. His wife and several of his children were killed, and the house was set on fire.

Captain Simonton, one of the Deans' nearest neighbors, had visited the evening before with his wife and young son, and the boy begged to stay the night. When the charred remains of Mrs. Dean and three children were taken from the ruins, no trace of the Simonton boy could be found, and his father was forced to believe he had been taken captive. Africa's 1883 county history says Simonton offered a reward of one hundred pounds for his recovery and went to treaties at Chillicothe and in the Miami Valley, but none of the captives resembled him.

During the War of 1812, Captain Moses Canan's company, with some of Simonton's sons in it, spent part of its service among the Seneca of Cattaraugus County, New York. Some of the soldiers saw a white man living among the Indians, married to an Indian woman, with horses and cattle and a good house. Asked his name, he said John Sims. Asked if he was from the Juniata, he said, "I think I am." Asked whether he would like to see his brothers who were with the soldiers, he said he would, and burst into tears.

The 1883 history says that left little doubt he was the lost Simonton boy. Jones's 1856 history of the Juniata Valley adds that he remembered his father having "two big fires, and large barrels, in which he stirred with a long pole," and that old Captain Simonton had a small distillery.

His wife came and took him away, and nothing more was seen of him while the troops were there. What became of him afterward was never known. Captain Simonton died before the men came home from the war.

Checked 2026-10-30 · County histories and primary sources, read in full

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