| Bio notes |
James Dean, the first settler of Westmoreland, was born at Groton, Connecticut, in the month of August, 1748. Of his early youth nothing is known, excepting that he was destined as a missionary to the Indians, and at the age of twelve years was sent to reside at Oquango, on the Susquehanna, with an Indian missionary named Mosely, who was then laboring with a branch of the Oneida tribe, located at that place. He soon became master of the Oneida tongue, and was adopted by a female native as her son. James Dean located his tract in the town of Westmoreland, Oneida County, NY, in the fall of 1786, taking a deed of it from the Indians. Refused to interpret for Ripley (1805). |