Folk Figure. Of African and Osage ancestry, he was alleged to have been found in a Osage camp as an infant after the group had been decimated by smallpox. He was, himself, badly scarred by the disease. Alternately, however, and more plausibly, he was said to have moved to Hannibal, Missouri as a child. He worked most of his life as an unskilled laborer in town, and was well known and respected there. Speculation for many years cast him as the inspiration for 'Injun Joe' in fellow townsman Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' something he denied, but for many years the city of Hannibal perpetuated the tale. He was eventually able to purchase land in town, and sold lots initially to about eighty families, creating of one America’s oldest communities comprised of former slaves. The community, called Douglasville, also housed Hannibal's oldest African American church. He was regarded as an honest man, an entrepreneur, and a pillar of the community. He married twice and raised a step-son. His death certificate indicated his age at his death was 102 years.
Folk Figure. Of African and Osage ancestry, he was alleged to have been found in a Osage camp as an infant after the group had been decimated by smallpox. He was, himself, badly scarred by the disease. Alternately, however, and more plausibly, he was said to have moved to Hannibal, Missouri as a child. He worked most of his life as an unskilled laborer in town, and was well known and respected there. Speculation for many years cast him as the inspiration for 'Injun Joe' in fellow townsman Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,' something he denied, but for many years the city of Hannibal perpetuated the tale. He was eventually able to purchase land in town, and sold lots initially to about eighty families, creating of one America’s oldest communities comprised of former slaves. The community, called Douglasville, also housed Hannibal's oldest African American church. He was regarded as an honest man, an entrepreneur, and a pillar of the community. He married twice and raised a step-son. His death certificate indicated his age at his death was 102 years.
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