Tecumapease: Sister of Tecumsah - Did she marry Rupert Collins?



I received an email purporting to have information about Tecumapease, the sister of Shawnee Leader, Tecumsah. The writer advised me that she was the wife of one Rupert Collins/Rupe Collings b. 1742 in Pendleton, Virginia and that they had a daughter named Jane Collins, b. 1766 who married a man by the name of Lewis Full. A quick search of the internet provided a few other versions of this story.

One, on Geni.com, claimed that Rupe Collins married Tecompolas Margaret "Young Eagle", who appears to be a different woman than Tecumapease. This is part of the Don Greene Shawnee Heritage garbage. The Tecumapease/Collins claim is also made on this page, which states that Lewis Full married Jane Collins who was born about 1768. If this is true, then Tecumapease had to have married Rupe Collins by 1767 in order to produce a child the following year. So, what do we know about the life of Tecumapease and is it possible for her to be the wife on Rupe Collins?

In 1841, author and biographer Benjamin Drake published his book on Tecumsah and his brother. [1] During his research he interviewed two very knowledgeable men, John Johnston and Anthony Shane, men who knew and lived among the Shawnee and knew Tecumsah. Anthony Shane was a mixed blood who was married to one of Tecumsah's relatives. 

Drake tells us that Tecumsah was born in 1768 in what is now South Central Ohio, somewhere south of present day, Columbus, in a small village called Chillicothe. [2] This is some 300 miles from Pendleton County, West Virginia who seems to be the actual home of Lewis Full, who married Jane Collins about 1788. [3]

Tecumsah's father was killed in 1774 at the battle of Kanawha (Battle of Point Pleasant) which was fought between the Virginia Militia and the Shawnee. His mother subsequently left the family. His sister Tecumapease and his older brothers raised Tecumsah. [4] According to those who knew the family, "Tecumapease was a sister worthy of her distinguished brother." [5] Not only did she help raise her younger siblings, but when Tecumsah's wife died, leaving an infant, Tecumapease raised him, Pugeshashenwa, as well. Tecumapease was married to a brave named Wasegoboah (Stand Firm) who was killed alongside Tecumsah at the Battle of the Thames in 1813. Drake tells us that she visited Quebec along with other members of her Tribe in 1814. After the War of 1812, she returned to Detroit, where she is said to have died. 

I don't see how you can put this woman in West Virginia, married to a white man, and having children in 1768 when at that same time she is in Ohio, raising her brother. She is further documented raising Tecumsah's son and having a husband. 

I have been unable to find any documentation for a Rupert/Rupe Collings/Collins. 


Sources: 

[1] Drake, Benjamin, 1794-1841. Life of Tecumseh, & of His Brother the Prophet: With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians. Cincinnati: H. M. Rulison, 1856.

[2] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tecumseh-Shawnee-chief

[3] http://shaybo-therisingtide.blogspot.com/2011/10/shawnee-collins-family.html

[4] Drake, Benjamin, Life of Tecumseh.

[5] Ibid.

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