Stickney, Benjamin Franklin, 1775-1852

Benjamin Franklin Stickney (1775-1857) was born in Pembroke, New Hampshire. He served Pembroke as justice of the peace and postmaster general from 1805 to 1811, when he was assigned to scout the British forces in Canada by Secretary of War William Eustis. In March 1812, shortly before war broke out, the military assigned him to be Indian agent for Fort Wayne, Indiana Territory. He helped defend Fort Wayne, and he traveled with the military in Indiana and Ohio throughout the war. In 1820, he moved to Fort Miami in the Maumee Valley, and served as subagent for the Ottawa and Wyandot Indians. He mastered several Native American languages and authored dictionaries for many of them. He invested in land in northern Ohio, and played an integral role in the border dispute between Michigan and Ohio over the newly founded city of Toledo.

From the guide to the Fort Wayne Indian Agency collection, 1802-1815, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)