KIL-So-Quah Trail

PRINCESS KIL-SO-QUAH

PRINCESS KIL-SO-QUAH (SETTING SUN), granddaughter of Chief Little Turtle was born near the forks of the Wabash in 1810. Her mother told her it was when “the woods were filled with the Great Spirit's cheering smile” and “when the strawberry was in the woods’ (May). 

Married at eighteen, Kil-So-Quah was alone by the age of twenty, for she had lost both parents and husband through death. A short time later, she married a trader of Indian and French ancestry, Anthony Revarre. Only two of their many children reached maturity; Anthony, Jr. and Mary. Both “Tony” and Mary attended the Roanoke Academy. Mary went west and taught in schools for the Indians in Oklahoma. Anthony, Jr. tenderly cared for his aged mother for many years and acted as her interpreter, for Kil-So-Quah never learned to speak English. She clung tenaciously to many primitive ways and relics of her ancestors. Until advanced years compelled her to move into a cabin, she lived in a wigwam. A small house was erected for her when the cabin was destroyed by fire.

During her later years, Kil-So-Quah spent most of her time quilting. She explained thus: “When | am busy, | think of my work. When | am idle, | think how poor and alone | am.” Reportedly one of “Indiana’s most noted celebrations” was held in Roanoke to celebrate Kil-So-Quah’s hundredth birthday anniversary. Over a thousand visitors entered her humble home during the celebration. Princess Kil-Go-Quah died on September 4, 1915 at the age of 105 years. At her death, Dr. Sylvanus Koontz, her personal physician, secured an appropriate box and carried out her request made eight years earlier. She wanted the bones of her husband, Tony’s father, buried with her. Kil-So-Quah was buried in the Glenwood IOOF Cemetery at Roanoke, Indiana.