Henry Stansel was just 9 years old when the Revolutionary War started, but his family wasn’t too concerned. What was more concerning, were raids by the nearby Native Americans – but the Stansels often shared meals with the neighboring tribes, so they weren’t worried. Except one day in 1778, the Stansel boys discovered a group of Native Americans coming toward them from the woods all around them. The boys immediately tried to return to the settlement, but unfortunately one brother was shot, captured, and subsequently scalped.

Due to being slowed by an injured foot and shoes filled with water, Henry was captured by the Native Americans as they stole the horses from the settlement. Henry’s clothes were stripped from him, and he was forced to run through the trees while trying to keep up with the Native Americans on the stolen horses. When they finally stopped to camp, Henry was bound and tormented by his captors, as they callously showed him the scalp of his brother William. During his captivity, Henry was subjected to torture with the other prisoners, forced to run painful gauntlets and beatings.

Slowly, the Native Americans eased their abuse of Henry and did not treat him as roughly as the other captives. Apparently, they respected that a boy of 13 was so courageous. Eventually, Henry was given to a squaw who took care of him. In time, Henry acclimated to life in the camp and he learned the beliefs, customs, history, and culture of the tribe and even hunted, fished, and played with other youngsters in the village.

Henry lived with the old squaw for years, until she met a tragic end. Henry was then sold to an old brave and kept as a slave and traveled with the tribe through Ohio and Kentucky, eventually camping near a British fort on Lake Ontario. While there, his owner drunkenly sold Henry to a British officer. It was under his care that Henry learned that the Revolutionary War was over. When his old owner sobered up and tried to get his slave back, the British officer hid Henry and turned the old brave away.

After five long years, Henry was reunited with his family, who didn’t recognize him at first. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy family reunion after a while. While he was raised a devout Catholic, Henry found that he no longer could follow that faith after being exposed to the tribe’s customs and beliefs. Instead, he settled on a Protestant religion that seemed to parallel the teachings of the tribe. This choice eventually broke Henry’s relationship with his family completely, at just 18.

Henry wandered through New York State and the wilderness, and finally Kentucky, where he befriended Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. He eventually settled in Lexington, and became a landowner and accumulated a bit of wealth. On April 3, 1793, Henry married Elizabeth Allen and had three daughters and two sons. Having fallen in love with the land north of the Ohio River, in 1801, Henry purchased 200 acres of land along the present-day Sheehan Road in southern Centerville. He cleared a corn patch, built a log cabin, and brought his family to live with him the next year. To reach their new home, Elizabeth rode a horse while carrying their young infant and Henry, his brother-in-law Jerry, and the four other children rode the other two horses. As for the chicken, it got to ride a horse, but the geese had to walk.

With their three horses, geese, and one chicken, the Stansels built a successful farm, which they ran until Elizabeth passed in September 1833, with Henry following her a few weeks later on November 1, 1833. They are buried together in Sugar Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

Stansel Park off of Sheehan Park is named for the Stansel family.