Ote Emathla (Jumper)

Ote Emathla (Jumper) was a Red Stick Creek, older than Micanopy and married to one the Seminole leader’s sisters. He rose in his adopted band to become Micanopy’s sensebearer or “lawyer or advocate,” according to John K. Mahon. Whites generally recognized him as a powerful figure whom they described variously: “Small, deadly eyes, contracted forehead, protruding nose, cunning, intelligent, deceitful, active, brave, and eloquent.” Jumper was a member of the exploring party that went west in 1832 and was one of the signers of the Fort Dade Agreement, March 6, 1837, in which the followers of Micanopy agreed to end hostilities and remove immediately to the West. Meanwhile, they were to withdraw south of the Hillsborough River to await removal and there be subsisted until time to leave. The Agreement guaranteed the Seminoles and their allies their property, including Negroes, who would be taken west with them.

Source: John K. Mahon, History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1967), 79, 127, 200.

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