Thursday, August 5, 2010

'Thayendangea' & 'Ahyouwaighs': allied to the British, ultimately betrayed by the British

The tomb of 'Thayendangea' (Joseph Brant) and his son 'Ahyouwaighs' (John Brant) stands next to the Chapel of the Mohawks in Brantford Ontario. Originally called St Paul's, the chapel, established in 1785, was the first Protestant church in Upper Canada and is now the oldest surviving church in Ontario. It is the only Royal Chapel in North America.

Built by the Crown, it was given to those Mohawk Indians, led by 'Thayendangea" (Joseph Brant), who supported the British during the American Revolution. Their choice cost them their lands in New York.

Through the terms of the Haldimand Treaty of 1784, 'Thayendangea' (Joseph Brant) secured a land grant for the native loyalists which gave them 760,000 acres, six miles, on either side of the Grand River from its source to its mouth. Brant also negotiated for and received the church, now generally known as The Mohawk Chapel.

Mohawks, led by 'Thayendangea' (Joseph Brant), established a village of some 400 inhabitants by 1788. The community was situated at an important crossing point on the river ("Brant's Ford") and prospered as a resting place for travellers on the "Detroit Path", a trail linking the Niagara and Detroit rivers.

Increasingly, European settlers encroached on Six Nations' lands. In 1841 the government broke the treaty and took back the land, moving the Grand River Iroquois to a section of the land south of the river. Of the Mohawk Village, only the chapel remains.

Reference: http://www.mohawkchapel.ca/

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

'Tekahionwake': E. Pauline Johnson, Native Canadian Poet and Entertainer

Born in 1861 at her family home of Chiefswood in Brantford Ontario, Emily Pauline Johnson was one of Canada's most popular and successful entertainers at the turn-of-the-century. The daughter of a Mohawk Native-Canadian father and an English mother, Pauline Johnson's Mohawk name was "Tekahionwake". This name translated literally means 'double life', a perfect name for a woman home schooled in the works of Scott, Milton, and Shakespeare and the Native legends and war stories of her beloved Mohawk grandfather. Pauline Johnson was proud to share her Native heritage saying, "My aim, my joy, my pride is to sing the glories of my own people".

At the age of 31 rather than marry and have children, 'Tekahionwake' toured Canada, New England, and parts of England. She gave recitations of her poetry, performed comedy routines and staged plays. Even her performances reflected her 'double life' as she would often begin them wearing a ball gown, and end them in Native dress. Johnson was the first Native poet to have her work published in Canada. She was also one of the few female writers of the period who made a living from her written and performance work.
Johnson's most famous poem, "The Song My Paddle Sings", celebrates part of her native heritage. Her work has long been part of the English Literature curriculum of many Canadian school children.

I stow the sail, unship the mast:
I wooed you long but my wooing's past;
My paddle will lull you into rest.
O! drowsy wind of the drowsy west,
Sleep, sleep,
By your mountain steep,
Or down where the prairie grasses sweep!
Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,
For soft is the song my paddle sings.
'Tekahionwake' died of breast cancer in Vancouver Canada 7 March 1913. She was 52 years old. Johnson asked that no stone mark her final resting place; however, in her beloved Stanley Park in Vancouver a stone, depicted above, and emblazoned with her image stands over the place in which her ashes are interred. A large boulder, pictured below, stands next to the Chapel of the Mohawks in the Johnson Family plot, Brantford Ontario and bears a plaque as a memorial to her.
References:
The Pauline Johnson Archive, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Brant, Beth. Writing as Witness: Essays and Talk. Toronto: Women's Press, 1994.
Photographs Copyright: National Archives Canada; J. Geraghty-Gorman; Vancouver Ventures: J. Geraghty-Gorman

Monday, August 2, 2010

A little 'house' for a large and influential family: Colonel Robert Land Family Vault

INTERMENTS AT "COL. LAND'S FAMILY VAULT", Hamilton Cemetery

Robert Land July, 1818, Aged 82 yrs.

Phebe Sept., 1826, aged 93 yrs.
Wife of Robert Land

Colonel Robert Land, 21 Nov 21 1867, 95 yrs. 7 mo. 11 days

Hannah Horning, 9 June 1870, 93 yrs. 1 mo. 16 days
Wife of Col. Robt. Land

Peter Horning Land, 17 Nov. 1847, 23 yrs.

Hannah Smith, 17 Sept. 1879, 67 yrs.
Relict of the late Thomas H. Smith

Colonel John Land, 21 Dec. 1892, 86 yrs.

Esther Morris, 14 June 1875, 53 yrs. 5 mo. 4 days
Wife of Col. John Land

Robert Land, 2 Nov 1859, 43 yrs.

Anna D. Land, 21 Jan. 1856, 28 yrs. 5 mo. 21 days

Maria E. Reid, 13 Jan 1897 40 yrs.
Youngest daughter, Col. John Land

Robert Land, 26 March 1872, 18 yrs. 7 mo. 22 days
Son of John and Esther

Emily Land, 15 March 1862, 17 yrs. 8 mos.
Daughter of John and Esther

John Sidney Herbert, 1 October 1873, 4 months
Son of John G. Y. and I. Burkholder

Mary Crisp, 19 October 1876, 27 yrs. 2 mos. 7 days
Wife of John H. Land

Priscilla H. M. Filman, 21 June 1920, 65 yrs.
Wife of John H. Land

John H. Land, 2 January 1929, 83 yrs.

Infant daughter of John H. and Priscilla Land, Born Jan. 6, died Jan. 7, 1894

An extensive and very interesting, if somewhat romanticized, history of the Land family can be found at: http://my.tbaytel.net/bmartin/rland.htm
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