Catharine Brant
Catharine Brant | |
|---|---|
| Born | Catharine Croghan, Ahdohwahgeseon ca. 1759 |
| Died | November 23, 1837 (aged about 78) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Jacob Brant John Brant Catherine Brant Margaret Brant Mary Brant Elizabeth Brant |
Catharine Brant (c.1759–1837), also known as Ahdohwahgeseon, was a clan mother of the Mohawk nation. She was the third wife of Joseph Brant and an important leader among the Six Nations of the Grand River.
Family background
Catharine was the daughter of George Croghan,[1] a deputy agent in the British Indian Department. On her mother's side, Catharine came from a noble Mohawk family.[2] In the matrilineal society of the Haudenosaunee, this made Catharine a Yakoyaner (Clan Mother), and gave her the right to nominate the Tekarihogen, the most important civil chief of the Mohawk.[3]
Removal to Canada
During the
In 1795, Joseph Brant received a grant of 700 acres at Burlington Beach, where he relocated with his family sometime around 1802.[5] Here the Brants lived in a mansion staffed by numerous slaves, many of whom had been taken as prisoners during the American Revolution. In all, Joseph Brant owned some 40 enslaved persons, making the Brant family one of the most substantial slaveholders in Canadian history.[6]
Joseph Brant died at his Burlington Bay home in 1807.[7]
Later life
After Joseph's death, Catharine returned to the Grand River where she continued to be an important leader. In 1828, she appointed her son John Brant to the position of Tekarihogen.[8] After John died in the cholera epidemic of 1832, Catharine nominated her grandson, Walter Kerr, who was the son of her daughter Elizabeth Brant and William Johnson Kerr.[9]
Catharine died on the Grand River in 1837. Until the end of her life, she was an influential leader among the Six Nations and a staunch advocate for the maintenance of their longstanding traditions in the midst of settler society.[10]
References
- OCLC 35305090.
- ^ a b "Catharine Brant; The Dictionary of Canadian Biography". Retrieved September 15, 2021.
- ISBN 9780887557170.
- ISBN 978-1-55277-023-8.
- ^ "Joseph Brant; The Dictionary of Canadian Biography". Retrieved September 15, 2021.
- ^ Derreck, Tom (February–March 2003). "In Bondage". The Beaver. 83 (1): 14–19.
- ^ Bkila, John (February 27, 2017). "Historian says revisiting Joseph Brant's legacy important to Burlington and Ontario". Toronto. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ "John Brant; The Dictionary of Canadian Biography". Retrieved September 15, 2021.
- ^ "William Johnson Kerr; The Dictionary of Canadian Biography". Retrieved September 15, 2021.
- ^ Green G (1989). "Molly Brant, Catharine Brant and Their Daughters: A Study in Colonial Acculturation". Ontario History. 81 (3): 235–250.