Iroquois

Census of the Iroquois in 1844

New York, October 31st, 1845. SIR: In conformity with your instructions of the 25th June last, I proceeded to the several Iroquois reservations therein named, and I have the honor herewith to transmit to you the census returns for each reservation, numbered from I to VIII, and distinguished by the popular name of each tribe, or canton. I. The question of the original generic name, by which these tribes were denoted, the relation they bear to the other aboriginal stocks of America, and the probable era of their arrival, and location within the present boundaries of this State, is one, … Read more

Notes on the Iroquois

King Hendrick - Iroquois

Notes on the Iroquois is an official report to the government on the possibilities of civilizing the Iroquois. In the face of facts which depress all others, Schoolcraft is full of high hope that these Indians may be once and for all leaving hunting and farming. He finds the Iroquois increasing in numbers, stabilizing the organization of their society, and improving as individuals.

Ely S. Parker Homestead, Tonawanda Reservation

Ely S. Parker Homestead

Ely Parker was a Seneca Indian of the Wolf Clan. He was born on the Tonawanda Seneca Reservation in 1832. His boyhood name was Hasanoanda ‘Coming to the Front’. Later he was made a chief of his clan and received the title, Do-ne-ho-ga-weh ‘He Holds The Door Open’. Ely Parker received an academic education and studied law and civil engineering. At Galena, Illinois, while he was employed as an engineer on a government project, he met Ulysses S. Grant. He became a close friend of Grant. This friendship continued till death. Ely Parker took part in the Civil War of … Read more

Conrad Weiser, Terachiawagon, Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania

Conrad Weiser Homestead

Conrad Weiser was an adopted son of the Mohawk Nation. Says Hale Sipe, a historian of Pennsylvania of this remarkable man: “When he was seventeen years old, young Weiser went to live with Quagnant, a prominent Iroquois chief, who, taking a great fancy to Conrad, requested the father that the young man might dwell with him for a time. He remained with the Iroquois chief for eight months, learning the Indian language and customs thoroughly. It is said that while on a hunting trip he met the great Iroquois chief Shikellamy, the Vice-Gerent of the Six Nations, who was well … Read more

An Ancient Shipwreck On The American Coasts

Iroquois tradition preserves the account of the wreck of a vessel, in the ante-Columbian era, on a part of the Southern Atlantic Coasts, occupied by one of the tribes of that ancient and leading stock of men namely, the Tuscaroras. This division of that confederacy then lived in the present area of North Carolina. The story is stated by Cusic, in his curious pamphlet of the historical traditions of the Six Nations, published at Lewiston, in Western New York, about 1825. Cusic had reflected much on the position of the Iroquois in our aboriginal history; and waited, it seems, for … Read more

Comparative Views of International Pictography

Iroquois Pictography - Plate 72

Foreign Pictographic Signs; The Chinese Characters founded on the Picture-writing Devices of the Samoides Siberians Tartars; Inscriptions from the Banks of the Yenisei and the Irtish; Rock Inscriptions from Northern Asia; System of the Laplanders; Copies of the Figures printed on the Drums of the Lapland Magicians, with their Interpretation; The Device on the great Drum of Torna; Iroquois Pictography; Specimen from Oceanica.

Downfall of the Iroquois Confederacy

“The Pawnees, following the buffalo in his migrations, and having always plenty of animal food to subsist upon, are a much better fed and a larger race than those who find a precarious subsistence in the forest chase, while the woodland tribes, who, though not so plump in form, are of a more wiry and, perhaps, muscular make, have again a decided advantage in figure and gait over the fishing and trapping tribes of the North-west that pass most of their time in canoes. This difference in character and physical appearance between the different Indian [tribes], or rather between those … Read more

Iroquios Personal Ornamentation

All Indians were very much addicted to personal ornamentation, the women more so than the men. In these decorations consisted their wealth, and they were a means also of marking their rank among themselves

Oneida and Cayuga join the Iroquois Confederacy

“The Oneida and Cayuga,” says Gallatin, “are said to have been compelled to join [the confederacy.] Those two tribes were the younger and the three others the older members.” Zinzendorf, speaking of the Iroquois, says “the Oneidas and Cayuga are their children.”–Indian tribes of North America. “By the early French writers, the Mohawks and Oneidas were styled the lower or inferior Iroquois; while the Onondagas, Cayuga and Seneca, were denominated the upper or superior Iroquois, because they were located near the sources of the St. Lawrence. The Mohawks, who are commonly supposed to be the first nation in the confederacy … Read more

Onondaga Council Fire

All business between other nations and the Iroquois was brought to the council fire of Onondaga,(*) and the conclusion there reached carried with it all the weight of a kingly edict. The deliberations of the sachems were conducted with the utmost decorum, and a rigid adherence to their notions of parliamentary usage which challenged the admiration of civilized nations. No speaker interrupted another. Each gave his opinion in turn, but not until he had stated in full the subject of discussion, to prove that he understood it, and had repeated the arguments pro and con of previous speakers. Thus their … Read more

The Iroquios Council

The Chippewa, however, furnished an exception to this rule. With them the son of a chief had a legal right to succeed his father. The rule, though binding, was very elastic, and capable of stretching to the farthest limits of the tribe–each tribe being allowed to select its chief from among its own members. Almost invariably the chief was succeeded by a near relative, always on the female side; but if these were manifestly unfit, his successor was chosen at a council of the tribe from among remoter kindred, in which case he was nominated by the matron of the … Read more