Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Grand River) Association: April 2015

A Lineage Society

When the Canadian Federal Government, in 1869, began defining who was considered to be a member of the Six Nations (of the Grand River) Band, they made a series of arbitrary decisions which ultimately favoured those whose connection to the Six Nations, also known as the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse) was via the paternal line. This rule as to who is and who is not a member of the Six Nations contravenes the traditional (existing for thousands of years) matriarchal clan line as the criteria in deciding membership. While the Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) adheres to the rules established by the Canadian Government, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) is considerably more flexible. Their perspective was articulated recently in an article in "Turtle Island News", 8 April 2015, entitled, Draft tobacco law clarifies Haudenosaunee ancestry. Specifically, "Any person who can trace his or her lineage back to Six Nations of the Grand River will be protected under Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC)". While this statement relates to the proposed or draft "tobacco law", it is clear that it has wider implications. At the end of the article, the legal representative of the HCCC stated that, any Haudenosaunee person will be eligible as long as they can trace their ancestry back to Six Nations of the Grand River. 'We don't want to exclude anyone'. "It's not our intent that we get to decide who is Haudenosaunee and who is not". Hence this perspective suggests that anyone who can trace their ancestry to a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River is Haudenosaunee, and thus under the protection of Haudenosaunee laws. In effect, the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations of the Grand River) Association (HSNGRA) adheres to the Hereditary Council (HCCC) perspective on who is and who is not Haudenosaunee; and owes allegiance to the Hereditary Council.

The model relating to membership used by the HSNGRA is based on the principles and methods used by respected lineage societies, most particularly the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada (UELAC). Here those who can prove via primary source data, following accepted genealogical standards, that they are descended from a recognized Loyalist is then entitled to apply for membership in the UELAC, and if the genealogical evidence submitted to support their claim of descent is proven then the person is entitled to membership and registration. In the case of those who become members of the UELAC, as per a British Government decision, any Loyalist descendant of either sex is allowed to affix the letters "UE" (the Unity of the Empire) after their signatures, alluding to the principals adhered to by their proven ancestors. This is the only hereditary title pertaining to Canada.

Similarly, for membership in and registration by HSNGRA, anyone who can provide acceptable genealogical proof of descent from an ancestor who was listed among the Six Nations of the Grand River will be admitted as a member and registered Haudenosaunee. Their ancestors will have been any member of the Mohawk, Oneida (Auquaga), Tuscarora, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca. Also in the acceptable category are the affiliated tribes including the Delaware, Nanticoke, Tutelo, and others listed in the 1785 census of groups which accompanied the Mohawk and others to the Grand River and have been settled there or incorporated into another tribe since that date are Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse).

If the documentation having been assessed by genealogists, with experience in First Nations heritage, to be clear proof of lineage, then the applicant will be accepted as a member of the HSNGRA, and their documentation file and name of the Six Nations ancestor will be entered into the membership roll of said Association. Ultimately the data will be submitted to the officials at the HCCC for their consideration on a case by case basis, and their input will be recorded in the applicant's file. Formal liaison between the HSNGRA and the HCCC in relation to this subject will need to take place at the earliest convenience to ensure that each member has full approval by the HCCC. Primary loyalty of HSNGRA members is to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council and the Clan Mothers.

At the moment there are NO clear tangible benefits (e.g., entitlements through status cards) to membership in this Association other than those which would apply to the UELAC or other groups such as the American Daughters of the American Revolution. Namely, members will have evidence that their ancestry has been proven to the satisfaction of those charged with the task of assessing evidence of descent, and thus the member is deemed to be Haudenosaunee, and is accepted as a full member of the HSNGRA.

Aims, Objectives and Purpose of the Association:

1) To promote an accurate, scientific, evidence - based appreciation of the history, archaeology, genetics, language, and culture of the Haudenosaunee. In order to achieve this goal, the Association will organize conferences and promote publications that focus on Haudenosaunee topics.

2) Maintain a Membership Registry listing all those who have provided acceptable genealogical evidence proving descent from a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River community; and to maintain a physical and / or digital archive of the documentation files (documents will be scanned by a business scanner capable of creating legal sized pdf files and saved to multiple hard drives, one each in the care of executive members of the Association) submitted by each applicant. In this way, should say a grandchild or great niece or nephew wish to become members of HSNGRA they only need to submit the evidence relating to the two most recent generations and the data that will tie them to approved applicant files.

Levels of Membership:

1) Associate - All individuals who are in the process of providing genealogical evidence required for full membership.

2) Full - Individuals who have successfully proven their Six Nations of the Grand River ancestry, and who have met all the criteria for registration as Haudenosaunee.

Issuance of Verification of Membership Status:

Once the documentation has been validated by the genealogical committee, two items will be issued to the member -

1) Wallet sized membership card.

2) Certificate suitable for framing.

This blog is UNDER CONSTRUCTION and is in the "proof of concept" stage of development.

Thursday 30 April 2015

How Would One Prove Six Nations Haudenosaunee Ancestry?

There is no better way of linking one generation to the next to trace ancestry into the distant past than "traditional" genealogy. This approach is universal, and is applicable in all areas of the world and all ethnic groups - although in some instances all that is available is oral tradition, which is fraught with difficulties (e.g., tendency to embellish).

Therefore the usual approach is to start with yourself, and using records such as birth, marriage or death certificates which list parents names, proceed backwards in time using census records and even merchant account books, spanning sufficient generations to link up with an ancestor who can be proved as Haudenosaunee. This is making it all sound easier than the task is likely to be. There may be gaps in the record that will need to be filled with circumstantial evidence that meets the litmus test of being highly convincing (e.g., burial beside the couple of the same surname who are presumed to be the parents).

An example includes James Dochstader who attempted to obtain "status" by inclusion on the Six Nations Band List under Delaware Tribe. First his marriage certificate stating the names of his parents and residence:

The Census of 1881 for Oneida Township, Six Nations Indian Reserve, shows (click on image to view the document in a larger format):

Here, 15 years after his marriage, James is residing a few miles west of his birthplace at Mt. Healy in Oneida Township, within the Oneida Township portion of the Six Nations Reserve, and was in the process of attempting to secure "status" for himself and family. The other names on this page including surnames Moses and Anthony were status members of the Delaware Tribe of the Six Nations Band. The ethnicity of James is noted as "Canadian" but the census checker overwrote "Eng" for English as he did for all others who gave "Canadian" as their ancestry. All his neighbours are denominated as "Indian". Ultimately, despite the testimonials from neighbours attesting to the fact that the mother of James, Hannah Dochstader, was the daughter of Captain Thom a Delaware Chief and Sarah (Anderson) Dennis, an Indian captive and adopted daughter of an Onondaga Chief, James' petition and those of his brothers were turned down (despite the fact that their mother had been on the Delaware Pay List for years). The descendants of the 5 children of James and wife Ellen (born in England) shown here, and any born later, would be considered eligible for registration with the HSNGRA.

The exact procedures and methods of genealogy are well established and it is not necessary to delve into the subject here. There are some aspects which apply more to First Nations peoples (e.g., Government paylists by tribe and band) that will likely be required to "find" some ancestors who are more "elusive" than others. Unfortunately First Nations genealogy is not a topic that seems to have fired the imaginations, and books on this subject do not fly off the shelves. One is hard pressed to find anything with an "aboriginal" focus. One exception as a resource for exploring First Nations ancestry, happens to have a particular focus on Six Nations ancestors. This is the book by David K. Faux, "Understanding Ontario First Nations Genealogical Records: Sources and Case Studies", Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto, 2002.

The above book may now be in short supply. It was at one time sold at Kanata before the said museum was taken over by one of the factions at Six Nations. There does not appear to be any other local store where the book can be purchased. The publisher, the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS), has confirmed that there are still books for sale via their website (see here). They confirmed that the author has turned over all rights and profits to them, but at the moment it is unclear whether the OGS will issue a second printing when available supplies run out.

An earlier source contains much of the above information, and may be more readily available. It is, David Faux, "Documenting Six Nations Indian Ancestry", Families, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1981), pp. 31-42.

A few years ago there was an active branch of the "Ontario Genealogical Society" (OGS) at Ohsweken, however it is unknown to the present author whether the branch is still operative. It does not appear in the following branch finder here. However, those who were members of the Ohsweken Branch of the OGS would doubtless be in an excellent position to provide help to prospective members of the HSNGRA meet eligibility requirements, and provide information as to whether the claimed ancestor was in fact a member of Six Nations of the Grand River.

Over the course of time resource lists will be published so that prospective members can contact those most likely to be in a position to offer meaningful assistance.

What is NOT considered to be evidence of Six Nations of the Grand River ancestry is:

1) Oral traditions: If an individual's family maintains that for example their grandmother said repeatedly that her great grandmother was a "full blooded Indian" - anything of this nature is not evidence and its relevance cannot be assessed unless further information is forthcoming. An oral history which maintains that great great grandfather Smith was a Mohawk from Ohsweken is somewhat more credible in terms of face validity, but none the less it is only a story until supported by genealogical evidence.

2) Privately published genealogies: As a rule these are unacceptable as evidence. There are some notorious cases out there, for example involving individuals from the USA who had an ancestor with the surname BRANT who somehow was linked to the "famous" Captain Joseph Brant Thayendanagea via his eldest son Isaac. The evidence did not make any coherent sense and even on the basis of time and place the entire work could be ruled out. The Brant family genealogy is very well known here in the Grand River Territory, and there have been many detailed and accurate publications in for example the Ontario Historical Society publications that offer correct information. So published genealogies, especially those published privately (without anything resembling peer review) must be taken with a grain of salt until confirmed with standard current genealogical practices.

3) DNA findings: It is universally accepted that Haudenosaunee membership is based on family, not on biology. Insisting on a "blood quantum" (e.g., 50%) criteria has often been suggested and even put into effect (e.g., at Kahnawake in 1981), it has only served to create serious social problems as factions squared off against each other. Intermarriage can be shown by genealogical records to have been a fact since the 1600s in what is today Upstate NY. There are NO "full blooded" Mohawk, there are varying degrees of admixture. One could obtain an estimate of admixture by taking an autosomal DNA test (which scans each chromosome for segments that can be shown to be from one or another population group). Often the number of reference samples (e.g., two groups from South America) used to make the comparison is woefully small and clearly unrepresentative of ancestry from the Great Lakes regions. An exact fix on "blood quantum" is elusive. Furthermore, someone who has taken one of the DNA ancestry tests and the findings show that say the mtDNA direct female line haplogroup is A2 or for example the Y chromosome direct male line is haplogroup Q or C3, this finding is certainly a clue that more in depth genealogical effort is needed. However the source will be unknown without a clear genealogical trail. It could be Mayan or any of a number of possibilities having nothing to do with the Six Nations.

Haudenosaunee does not mean having a few hints of Native American DNA that could be from anywhere (if even valid in the first place). Only a clear (with no gaps or inconsistencies) documented link to a specific Six Nations of the Grand River individual and family is of any relevance.

What Groups are Considered Haudenosaunee?

What follows is a list of the tribes and the numbers in each group which migrated from the Buffalo Creek area across the Niagara River to Grand River in 1785. It shows clearly that the emigrants were, while largely Mohawk and Cayuga, also composed of a rather diverse group of refugees who were homeless after the depredations throughout Indian country.

Looking at this list from top to bottom, there is a predominance of Mohawks. The Onondaga were composed of Council fire, Bear's foot's party, and Onondagas from the West. "St. Regis" is also an Onondaga group (from the St. Lawrence River area). There are Senecas, separate from Senecas of the West. The Cayugas include Upper Cayugas and Lower Cayugas. The Oneida group includes the Oghquagas, and Oghquaga Joseph's party. There is a single group of Tuscaroras. the Tutelos (Tootalies) include Upper and Lower groups. The Delawares include the group of that name and Delaware Aaaron's party, as well as "Montours" plus the associated Nanticokes. There were also some Creeks and Cherokees from the south. While there are groups who do not fit into the "traditional" Six Nations groupings, including those such as Delaware who are Anishinabe (Algonquin) people, they are relatively few. Today the Six Nations group only includes the core group plus the Delaware.

Genealogical Evidence Pertaining to Haudenosaunee Descent

UELAC Certificate

The candidate provided copies of records such as Ontario birth records for each generation The above is a certificate which attests to the fact that the candidate provided documentation of direct descent from Lt. John Young of the Six Nations Indian Department. The file of these photocopies documents is in the library of the UELAC in Toronto, and the original copies are in the candidates possession.

Identifying information on the certificate has been redacted.

The question as to who his wife was is answered in the Diary of Patrick Campbell, in an entry written 14 February 1792 and published in 1793 ( Charles M. Johnston, "The Valley of the Six Nations: A Collection of Documents on the Indian Lands of the Grand River", The Champlain Society, Toronto, 1964, p. 65).

It provides clear evidence that the wife of Lt. John Young of the Grand River was the sister of the Mohawk Chief who succeeded Captain David. Elsewhere in the diary we learn that when Captain David Hill died his eldest son Aaron Hill did not succeed to the "honours and titles" of the family, but instead they went to Capt. David's maternal nephew (sister's son). Other documents show that his wife Catharine Kayakhon ("She Cuts of Breaks Things") was born in 1747 and was the daughter of Mary Hill Kateriunigh ("She Carries the News"), a Bear Clan matron (clan mother) of the Aghstawenserontha owashira (family) of Lower Mohawks.

While the individual above is not the only Six Nations Indian ancestor of the candidate, for sundry reasons she was the one chosen to be the individual of record in this context, precisely as the candidate had chose the husband, Lt. John Young, to be the Loyalist ancestor - although having many more ancestors in this category. One, with "flawless" documentation is sufficient for present purposes proving that the candidate is the descendant of a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River. They are by virtue of the definition used by the UELAC, and apparently consistent with the informal definition used by the Hereditary Confederacy Chiefs Council, therefore Haudenosaunee.

It should be noted, however, that while a certificate from the UELAC that pertains to the applicant, and will suffice for purposes of membership in the HSNGRA, it cannot be used for future generations descending from that line without providing all the documentation that resulted in the approval of the UELAC (or similar lineage society). Hence it is advantageous to provide evidence for each generation back to the Six Nations of the Grand River ancestor with the original application.

Further, more detailed information about the type of records suitable for proving Haudenosaunee ancestry will be included in later postings.

Claus List of Six Nations Men and Women Connected with Whites 1819

This item from the Claus Papers at the National Archives of Canada is a list composed in 1819 by the Deputy Superintendent General of the Six Nations Indian Department of the Six Nations "men & women connected with whites".

Researched List of Known Intermarriages - Six Nation and White or Black

The above represents a summary of the work completed by David K. Faux over a period of about 30 years. It likely has found most, but not all, of the marriages between Six Nations people and others from the days of the American Revolution to almost 100 years later, after the Reserve was consolidated to its present boundaries in 1847.