Category Archives: Mohawk

John Iron Moccasin, Story of a Sioux Man

Occasionally, the project administrators of the American Indian project at Family Tree DNA are presented with a rare opportunity to test an individual who is either full-blooded Native or nearly so. Recently, a Native Sioux man, John Iron Moccasin, born Earl … Continue reading

Posted in Algonquian, Canada, Chippewa, DNA, Kaskaskian, Mexico, Mohawk, Sioux | 5 Comments

Indian History of Present Day Berkeley County, West Virginia

According to missionary reports, several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia, including the Eastern Panhandle region where Berkeley County is located, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During the 17th century, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the … Continue reading

Posted in Cayuga, Delaware, Huron, Iroquois, Mingoes, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Ottawa, Seneca, Shawnee, Tuscarora, Wyandot | 5 Comments

Life Among the Mohawks in 1644

Kiliaen van Rensselaer was a Dutch minister affiliated with the Dutch West Indies Company who lived at Fort Orange (above) in 1642 with his wife and children in what is today Albany, New York.  Today, the fort is under an expressway. … Continue reading

Posted in Mohawk, New York | Leave a comment

Ely Samuel Parker, Seneca

Ely Samuel Parker (1828 – August 31, 1895), (born Hasanoanda, later known as Donehogawa) was a Seneca attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel during the American Civil War, when he served as adjutant to General … Continue reading

Posted in Cayuga, Military, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora | 2 Comments

Surviving a Scalping

Scalpings on the frontier were legendary, often thought of in terms of Indians scalping Europeans.  While that certainly did happen, they didn’t have exclusive right to scalping.  Frontiersmen did it too, as did Scythians and European tribes such as the … Continue reading

Posted in Brule, Comanche, Ho-Chunk, Iroquois, Mohawk, Sioux | 7 Comments

The War of 1812’s Forgotten Warriors

In the heat of the battles of the War of 1812, Native warriors were sometimes critically important.  They were all but forgotten later. Battle of Queenston Heights drawing by eyewitness James Dennis depicts the unsuccessful American landing on 13 October … Continue reading

Posted in Military, Mohawk | 1 Comment

Treaty with the Indians at Albany, NY 1664

The following treaty was made with the Indians by the English when they took New York from the Dutch.  There were scanning issues with the original document.  Where the correction was obvious, I made the correction.  There was an issue … Continue reading

Posted in Manhatan, Maques, Mohawk, New York, Ondiahjes, Pacamtehooks, Pinnehoock, Seneca, Synichs | 2 Comments

Scholarships Available to Study on the Mohawk Reserve

Dr. Arwin Smallwood, a history professor at the University of Memphis is coordinating a study abroad opportunity for students to study at the Mohawk Reserve in Canada.  He has asked that this information be passed on to anyone who might … Continue reading

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Seneca George

Seneca George was an Iroquoian Indian who had a special friendship with one Conrad Weiser, a German settler in Pennsylvania. Conrad Weiser’s father, Johann Conrad Weiser had emerged as one of the leaders in the German community of 1709/1710 immigrants who … Continue reading

Posted in Conoy, Delaware, Iroquois, Mohawk, Nanticote, Onondaga | 2 Comments

The Kobel Massacre

November 16, 1755 was a dark day for the Henry Kobel family of Berks County, Pa.  It would be their last. The cloud of war was moving over the settlers on the frontier of Pennsylvania, but the Germans weren’t aware … Continue reading

Posted in Delaware, Iroquois, Mohawk, Oneida | 84 Comments