Catharine Brant (1759–1837), also known as Ahdohwahgeseon, was a

Clan Mother A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, mean ...

of the

Mohawk nation The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and norther ...

. 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 George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...

, a deputy agent in the

British Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Canada in 1860, thus setting ...

. On her mother's side, Catharine came from a noble Mohawk family. In the

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...

society of the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, this made Catharine a Yakoyaner (Clan Mother), and gave her the right to nominate the Tekarihogen, the most important civil chief of the Mohawk.

Removal to Canada

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, many Mohawks sought refuge at the British post of Niagara to escape U.S. destruction of Haudenosaunee villages. It was at Niagara that Catharine married Joseph Brant sometime during the winter of 1779–1780. Following the British defeat in the war, Catharine and Joseph Brant relocated with many other Indigenous families to a new homeland on the Grand River in the

Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

. In 1795, Joseph Brant received a grant of 700 acres at Burlington Beach, where he relocated with his family sometime around 1802. 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. Joseph Brant died at his Burlington Bay home in 1807.

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. After John died in the

cholera epidemic of 1832 Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomitin ...

, Catharine nominated her grandson,

Walter Kerr Walter Francis Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theatre critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals as well as the author of several books, genera ...

, who was the son of her daughter Elizabeth Brant and William Johnson Kerr. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brant, Catharine 1759 births 1837 deaths British Indian Department Indigenous leaders in Ontario Canadian Mohawk people Native American leaders Native American people of the Indian Wars Native Americans in the American Revolution Pre-Confederation Ontario people