Harriet Maxwell Converse (née, Harriet Arnot Maxwell;
Seneca clan name, Gayaneshaoh; Seneca tribal name, “Ya-ie-wa-noh, meaning ‘she watches over us.’”
(11 January 1836 - 18 November 1903) was an American author of Scottish and Irish heritage. She was a
folklorist
Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
, poet and historian of the Iroquois; by the late 19th century, they were a loose confederacy of six nations in New York State and Canada. She became an advocate for the rights of the Seneca and other Iroquois tribes in New York state, helping them retain their lands and preserve their culture. In recognition of her contributions, the Seneca made her a member of the tribe and gave her an honorary position as a
Sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
or chief of the Six Nations.
With an appropriation in 1897 from the New York State Museum, Converse made extensive purchases of Iroquois artifacts from private collectors and tribes to have them preserved by the state. She also donated a family collection that was a century old. She persuaded the
Onondaga Onondaga may refer to:
Native American/First Nations
* Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League
* Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...
to transfer their collection of historic wampum belts of the Five Nations to the state museum for preservation.
Early years
Harriet Arnot Maxwell was born in
Elmira, New York
Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...
, in 1836, daughter of
Thomas Maxwell
Thomas Maxwell (February 16, 1792 – November 4, 1864) was an attorney and politician, serving for one term from 1829 to 1831 as a U.S. Representative from New York, as well as in county and state offices.
Early life and education
Thomas Maxw ...
and Maria (Purdy) Maxwell. Her father had a concern for Native Americans in New York State and was active in politics; he was elected and served in office at the county, state and federal level, being elected as a Congressman. He later became vice-president of the
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...
. Her mother was a woman of culture and education. Her paternal grandfather,
Guy Maxwell, had been an Indian trader in Virginia and New York, moving to Elmira in the late 18th century after the United States achieved independence. Both men had been adopted by the Seneca to honor them.
Her mother Maria died when Harriet was nine, and her father sent the girl to live with relatives in
Milan, Ohio
Milan ( ) is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Erie County, Ohio, Erie and Huron County, Ohio, Huron counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 1,367 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is best known as the birt ...
. There she attended public school.
Career
Converse entered a larger public life after her second marriage. After she and her husband traveled, in the late 1860s they happened to meet
Ely S. Parker in New York City. He was a Seneca who had become an engineer and served with General
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
in the American Civil War. He was highly influential in the Seneca Nation and in New York politics.
Harriet Converse became increasingly involved in learning about the Seneca, with Parker's help. She became inspired to defend the rights of the Iroquois by aiding them politically with her wealth and support, and helped to preserve their culture.
In 1885 Converse was formally adopted by the Snipe Clan ia Seneca family.
In 1883 she published her first volume of poems, ''Sheaves'' (
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, 1883), which passed through several editions. She also wrote an ode ''The Ho-de-no-sau-nee: The Confederacy of the Iroquois'' (1884).
Converse was a productive writer of non-fiction, contributing to several magazines and newspapers. Among her works are the historical volumes, ''The Religious Festivals of the Iroquois Indians'' and ''Mythology and Folk Lore of the North American Indians.'' These have been criticized as being sentimental accounts.
In 1891 Converse was a member of a delegation to
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
to oppose the Whipple Bill before the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
; it was designed to force the distribution of communal land in allotments to individual heads of households, along the lines of the federal
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...
to extinguish Indian land claims. It was an action designed to assimilate the Iroquois to subsistence farming in the European-American model and force a break-up of their reservations in the state. She helped achieve its defeat in committee. Converse had been invited by the Iroquois to sit in their Six-Nation Council held in Albany.
No white woman except
Mary Jemison
Mary Jemison (''Deh-he-wä-nis'') (1743 – September 19, 1833) was a Scots-Irish colonial frontierswoman in Pennsylvania and New York, who became known as the "White Woman of the Genesee." As a young girl she was captured and adopted into a Sen ...
, who had been adopted and assimilated by the Seneca as a young woman after being taken captive in a raid, had ever been honored in this way.
Most of the Iroquois had been forced from the area during and after the American Revolutionary War, as four of the Six Nations had allied with the British in the hopes of pushing out the Anglo-American settlers.
After the bill was defeated, the Seneca National Council convened at
Carrollton, in the
Allegany Reservation
Allegany Reservation (Uhì·yaʼRudes, B. ''Tuscarora English Dictionary'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999 in Tuscarora) is a Seneca Nation of Indians reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York, USA. In the 2000 census, 58 percent of ...
. During this 1891 session, members moved to make Converse an official member of the Seneca Nation as an honor, naming her ''Ya-ie-wa-noh,'' after the wife of their notable chief
Cornplanter
John Abeel III (born between 1732 and 1746–February 18, 1836), known as Gaiänt'wakê (''Gyantwachia'' – "the planter") or Kaiiontwa'kon (''Kaintwakon'' – "By What One Plants") in the Seneca language and thus generally known as Cornplante ...
. The motion was passed by the council. In 1892 the Onondaga Nation "raised her up" to the position of
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
, to take the place of one who had died, and she was considered an honorary chief of the Six Nations.
Among her most important work was Converse's purchases and donations to preserve Iroquois artifacts; many are held today by the
New York State Museum
The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. ...
in Albany and the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
in New York City. In 1897 she was given an appropriation to buy from private collectors and tribes; she also donated her family's collection, which had items that were a century old. She also persuaded the Onondaga to have the NY State Museum made the repository for their historic collection of wampum belts of the Five Nations.
In 1902 Converse publicized her opposition to a federal bill in both New York City and Washington, DC, and helped achieve its defeat. It would have required the Seneca to pay a crushing $200,000 to settle a claim by the
Ogden Land Company
The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam who in 1792 and 1793 purchased the western two-thirds of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, an area that afterward was known as the Holland Purchase ...
, over an early 19th-century transaction.
Personal life
Harriet Maxwell married George B. Clarke in Ohio, who was a part owner of the Congress Spring in
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 2 ...
. He died relatively young. Inheriting his estate as well as from her father in 1864, who was vice-president of the
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...
before his death, left her independently wealthy. In 1861 the widow Clarke had married again, to Franklin Buchanan Converse, whom she knew from childhood. He was a musician, inventor and writer. She had no children from either marriage. The couple traveled extensively for several years.
References
Bibliography
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Attribution
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Converse, Marriet Maxwell
1836 births
1903 deaths
19th-century American writers
American folklorists
Women folklorists
19th-century American women writers
American civil rights activists
Women civil rights activists
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century