Hendrick Theyanoguin (c. 1691 – September 8, 1755), whose name had several spelling variations, was a
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
* Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
* Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
leader and member of the Bear Clan. He resided at
Canajoharie
Canajoharie (), also known as the "Upper Castle", was the name of one of two major towns of the Mohawk nation in 1738. The community stretched for a mile and a half along the southern bank of the Mohawk River, from a village known as ''Dekanohage' ...
or the Upper Mohawk Castle in colonial
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
[Sivertsen, Barbara J. ''Turtles, Wolves, and Bears: A Mohawk Family History'' (1996), genealogy, reprint Heritage Books, 2007] He was a Speaker for the Mohawk Council. Hendrick formed a close alliance with
Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...
, the Superintendent of Indian affairs in North America.
Until the late 20th century, Hendrick's biography was conflated with an older Mohawk leader given the same first name in baptism,
Hendrick Tejonihokarawa
Hendrick Tejonihokarawa (Tay yon’ a ho ga rau’ a), also known as ''Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row'' and Hendrick Peters (1660 – ) was a pro-English leader of the Mohawk in the Province of New York in the early eighteenth century. He was one of ...
(also known as Hendrick Peters) (c. 1660 – c. 1735). The latter was a member of the Wolf Clan (an important difference, as shown by the historian Barbara Silvertsen) and based in
Tiononderoge, the Lower Castle, closer to the English base in
Albany. The English built
Fort Hunter
Fort Hunter is a hamlet in the Town of Florida in Montgomery County, New York, United States, west of the capital at Albany, on the south bank of the Mohawk River and on the northeast bank of Schoharie Creek.
The hamlet developed around a fort of ...
in Tionondaga in 1711 with an Anglican
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
. The Mohawk village became mostly Christianized early in the eighteenth century.
Biography
Theyanoguin was born to a Mohawk noblewoman and a
Mahican
The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...
chief in
Westfield, Massachusetts
Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...
. By the Mohawk matrilineal kinship system, he was considered born into his mother's Bear
Clan
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, meaning ...
. Hereditary offices and property are passed through the maternal line
and the mother's oldest brother plays a prominent role in her children's lives, especially for boys. The uncle is more important than the biological father. This system allowed the Mohawk to adopt and assimilate war captives into the tribe, absorbing them as Mohawk. Theyanoguin was baptized as "Hendrick" by
Godfridius Dellius
Godefridus Dellius (baptized 28 October 1654 – 1738) was a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church active in and around Albany, New York during the late 17th century and up to 1699. He also served as a missionary to the Mohawk people in what the ...
of the
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
in 1692. The English referred to him as Hendrick Peters or King Hendrick.
At some point, ''Theyanoguin'' resettled at
Canajoharie
Canajoharie (), also known as the "Upper Castle", was the name of one of two major towns of the Mohawk nation in 1738. The community stretched for a mile and a half along the southern bank of the Mohawk River, from a village known as ''Dekanohage' ...
, one of two major Mohawk towns by the early 18th century. Both were located on the south side of the Mohawk River. European colonists referred to it as the "Upper Castle", in the Mohawk River valley upriver and west of
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
. Theyanoguin became a
chief
Chief may refer to:
Title or rank
Military and law enforcement
* Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force
* Chief of police, the head of a police department
* Chief of the boa ...
of the Mohawk Bear clan and would have participated in the Mohawk Council. He was not one of the fifty League
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 ...
s of the
Iroquois Grand Council
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
, made up of representatives of the Five Nations (six, after the
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
were admitted in 1722).
Theyanoguin worked to continue the alliance with the English to preserve Mohawk and Iroquois interests in New York. They depended more on diplomacy than warfare, and tried to preserve neutrality during the English-French rivalries and conflicts of the colonial years.
In 1746, Theyanoguin led a delegation of Mohawks to a conference with the Governor of New France,
Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois
Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois ( 12 October 1671 – 12 July 1749) was a French Naval officer who served as Governor of New France from 1726 to 1746.
Biography
Son of François IV de Beauharnais, Charles had two brothers wh ...
, at Montreal. On their return journey, they stopped at
Isle La Motte
Isle La Motte is an island in Lake Champlain in northwestern Vermont, United States. At 7 mi (11 km) by 2 mi (3 km), it lies close to the place that the lake empties into the Richelieu River. It is incorporated as a New England town in Grand Isle ...
and attacked a group of Frenchmen collecting timber, killing one and taking another prisoner before returning to Albany. That spring, Theyanoguin led a war party to the St. Lawrence near Montreal, which was repulsed by the French, though attempts to capture Theyanoguin were unsuccessful.
During the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
(the North American theater of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
, 1754-1763), ''Theyanoguin'' led a group of Mohawk warriors to accompany
William Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, through the
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
in his expedition to
Crown Point. In 1753 Theyanoguin made a speech to the governor of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
saying: "Brother, by and by you will expect to see the Nations (the
Six Nations of the Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
) down here" (i.e. in New York). Contemporary newspapers and broadsheets made much of the fear of this threat.
Theyanoguin was killed at the
Battle of Lake George
The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. It was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America, in the French and Indian War.
On one side were 1,584 French, Can ...
on September 8, 1755, on a mission to stop the southern advance of the French army; he was bayonetted after his horse was shot dead.
Sir
William Johnson established an Anglican mission in Canajoharie in 1769, when he paid for the
Indian Castle Church
Indian Castle Church is a historic mission church at Indian Castle in Herkimer County, New York. The church is located on NYS Route 5S near present-day Danube. It is a one-story, rectangular wood-frame structure, clad in clapboard with a gable ...
to be built nearby. This was several years before 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 ...
. Today it has been designated as part of the
Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District
Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District is a historic district in Herkimer County, New York that was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993. Located south of the Mohawk River, it includes the Indian Castle Church, built in 1769 by Sir Will ...
, a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. A mission was established earlier in the century at
Fort Schuyler
Fort Schuyler is a preserved 19th century fortification in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It houses a museum, the Stephen B. Luce Library, and the Marine Transportation Department and Administrative offices of the State University of ...
on
Schoharie Creek
Schoharie Creek is a river in New York that flows north from the foot of Indian Head Mountain in the Catskills through the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk River. It is twice impounded north of Prattsville to create New York City's Schoharie ...
.
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766,'' New York: Knopf, 2000. .
*Drake, Samuel G.., Shirley, William. A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War in New England and Parts Adjacent: From Its Declaration by the King of France, March 15, 1744, to the Treaty with the Eastern Indians, Oct. 16, 1749, Sometimes Called Gov. Shirley's War ; with a Memoir of Major-General Shirley, Accompanied by His Portrait and Other Engravings. United States: Samuel G. Drake, 1870.
Hinderaker, Eric. ''The Two Hendricks: Unraveling a Mohawk Mystery'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2010. .
*Sivertsen, Barbara J. ''Turtles, Wolves, and Bears: A Mohawk Family History'' (1996), reprint Heritage Books, 2007, genealogy
*Snow, Dean R
''New York History'', Summer 2007. Accessed August 11, 2009.
External links
* Like most biographies written before early 21st-century research distinguished between the leaders, this entry conflates the two Hendricks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theyanoguin, Hendrick
1690s births
1755 deaths
Military personnel killed in the French and Indian War
American Mohawk people
Native American leaders
People of the Province of New York
American members of the Dutch Reformed Church
Indigenous people of the French and Indian War
People from Canajoharie, New York
Deaths by bayonet
Native American people from Massachusetts
Native American people from New York (state)
People from Westfield, Massachusetts