John Jones, also known as Thayendanegea in

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, (July 10, 1798 – May 4, 1847) was a

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

teacher, missionary and Chief. Jones was born to

Augustus Jones Augustus Jones ( – November 16, 1836) was an American-born Upper Canadian farmer, land speculator, magistrate, militia captain and surveyor. Jones trained as a surveyor in New York City, and fled as a United Empire Loyalist to Upper Can ...

and

Tuhbenahneequay Tuhbenahneequay (1780–1873) was a Mississauga woman from the Burlington Heights area of Upper Canada. The daughter of chief Wahbanosay and Puhgashkish, she married Augustus Jones in a Mississauga ceremony sometime in the 1790s. Their firs ...

on July 10, 1798 in the Humber River valley. Augustus Jones and Tuhbenahneequay had been married in the 1790s in an Ojibwa ceremony. Jones was named Thayendanegea, sometimes spelt Tyantenagen, for his father's friend

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

. The year of Jones' birth, his father married a Mohawk woman, Sarah Tekarihogen, in a Christian ceremony. Augustus Jones lived with Tekarihogen on his farm at

Stoney Creek, Ontario Stoney Creek is a community in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was officially a city from 1984 to 2001, when it was amalgamated with the rest of the cities of the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth. The co ...

during much of the year, and Tuhbenahneequay while surveying. In 1802, Tuhbenahneequay and Augustus Jones ended their relationship, and John Jones' care, as well of that of his full brother Peter, was left to his mother. In 1816, their father fetched John and Peter to live with him and his wife at his farm in Stoney Creek. Both Peter and John were enrolled at a local school, as neither spoke much English. The next year, the family moved to the Grand River Valley, near

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

. Jones later enrolled in a

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

school to study his father's profession,

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. In 1823, upon his brother Peter's conversion to

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

, Jones took up work as a schoolteacher at the missions where Peter worked, first Davisville near Brantford, then the

Credit Mission The Credit Mission was an Indian Mission on the Credit River in Upper Canada. Funded with the proceeds from Purchase #22 or #23, building began in 1826 under the leadership of Peter Jones. When construction began, about 200 Indians lived at the ...

. The year 1823 also saw Jones marry Christina Brant (Kayatontye), the granddaughter of his namesake Joseph Brant. Jones was licensed to exhort by the Methodist Church on August 22, 1828.

Joseph Sawyer Joe Sawyer (born Joseph Sauers, August 29, 1906 – April 21, 1982) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1927 and 1962, and was sometimes billed under his birth name. Early life Sawyer was born August 29, 1 ...

was licensed at the same time, and the pair became the second Indigenous persons to be licensed to exhort by the Methodist Church, only Jones' brother Peter having already been so licensed.Jones, Peter ''Life and Journals'', (1860) 170. In 1830, Jones' wife died of disease, as did four of their five children. Jones himself was struck with consumption, which forced him to resign his position of schoolteacher at the Credit Mission's school. By 1835 Jones had recovered, and married Mary Holtby, the daughter of a local Methodist preacher. They lived at the Credit Mission and Mary was given the

name ''Pamekezhegooqua'' (

Anishinaabe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

: ''Bemi-giizhigookwe'', "Woman who Goes Along the Sky"). The couple had four children. Jones was elected one of the three chiefs of the Credit band around 1840. In 1845 he served as Secretary of the Grand Council of Ojibwas at Saugeen. Jones died in 1847.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, John (Ojibwa chief) 1798 births 1847 deaths Ojibwe people Missionary educators Canadian schoolteachers Converts to Methodism Methodist ministers Political office-holders of Indigenous governments in Canada Ojibwe Jones family