Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge.

Date:
1907-1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    957/1000 (page 939)
    MONTOWESE Catherine wa.s an educated and retined woman and was admitted into good society in Philadelphia is, under the cir- cumstances, most improbable. On Sept. 3, 1779, Sullivan’s army destroyed Catherine’s Town. Catherine, with sev- eral friends, lived in 1791 “over the lake not far from Niagara.’’ Her son Amochol joined the Moravian church and was living at New Salem, or Pet([Uotting, in 1788. John and Roland Montour were her brothers, the latter being the .son-in- law of Sagaiengwaraton, a leading Seneca chief. Both Roland and John were famous war chiefs in the border warfare against the English colonies. M.\ky Montoi’k, a sister of Catherine, Esther, and Andrew, was the wife of John Cook, another noted Seneca chief named Kanaghragait, sometimes also called “White Mingo,” who lived on the Allegheny and the Ohio, and die<l in 1790 at Ft Wavne. From Zeisberger’s Diary (ii, 149, 1885) the curious information is obtained that IMary was a “Mf)hawk In- dian woman,’’ and that Mohawk wais “ her motlu'r tongiu*.’’ It is also stated that when a child ^larv was baptized in Philadeljihia by a Catholic priest. In 1791, on the removal of the Moravian mission from New Salem to Canada, among the new converts who acconpia- nied the congregation was IMary, “asis- terof the former Andrew Montour,’’ and “a living polyglot of the tongues of the West, s])eaking the English, French, Mohawk, Wyandot [IIurf)n], Ottawa, Chippewa, Shawnese, and Delawan' languages.’’ Andhkw AIontour, whose Indian name was Sattelihu, the son of INladam IMontour by her first husband, was for many years in the employ of the ]>roprietary govern- ment of Pennsylvania as an assistant interjtreter. In 1745 lu^ accompanied Weiser and Shikellimy, the viceroy of the Six Nations on the Su.squehanna, on a mission to Onondaga, the federal caj)ital of the confederation. In 1748 Andrew was ])resented to the council of the proprietary government by tVeiser as a person especially qualified to act as an interpreter or messenger. At this time he was prominent among the Delawares. Hitherto Weiser and Andrew were held asunder by jealousy, because of Andrew’s efforts to secure the position of interpre- ter for \Trginia in her negotiations with the Six Nations. But M'eiser now needed Andrew to secure to the projtrietary gov- ernment the alliance of the ()hio Indians, and so sunk all personal differences. In introducing him to the council Weiser stated that he had employed Andrew fre- (piently on matters of great moment and importance, and that he had found him “faithful, knowing, and prudent.” At this time Andrew- wa.s fully remunerated for what he had already done for M'eiser. Deputies from the Miami were expected at Philadelphia, but instead they went to Lancaster. Andrew IMontour was the interpreter for tlie western Indians and Weiser for the Six Nations. Scaroyady, a noted Oneida chief, living on the Ohio, and exercising for the Six Nations juris- diction over the w'estern tribes similar to that exercised by Shikellimy over those in Pennsylvania, was to have been the speaker on this occasion, but he wa.s in- capacitated bv a fall, ami so Andn*w was chosen speaker for the western Indians. He enjoyed remarkable influence and power over the Ohio tribes, and by his work at the various conferences of the colonies with them came into enviable prominence in the province. Hif^grow- ing i)ower and influence, about 1750, at- tained such weight that the management of Indian affairs by Pennsylvania was seriously embarrassed. In 1752 Oov. Hamilton commissioned him to go and reside on Cumberland cr., over the Blue hills, on unpurchased lands, to ])revent others from .settling or trading there. In the follow ing year the French authoritjes set a price of $500 on his head. In 1755 he was still on his grant, living 10 in. X. Av. of Carlisle, Pa., and was captain, later major, of a conqiany of Indians in the English service. In 17()2 he was the King’s interjireter to the united nations. Andrew served as an inttu-- preter for the Delawares at Bhamokin, where Conrad Weiser held a conference with the several tribes in that region for the ]uirpose of bringing about ]ieace be- tween the southern confederation of In- dians and the Six Nations and their allies. He also served as interpreter to the gover- nor of Virginia at several ini])ortant trea- ties. After receiving his grants from the government he was regarded as a man of great wealth, but in his public acts he found other means of swelling his fortune. Consult Bliss, Zeisberger’s Diary, i-ii, 1885; Darlington, (Jist’s Journals, 1893; Freeze in Pa. INlag., hi, 1879; Marshe in iNIass. Hist. $oc. ('oil., 1st s., vii, 1801; N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., v, 05, 1855; Walton, Conrad Weiser, 1900. (.i. x. n. n.) Montowese (‘little god,’ diminutive from mmiito, ‘sjiirit.’—Trumbull). Ap- plied by Ruttenber (Tribes Hudson R., 82, 1872), to Indians on Connecticutr. s. w. of Middletown, IMiddlesexco., Conn., though De Forest (Hist. Inds. Conn., 55, 1853), his authority, does not give the name as that of a'tribe, but says: “Southwest of the jirincipal seat of the Wangunks [Middletown] a large extent of country was held by a son of Sowheag [chief of the Mattabesec, <]. v.] named Monto- w-ese.” This area i>robably lay partly in