Skip to main content

Behind the Bricks: Appendix 2 Mohawk Institute Students Who Became Teachers

Behind the Bricks
Appendix 2 Mohawk Institute Students Who Became Teachers
    • Notifications
    • Privacy
  • Project HomeBehind the Bricks
  • Projects
  • Learn more about Manifold

Notes

Show the following:

  • Annotations
  • Resources
Search within:

Adjust appearance:

  • font
    Font style
  • color scheme
  • Margins
table of contents
  1. Contents
  2. List of Figures
  3. List of Tables
  4. List of Abbreviations
  5. Preface
  6. Introduction
  7. The Russ Moses Residential School Memoir
  8. Part 1
    1. 1 - “To Shake Off the Rude Habits of Savage Life”:1 The Foundations of the Mohawk Institute to the Early 1900s
    2. 2 - “The Difficulties of Making an Indian into a White Man, Were Not Thoroughly Appreciated”: The Mohawk Institute, 1904 to the Present
  9. Part 2
    1. 3 - The Indian Normal School: The Role of the Mohawk Institute in the Training of Indigenous Teachers in the Late Nineteenth Century
    2. 4 - Teaching Control and Service: The Use of Military Training at the Mohawk Institute
    3. 5 - “New Weapons”: Race, Indigeneity, and Intelligence Testing at the Mohawk Institute, 1920–1949
  10. Part 3
    1. 6 - A “Model” School: An Architectural History of the Mohawk Institute
    2. 7 - The Stewardship, Preservation, and Commemoration of the Mohawk Institute
  11. Part 4
    1. 8 - Ten Years of Student Resistance at the Mohawk Institute, 1903–1913
    2. 9 - ęhǫwadihsadǫ ne:ˀhniˀ gadigyenǫ:gyeˀs ganahaǫgwęˀ ęyagǫnhehgǫhǫ:k / They Buried Them, but They the Seeds Floated Around What Will Sustain Them
  12. Part 5
    1. 10 - A Model to Follow? The Sussex Vale Indian School
    2. 11 - Robert Ashton, the New England Company, and the Mohawk Institute, 1872–1910
    3. 12 - The Lands of the Mohawk Institute: Robert Ashton and the Demise of the New England Company’s “Station,” 1891–1922
  13. Part 6
    1. 13 - Life at the Mohawk Institute During the 1860s
    2. 14 - Collecting the Evidence: Restoration and Archaeology at the Mohawk Institute
    3. 15 - Collective Trauma and the Role of Religion in the Mohawk Institute Experience
    4. 16 - Concluding Voices: Survivor Stories of Life Behind the Bricks
  14. Closing Poems
  15. Appendix 1 - History of Six Nations Education
  16. Appendix 2 - Mohawk Institute Students Who Became Teachers
  17. Suggested Reading
  18. Acknowledgements
  19. Contributors
  20. Index

Appendix 2 Mohawk Institute Students Who Became Teachers

Compiled by Alison Norman

Below is a list of Mohawk Institute graduates who became teachers (including the year they graduated from the Mohawk Institute). The list is not complete, but it includes all those whose names appeared in the records that were searched.

Sources:

MH = from Russell T. Ferrier’s 1930 list of “successful graduates” reprinted in Elizabeth Graham, The Mush Hole: Life at Two Indian Residential Schools (Heffle Publishing, 1997), 86, 219–21

SH = from a list written by teacher Susan Hardie in Olive Moses, Doris Henhawk, and Lloyd King, History of Education on the Six Nations Reserve (Woodland Cultural Centre, 1987)

WCC = Woodland Cultural Centre collections

1850s—Elizabeth Martin Powless attended the school at the Martin Settlement on-reserve but then completed her education at the Mohawk Institute (MI) before becoming a teacher at No. 4 School.1

1859—Isaac Bearfoot graduated from the MI, taught at a local day school, then appointed a teacher at the MI in 1869, teaching there for nine years. He then attended Hellmuth College and was ordained a clergyman of the Church of England. (MH, SH)

1859—Albert Anthony graduated and began working at No. 5 School.

1860s—George Powless, Isaiah Joseph, and Daniel Simon, all MI graduates, were by 1871 working as teachers in reserve schools and hoping to get funding to attend Huron College, which was denied.2

1873—Elijah Powless graduated and taught at No. 3 School. (MH)

1876—Lucius Henry left and taught at Ojibway School in Munsey. (MH)

1876—Moses Walker left and taught at Moraviantown and at Chippeway Hill. (MH)

1876—John Schuyler left and taught at Oneida. (MH)

1876—Louis Scanado left and taught at Oneida. (MH)

1876—Amelia Checkock graduated and taught at Muncey Town, at Stone Ridge, and at Shawanaga/Parry Sound. (MH)

1878—Scobie Logan graduated and then taught at Muncey before he became chief and councillor. (MH)

1879—Adam Sickles graduated and then apprenticed as a blacksmith. He then taught at Moraviantown. (MH)

1879—Anna Jones attended the Brantford Collegiate Institute (BCI) from the MI, graduated in 1879, taught at No. 7 for several years. (SH)

1880—Lydia Lewis passed the entrance exam, graduated from BCI in 1880, taught at No. 3 for several years. Married Robert Brant and had a son, Lieutenant Cameron Brant. (SH)

1880—Catherine Maracle passed her entrance exam and graduated in 1880. Taught at St. Regis, Bay of Quinte, and at Six Nations No. 2. (SH, MH)

1880—Sarah Davis obtained the highest marks in the entrance exam. Attended Brantford Collegiate, graduated in 1880, taught at different schools on the reserve for more than twenty-five years. “She was a great reader and a well informed woman.” She had a lot of influence on the reserve. (SH)

1880—Claybran Russel left in 1880, taught at No. 5 School for three years, then went to Chicago. (MH)

1881—Floretta Maracle passed her entrance exam and graduated in 1881, then taught at No. 2 for ten years. Then held a position with the Indian Department for many years. Retired on a pension. Married Allen Johnson. (SH)

1881—Jane E. M. Osborne passed her entrance examination and graduated in 1881, then became a governess at Toronto Ladies College before going to Winnipeg. (MH)

1882—Elam Bearfoot passed the entrance exam, attended Brantford Collegiate, then taught at Six Nations for twenty years. Then worked on a fruit farm for seven years. Worked at Cockshutt Plow Works, having charge of one of the Depts. (SH, MH)

1882—Isabella L. and Maggie Maracle both completed the training course. Isabella subsequently hired at No. 6, while Margaret Maracle graduated with a teaching certificate. (WCC)

1883—Jessie Osborne passed the entrance exam and attended BCI for three years, obtaining a second-class certificate and graduating in 1883. Taught in the MI before moving to Winnipeg to teach school.

1883?—Mary Monture passed her entrance and attended BCI, graduating in 1886. Taught at No. nine for years, then married Andrew Scott. (SH)

1885—Christopher Monture left in 1885. Passed the entrance exam, attended BCI for a short time, and was awarded a scholarship. Taught school on the reserve for a while then went working out. (SH)

1885—John Lickers left in 1885. Passed entrance exam, was awarded a scholarship, and attended BCI. Taught school on the reserve for many years before becoming a truant officer. (SH)

1886—Susan Hardie admitted to MI in 1878 at age eleven, attended BCI, obtained a second-class certificate. Took a model school course, graduated in 1886. Taught at the MI for one year, then attended the Toronto Normal School for one year, obtaining a professional second-class certificate. Taught at the MI until retirement in 1936. (MH, SH)

1886—Mary Monture passed the entrance exam, attended BCI, and then taught at No. 9 School for years. (MH)

1886—Robert Hill passed his entrance exam and taught at No. 11 School. (SH)

1887—Phoebe Waddilove passed the entrance exam and attended BCI before teaching at the Oneida School. (MH)

1887—Sarah Latham passed the entrance examination, attended BCI, and graduated in 1887. Taught at No. 6, then went into service in Buffalo. (SH)

1888—Josephine Good attended BCI, did the six-month training certificate at MI, and then taught in Parry Island. (MH)

1888—Sarah Russell attended BCI, did the six-month training certificate at MI, and then taught at No. 7 on-reserve. (MH)

1880s (late)—Willis Tobias, obtained third-class certificate and appointed teacher in Moraviantown. (MH)

1880s (late)—Lucy Hill passed the necessary exams, completed the six-month course at MI, and was hired at a school at Muncey. (MH)

1880s (late)—Francis Davis passed the necessary exams, completed the six-month course at MI, and was hired at No 11 School. (MH)

1893—Peter Adams passed his entrance exam and then did his training as a teacher. He taught on the reserve for many years. (SH)

1895—Naomi Latham taught at No. 7 School for three years before moving to Chicago. She had a second-class teacher’s certificate. (SH)

1897—Alex Leween passed the entrance examination and then taught at the Bay of Quinte for many years. (MH)

1900—Edith Good attended BCI and then obtained a certificate to teach. She taught at the Mission School at the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte for many years. (MH)

1901—Edith Styres was appointed a junior officer in the MI, then became the sewing teacher for two years. (MH)

1909—Susana Latham attended Brantford College and then obtained a certificate to enter normal school. She was hired as a teacher in the junior school at the MI. She later went to Chicago to attend nursing school. (MH)

1910—Jessie Van Every attended collegiate for one year, left in 1910, and taught at No. 8 School for two years. (SH)

1913—Arnold Moses left in 1913 after attending BCI for three years. Taught at No. 7 before enlisting to fight in the First World War. After the war, he became a farmer. (MH)

1914—Jesse Moses left in 1914, attended BCI for four years, taught on the reserve, and then became a successful farmer and councillor. (MH)

1918—Wilma Smith attended BCI and then Hamilton Normal School. She taught at No. 8 School from 1920 to 1929. (MH)

1921—Ruby Smith attended BCI and obtained her first-class teaching certificate. She attended Hamilton Normal School and taught at No. 3 School. (MH)

1921—Elva Miller attended continuation school and BCI, obtaining a teaching certificate. She taught at No 4 School in 1930. (MH)

1922—Carrie Crowe, from Muncey, attended business college and then taught at a school on the Muncey Reserve before returning to the MI and working as a housekeeper. (MH)

1922—Sylvia Jamieson attended continuation school in Onondaga, BCI, and then earned her certificate at Hamilton Normal School. She taught at No. 3 School in 1930 as well as other schools. (MH)

1923—Floretta Elliott completed a course in telegraphy, took a position working at the MI after she graduated, volunteered with the Girl Guides, and also worked in domestic service in Toronto. (MH)

Notes

  1. 1 She is not included in Hardie’s or Ferrier’s lists. For more about her life, see Alison Norman, “‘Teachers Amongst Their Own People’: Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Women Teachers in 19th Century Tyendinaga and Grand River, Ontario,” Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation 29, no. 1 (2017): 32–56.

  2. 2 “Report of the Hon. A. E. Botsford, Commissioner of the New England Company, on Their Missionary Stations on the Grand River, Near Brantford, Ontario,” appendix VII in History of the New England Company: From Its Incorporation, in the Seventeenth Century, to the Present Time: Including a Detailed Report of the Company’s Proceedings for the Civilization and Conversion of Indians, Blacks, and Pagans in the Dominion of Canada, British Columbia, the West Indies and S. Africa, During the Two Years 1869–1870 (Taylor, 1871), 318–32.

Annotate

Next Chapter
Suggested Reading
PreviousNext
© 2025 Richard W. Hill, Sr., Alison Norman, Thomas Peace, and Jennifer Pettit
Powered by Manifold Scholarship. Learn more at
Opens in new tab or windowmanifoldapp.org