Appendix 1 History of Six Nations Education
Keith Jamieson
This essay was originally published as a booklet by the Woodland Cultural Centre in 1987. It has been included here, with light revisions, in recognition of the significant contribution Keith Jamieson has made to the understanding of history and education at Six Nations.
As it is with any civilization, the Iroquois peoples had an effective process for preparing children for active participation in the society. The society and the concepts of participation were founded in the Great Law of Peace, the very principles of which united Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and later the Tuscarora, in the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy. The mother-child relationship in tandem with all the women of the longhouse, shared in the task of developing in the child, an appreciation for the home and family, language, values and beliefs. As the child entered adulthood, the leaders and elders of the Nations began to influence the youth, instilling an understanding of the laws, government, morality and individuality of the young adult, as a member of a clan, a Nation and a Confederacy.
Basically unstructured and non-coercive in nature, the child acquired knowledge through experience of participation, and by the examples and environment in which they lived. The entire community shared in this responsibility and had an interest in its form. The issue of control over the process did not arise in this environment, nor did the issue of priority, for it was interwoven
with the political, economic, social and cultural components essential to the survival of the people.
There was a need to develop the skill, abilities and knowledge required to ensure the continuation of the culture, yet there was no concept of failure, nor differentiation between gifted and ungifted, fit and unfit.
Specialization and structured training occurred in only a few instances, relating primarily to religion, health, fortification for security purposes and house-construction. The reciting of long ceremonies required a period of training, as an example.
The elements of cooperation, competence, coexistence and individuality were the basis of the process used by the Iroquois peoples. Appreciation of all the things which was their experience was the only real benchmark.
These elements were in place before the arrival of the European. And it was with the arrival and subsequent settling of the European that the structured, formalized process of “education” was introduced. Through the classroom environment, a designated instructor was charged with the responsibility of transmitting facts, skills and knowledge to the child, separated from the parents, family and community.
In this manner, education was a matter of itself, separated from other facets of life and controlled by various religious, political and economic concerns. Control was a major issue in this situation, and priority for it placed by the concern which was most pressing at the time, be it economic, political and/or religious.
For this “educative” process, the Iroquois peoples had no real understanding or appreciation.
The period between the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual migration of the Six Nations from their homelands, in what is now upstate New York, to the Grand River Valley in 1784, tells of a time of alliance and conflict, of compromise and transition, extending over 300 years.
While the Iroquois sought to understand and coexist with the European, the first missionaries sent to educate the Iroquois sought allies and converts.
French policy in Indian relations grew directly out of economic interest in winning Indian allies against England. . . . National political and economic concern overshadowed education which was woven marginally around the government’s objective and confined to religious instruction and the imparting of the simplest French customs and manners.1
While the colonial government of New France made attempts to establish influence over the Iroquois through Jesuit missionaries/diplomats, the British attempted to reverse the trend:
In cooperation with the Anglican Church, the British tried to convert the Iroquois into the Protestant faith to secure their loyalty and attachment to Great Britain. Various missionary organizations and colonial governments attempted to educate the Iroquois children as well.2
As will be demonstrated in this history of education at Six Nations, the compromise and transition are issues of the present, and may well be into the future.
Settlement at Grand River, 1784
Following the successful negotiations for the Grand River Valley tract, Captain Joseph Brant and Chief David Hill were able to secure a commitment from Sir Frederick Haldimand, then Governor-in-Chief of Canada, concerning the provision of educational services to the people at Six Nations.
In a letter from Haldimand to A. S. De Peyster, De Peyster is apprised of the promise to Capt. Brant and Chief Hill in providing
An allowance of £25 Sterg. per annum for a School Master (whom they are to choose for themselves) will be made and paid every six months by Warrant upon the Receiver-General of the Province.3
By the next year, 1785, the government had erected a school house at Mohawk Village, “the teacher chosen and appointed by the Chiefs and other members of the bond interested in education.”4
The school at Mohawk Village was to be the first school built at the Grand River Valley tract, however, it was not the first school amongst the Iroquois people. They had had numerous others built by and for them in their previous homelands, of which Captain Joseph Brant had been a product.
The efforts of Joseph Brant before and at the time of settlement at the Grand River impacted on activities in education, and for this reason, a little about Joseph Brant should be reviewed.
Brant’s Influence
Due to the ambitious Margaret, Joseph’s mother, his life would benefit in a large way by “being in the right place at the right time,” for by the age of ten, Margaret would marry Brant Canadgaranuncka, a Mohawk Sachem. Joseph’s new stepfather,
had no problem of loyalty or of what to do or think. Thanks to the influence of William Johnson, the friendly Irishman who operated a store across the river from the chief’s former home, Brant was heartily pro-British. . . . Chief Brant had long been won over and, indeed, Johnson was by this time firmly installed as the best friend of the whole Mohawk Nation.5
The connection of William Johnson to the Brant family would result in Joseph’s experience of the formal education process of the European. In July of 1761, the 18-year-old Joseph would attend the Reverend Dr. Eleazar Wheelock’s Moore’s Charity School for Indians, the school eventually to become Dartmouth College in Lebanon, Connecticut.
He [Joseph] learned to speak English and then to read and write the language surprisingly well. The first letters of his which are extant, while certainly not models of grammar and spelling and penmanship, do show remarkable progress, considering the length of his schooling—less than two years—and his very scant knowledge of English at the start.6
The two years that Joseph spent in education proved to be invaluable to him. After returning from the school, Joseph became somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades, exercising a competence at numerous activities: entrepreneurship, farming, guiding, as well as interpreting for missionaries and diplomats seeking rapport with the Mohawks and the members of the Confederacy. It wasn’t until his exposure to the aristocracy of Britain, that it proved powerful.
Joseph’s appearance at court [King George III] and his endorsement by the ministry [North] quickly conferred on him a sort of social distinction… Though Joseph’s entry into fashionable circles was no doubt at first promoted by the government, his continued acceptance must have owed something to his own personal qualities. Here again, his smattering of education stood him in good stead.7
Joseph’s education and his ability to use it advantageously, would enable him to assume the position between the Confederacy and the British. It was for this reason and others that Joseph could continue to bring the European concepts of education for the member Nations of the Confederacy to experience and use in a like fashion.
With the school established at the Mohawk Village in 1785, the European style of education was quickly grasped by those at the village, and by 1792 the school had “Sixty-six students, some of whom had excellent capacities for learning, and read distinctly and fluently.”8 The school at Mohawk Village was eventually closed in 1813 due primarily to the War of 1812.
1818–1877
The period between 1818 and 1877 witnessed successive efforts to establish institutions of education for and by the Six Nations people at Grand River.
In November of 1818, Reverend Ralph Leeming of Ancaster responded to a request by the Tuscarora Chiefs to establish a school at the Tuscarora settlement. With between 30 to 35 students, Rev. Leeming attempted to have the school brought under “a proper authority” and endowed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). By 1825, the school closed due to poor attendance.
At about the same time, in 1821, Chief Thomas Davis secured an agreement with the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Society for a school master. The school opened in 1824 under the entire responsibility of the Methodist Church.
By 1826, “twenty, sometimes twenty-five Indian children regularly attended,”9 and by 1829, a second school was built at Salt Springs by the Methodist Church.
After Joseph Brant’s passing in 1807, Joseph’s son, John, had been able to maintain a degree of Joseph’s influence. In 1822, while in England, John Brant had successfully negotiated for a school with the British Government. The school opened in 1824 at Grand River, following closely on the heels of the New England Company (NEC) schools; two NEC facilities both opened in 1823.
Of the two facilities under the auspices of the NEC, one was at the Tuscarora settlement on the banks of the Grand River, the other at the Mohawk settlement, near the present location of the Woodland Cultural Centre.
By 1829, the NEC had established two more schools, one for the Onondagas and the Senecas, and the other for the Delawares.
In 1830, the NEC school at the Mohawk settlement, under the direction of Rev. Robert Lugger, experienced expansion. Additional buildings were added for “teaching handicraft trades to Indian youth . . . [and] a mechanic shop and two rooms for teaching girls to spin and weave and two rooms for teaching boys tailoring and carpentering.”10
This expanded facility was given the name “Mechanic Institution,” to develop later into the Mohawk Institute and ultimately the Woodland Indian Cultural Educational Centre.11
Also in 1830, the Thomas School House was established by the Confederacy Council. In later years, this school would take on a much greater importance, as the control over education at Six Nations would become a contentious issue.
In 1833, under the direction from the NEC in England, Rev. Lugger “opened the Institution for ten boys and ten girls from the Six Nations, to be boarded and taught (with the day schoolers), and to be instructed in farming and gardening as well as handicrafts.”12
By 1844, after some difficulty in getting Indian children to attend, enrollment had climbed to fifty and there were fifty more on a waiting list.
From the 1840s onward, “there were many instances of Indian youths who, on leaving the institution and being supplied with tools and materials for work, followed their respective trades with considerable success among their own people.”13
In 1858, the Institute was destroyed by fire. A larger building was erected to accommodate more boarders, the master and mistress, and in 1859, enrollment was fixed at sixty and was not expanded until after Confederation.
Through the 1850s the Six Nations people established three schools. One near Chief William Smith’s Corner, the second at the Onondaga Township and the third in Ohsweken. In the 1860s they established several more schools, one with a grant of twenty pounds from the New England Company.
In 1872, Rev. Robert J. Roberts of the NEC with the people of Six Nations established a school near Beaver’s Corner and another near Chief Joseph S. Johnson’s settlement.
By 1877, the NEC had established and/or controlled nine schools; the Wesleyan Church, two; and the Confederacy Council, one.
Missionary Involvement in Six Nations Education
As was stated in the introductory section of this history, the missionaries from the European religious community were a part of the first experience Iroquois people would have with European values, culture and ideals. The role they played in the development of education services at Six Nations best defines the nature of the conflicts and transitions experienced over history.
Education of Indians, except in isolated instances, was left outside government policy. The missionaries flowed into the vacuum. In part, this was government policy: the Protestant missionaries among the Iroquois provided a means of balancing the Catholic missionary influence among the “French Indian.” The churches were willing to assume a financial burden so that the government need not carry it. For the Iroquois, though, this arrangement between the British political authorities and the Protestant churches meant that they had little choice: to get the education, they had to deal with the missionaries and their religion.14
The Dutch Missionaries
The initial introduction to the structured process of education practiced by the European was first introduced to the Iroquois by Dutch missionaries. Although they never established missions or schools with the Confederacy, their main trading centres served as the point of exposure.
Up until the British takeover of their colony in 1664, the Dutch missionaries Christianized and educated many of the Iroquois peoples.
French Missionaries
The Jesuit influence in Iroquois education spanned a period of some 115 years. In 1655, the Iroquois requested Jesuit presence in their communities following a peace agreement between New France and the Iroquois Confederacy.15
This agreement, as did numerous others that followed to around 1760, failed and the Confederacy and French were at war. These intermittent periods between wars left little time for the Jesuit priests to actually educate the Iroquois to read and write, and therefore, they restrained their activities to simply conversion of the Iroquois to Catholicism.
Between 1666 and 1687, a span of some twenty years, the Jesuits had been able to baptize some 4,000 adults and children.16 This in effect caused the Confederacy to weaken with the creation of many “French Villages” of “Praying Indians,” to which many Mohawks, Oneidas and Onondagas defected.
This arrangement became questionable in 1760, when Sir William Johnson attacked Montreal. The Iroquois in the villages around Montreal did not assist in its defence for they had agreed to remain neutral through the Confederacy.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
The SPG was an organizational wing of the Church of England created by Royal Charter on June 16, 1701. One of its objectives was “to seek the conversion of the heathens.”17
In 1709, four Iroquois Sachems visited England to confirm a peace treaty, and while there, requested Queen Anne “to take measures for the instruction of their subjects in the truths of Christianity.”18
In 1712, Rev. William Andrews was appointed Minister and Schoolmaster, and upon his arrival in Albany, began his mission. Early in 1713, the Mohawks built a school house, 30 feet long and about 12 feet wide, with 40 children in attendance.19
Although the initial start was encouraging, by 1717, only five or six children were in attendance, and the conversion of the adults was not progressing. It was therefore closed.20
The SPG, in the guise of Rev. Henry Barclay, brought to the forefront the potential of instructing the Mohawks and, by 1743, sought approval of the SPG and the Indian Commissioners of New York to appoint two Mohawk Schoolmasters.21
Rev. Barclay appointed “One Cornelius a Sachem at the lower, and One Daniel at the Upper Town,”22 and in a 1743 report informed the SPG that “both [are] very diligent, and teach the young Mohawks with surprising success.”23
Up to 1766, there seemed to be some concern for future school development for the Iroquois, specifically the Mohawks. The issue at hand was essentially the merits of sponsoring segregated boarding schools for Indians over the provision of education services within the Mohawk communities, close to their families and homes.
The SPG requested Sir William Johnson to prepare a plan, wherein Johnson responded,
to establish on some regular system proper Missionaries of Schools in most of their Towns which is the only effectual means of Converting and Reducing them to Order. A few struggling Missions or Schools out of their country will never answer the end proposed the more distant Indians being extremely averse to sending their Children abroad for Instruction, and if they did, they are apt to relapse afterwards. I have seen examples amongst the best of them sufficient to justify my opinion.24
The SPG heeded the advice of Sir William Johnson, and until the start of the American War of Independence, the SPG opened a number of schools in what is now New York State. In this way, “by the end of the American Revolutionary War, the missionaries had laid firmly the grounds for formal European schooling among the Iroquois.”25
With the reorientation of the SPG in Canada to become the NEC, there was renewed involvement at Six Nations with the settlement in Grand River Valley. In an 1820 treaty with the SPG,
20,000 acres of land in the Missaga [sic] and 40,000 in that of the Mohawk “districts” were added to the Government, and Sir Peregrine Maitland expressed his readiness to appropriate the lands themselves, or the money arising from their sale, to the Society in trust to provide the said Indians with Missionaries, Catechists, and Schoolmasters. The Society approved of the proposal, and requested the Bishop of Quebec to act in the matter. The Mohawk devoted a portion (£600) of the proceeds of the land sold by them to the building of a parsonage on the Grand River, and added a glebe of 200 acres.26
The relationship between the NEC and the Confederacy Council continued to develop with some success. However, financial difficulties experienced by the NEC placed a strain on the relationship, and by 1877 the two had reached a point of conflict.
Six Nations School Board—1878
With the development of so many schools came the inherent costs of maintenance and support. As so aptly summed up by a letter from Reverends James Chance, Robert J. Roberts and Robert Ashton of the NEC in September of 1877 to Colonel J. T. Gilkison, Visiting Superintendent and Commissioner of the Six Nations,
The employment of interpreters, the building of school teacher’s houses, the clothing of some of the children, etc., effectually prevented this limited [fixed at 750 pounds annually in 1821] from being strictly adhered to. It was soon increased to £1000, and again to £1300 a year nominally, and indeed for 30 years was in fact several hundred pounds a year more than this last limit. For the last ten or twelve years, the Company’s [NEC] annual expenditures at the Grand River has always exceeded £2000 and after £3000, and even £4000.27
The NEC had grown impatient with the refusal of the Six Nations Council to contribute towards these ever-increasing costs. The Council maintained that by an 1820 treaty with the SPG, a great contribution had already been made. The treaty, which was inherited by the NEC in 1827, in part read,
20,000 acres of land in the Missaga [sic] and 40,000 in that of the Mohawk “districts” were added to the Government, and Sir Peregrine Maitland expressed his readiness to appropriate the lands themselves, or the money arising from their sale, to the Society in trust to provide the said Indians with Missionaries, Catechists, and Schoolmasters. The Society approved of the proposal, and requested the Bishop of Quebec to act in the matter. The Mohawk devoted a portion (£600) of the proceeds of the land sold by them to the building of a parsonage on the Grand River, and added a glebe of 200 acres.28
The NEC threatened to terminate all assistance to the Six Nations, and as demonstrated in a letter to Colonel Gilkison from Walter C. Vennino,
When the Council of Indian Chiefs comes thus to understand that it costs in the discretion of the New England Company to continue or to withdraw their assistance to them, and their children, they will probably cherish the more their present advantages, and be willing to give some proof of their gratitude, as for instance, by complying with the request of the Company that the Chiefs in Council should authorize a grant from the Indian Funds.29
On March 13, 1875, Colonel Gilkison appeared before the Chiefs in Council at their invitation to explain the NEC threat. In responding, the Speaker of the Council countered that “the Six Nations had contributed towards education, in revenue derived from lands held by the Company near to Brantford and elsewhere.”30
He demanded that Col. Gilkison give an estimate of the financial value of their lands which had been acquired by the NEC for education purposes.
In November of 1875, Revs. Chance, Roberts and Ashton were appointed a Canadian Sub-Committee of the New England Company to solve this particular dilemma. After a series of proposals and counter-proposals, the Canadian Sub-Committee proposed that
the Chiefs of the Six Nations be required to make a grant of at least fifteen hundred dollars per annum (the New England Company at present contributing a like amount) for purely educational purposes in the Company’s nine day schools on the Reserve, and that management of a School Board.31
The School Board consisted of the visiting Superintendent of Indian Affairs, three Six Nations representatives, and three representatives of the New England Company. The Wesleyan Conference would also come under the Management of the Board, provided it had a representative on the Board commensurate with the amount of its contribution.
The proposal was submitted to the DIA in September of 1877 and approved three months later by the Superintendent General.
On July 17, 1878, the Confederacy Council named Chiefs John Hill, Richard Hill and Moses Martin to the School Board on an annual basis; the NEC appointed Canon Abraham Nelles, Reverends Robert J. Roberts and Robert Ashton for indefinite terms; with the Departmental representative the Superintendent in the Grand River Valley.
By Order-In-Council dated November 18, 1878, financial conditions of the Six Nations Council contribution were articulated as follows:
The Six Nations Indians Council by a recent resolution unanimously voted a grant of . . . Fifteen hundred dollars per annum, to be paid from their funds, towards the support of the nine New England and two Wesleyan Methodist Schools on the Reserve, in the Township of Tuscarora—said grant to be subject to the condition that it is annually voted by the Six Nations Council and to be supplementary of the contribution of . . . Five hundred and fifty dollars per annum paid from the Indian School Fund, and of the amount contributed by each of the Corporations above-mentioned towards those schools.32
In December of 1878, both the NEC and the Six Nations Council approved of the contributions and the Six Nations School Board was struck.
The immediate priorities of the trustees of the School Board were the improvement of the school facilities, the acquiring of trained teachers and the improvement of student attendance. Between 1879 and 1882, the Board began “gradually making changes, improvements and repairs, alike calculated to promote efficiency, comfort of teachers and pupils and their eight schools more attractive.”33
By 1882, “all schools are replete with all material for the instruction and comfort of pupils.”34 By 1883, “the best of order, one of them a building of brick recently erected; each is furnished with that is required for the pupils and the teachers.”35 By 1895, the School Board had spent large amounts of money to bring all the schools to a condition of relative excellence. These expenditures included the following:
School No.-1. Repairing and screening closets, finishing fences, new sidewalks, new stove, general repair.
School No.-2. Repairing and screening closets, re-shingling roof, repairing plaster, whitewashing, new stove, etc.
School No.-3. Lot enlarged, re-fenced, school-house moved, interior sheeted, re-floored, closet removed and screened, new sidewalk, all buildings painted inside and outside, new stove, etc,
School No.-5. Roof, fences, closet, foundation, steps and plaster repaired, exterior painted, and interior whitewashed, generally repaired.
School No.-6. Closets screened, fences, sidewalk conductors and windows repaired.
School No.-7. Lot graded, new fences, closet screened, sidewalk and steps, interior repainted and whitewashed.
School No.-9. Lot graded and re-fenced, school-house roof and window repaired, closets screened and painted, general repair.
School No.-10. Repainted and generally repaired.
School No.-11. Closets screened and painted, new front steps, etc.36
By 1897, five new school houses had been erected and three others improved and refurnished. By 1900, four more school houses had been built and two others improved.
During the period between 1879 and 1897, in addition to the betterment of actual facilities under the control of the School Board, was the acquisition of trained and “competent” teachers. The Mohawk Institute, previously referred to as the Mechanic Institution, took on a special role.
The training of teachers was begun immediately in 1878, so that by 1881, most of the “seven competent Indian teachers” in the boards schools were graduates of the Institute.37 By 1884, all schools under the Board’s control had been placed under the “instruction of qualified and trained native teachers” from the Mohawk Institute.38
Records concerning teachers and other information are sketchy and rather limited, however some lists do exist, including the following:
1882
No.-2; Miss F. Maracle
No.-3; Miss L. Lewis
No.-5; Wm. Russel
No.-6; Miss E. Hill (non-Indian)
No.-7; Miss A. Jones
No.-8; Miss L. Davis
No.-9; Wm. N. Monture
No.-10; Wm. Martin39
1886
Board School—Council House, Ohsweken; Miss Floretta Maracle
Thomas School; Mr. John Miller
Red Line School; near Grand River Church; Miss Cross
No.-8; near Kanyenga Church; Miss Maggie Davis
No.-6; Benjamin Carpenter
No.-10; Mr. John Lickers
No.-5; Mrs. E. Tobicoe
Stone Ridge Schoolhouse; Miss Hyndman
No.-3; Miss Susan Davis
No.-7; Miss Elisabeth Johnson
No.-9; Claybren Russel40
1891
No.-1; Miss Hyndman
No.-2; Miss Catherine Maracle
No.-3; Miss Wetherell
No.-5; Mr. Elam Bearfoot
No.-6; Mr. Thomas Miller
No.-7; Miss Sara Russell
No.-8; Miss Maggie Davis
No.-9; Mrs. Scott
No.-10; Miss Sara Davis
No.-11; Miss Francis Davis
Thomas School; Mr. John Miller
Stone Ridge 1890; Mr. Joseph Monture
New Credit; Miss Meehan41
School Board Re-Organization—1901
that as the Company’s [NEC] charter, dated 1661, directs that the funds of the Company are to be “applied to the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen natives” in British North America, they consider that the work carried on in the Eastern provinces of Canada for the last seventy to eighty years is now, might be considered, some what beyond the limits of their Charter.42
It was for this reason that in December of 1896 the New England Company terminated its already reduced annual grant (reduced by $500 per annum in 1883) of $1,000 to the Six Nations School Board. This decision was not, however, communicated to the Six Nations Chiefs, but instead to the Department of Indian Affairs.
In January of 1897, Hayter Reed, Deputy Superintendent General, wrote to Colonel Cameron to “inform the Council that this portion of the appropriation for the school purpose will hereafter be charged to their own funds.”43
Further to this matter, Rev. Ashton, one of the three NEC representatives, and later Colonel Cameron, advised Duncan Campbell Scott, then Acting Deputy Superintendent General, that the “present representatives of the Company be invited by the Department to continue on the Board of Management, and that the present system of management be not changed.”44
As could be expected, the Chiefs were angered at what they clearly perceived as a violation of the School Board constitution agreed to in 1878. Adding fuel to fire, the Chiefs learned that Rev. Ashton intended to resign from the Board, June 30, 1900, while simultaneously the Wesleyan Conference was to terminate both its contribution and its representative. In effect, the Chiefs would assume full financial responsibility for the day schools as of July 1900, apart from the Department of Indian Affairs’ share.45
In response, in February of 1900, the Chiefs presented the Superintendent General with a petition, which stated,
That as the expense and maintenance of all the schools on their Reserve are now borne by the band out of their own funds in trust with the Government of the Dominion, they beg humbly to submit that they be allowed to assume full and complete control of the same, that is, The School Board to be composed as follows: - The local Visiting Superintendent to represent the Department of Indian Affairs and a committee of members of the Reserve appointed by the Chiefs in Council.46
In so doing, the Chiefs reminded the Superintendent General that they had total control of the Thomas School, and that
it is the only School upon this Reserve which has prepared pupils to a standard which enabled them to pass the prescribed entrance examination into the Collegiate Institute, and not one of the board Schools has Passed a pupil into the Collegiate Institute.47
For the duration of one year, memorandums, reports and seemingly coincidental absences of key Departmental decision-makers, the matter of the Six Nations School Board remained contentious.
In his second of two reports, Colonel Cameron suggested the establishment of a School Board consisting of seven trustees, three to represent the Six Nations Council, and four representing the Department of Indians Affairs. He suggested that Revs. Ashton and Strong of the NEC and Rev. Wilkinson of the Wesleyan Conference be appointed as Departmental representatives, and that the new Board should have control of the schools, subject to Departmental approval.
Upon his return from Europe, the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs accepted Cameron’s suggestions and upon notification, the Chiefs in Council on January 9, 1901, reluctantly approved.48
But this was not to be the final solution to the issue of control, for the next 25 years would witness successive efforts, both by the Department of Indian Affairs and the Confederacy Council, to bring each other into their concept of control and management.
History of Education on the Six Nations Reserve—1784–1902
The following history of education was an excerpt from a speech given by Chief Josiah Hill at the Opening Ceremonies of Number 2 school on May 24, 1902. The speech was included in the cornerstone of the school and was returned to Mr. Arthur Anderson, Secretary to the Six Nations Confederacy Council when the school was demolished.
Our sincere gratitude is extended to Mrs. Mary Longboat for making those historical documents available to our community. The documents will be catalogued and eventually placed on microfilm in the archives at the Woodland Cultural Centre.
By: Tom Hill, Museum Director
About the year 1784 the first school was established in Canada by the Government authorities in the Mohawk settlement. We are unable to find any available history relating to the progress in education made by the pupils of this first of primeval Schools beyond the fact that the teacher was chosen and appointed by the Chiefs and other members of the band interested in education.
Previous to this period, Indian Schools had been established in what is now known as the State of New York this was before the War of Independence in 1776. In these schools reading and writing in the Indian language alone were taught and our forefathers appointed their own teachers and had full control of the conduct of their schools.
Education in the Mohawk language was also conducted in the Mohawk settlement in Canada up to about 1835. During that period quite a number of our people, especially the Mohawks, could read and write in the Mohawk language, hence came the necessity to have portions of the New Testament and the book of Common Prayer, translated into the Indian tongue at various periods, by different translators, amongst whom were Capt. Brant, Wm. Hess, John Hill and others.
The latest versions of these translations were revised and corrected by the late John Wilkes, who was of English descent, but who had acquired a complete mastery of the Mohawks language. His brother Jas. Wilkes an esteemed citizen of the city of Brantford, was as his late brother well known to many of the other Chiefs and people of this Reserve, and whom we believe is still alive.
It was also found necessary to have the Church hymns translated into the Mohawk language, this had been done while yet our people lived in the Mohawk Valley revised by different translators in Canada.
These hymn books and the book of Common Prayer, revised as they have been, are still used in our missions and Chapels of worship. An edition of the book of Common Prayer was translated into the Mohawk language and prepared for the press under the direction of the late Rev. Archdeacon Nelles, Chief Missionary of the New England Company for the convenience of those who were educated to read and write in the Mohawk language so that they could take part in the services of the Church of England.
The missionaries, the Revd Archdeacon Nelles and the Revd Adam Elliott, used to read the services in the Indian language. In that year 1827 the Revd. Robert Lugger, came to the Mohawk settlement and was joined in 1831 by the Rev. Abraham Nelles.
The first schools built here were in 1823, on the River bank, Tuscarora and one where the Mohawk now stands near Brantford.
In the year 1836, three School lots known as the Oneida, Onondaga, and Delaware School lots were granted to the New England Company for the purpose of educating the youth of this Reserve. These School lots were comprised of one hundred acres each and upon each a School was established, all these lots have long since been sold by the Company.
Early in the year 1850 the School now known as the No. 1 School near Chief William Smiths’ corners was opened, and another at the Tuscarora Village near the old St. John Cemetery in the Township of Onondaga.
Some years afterwards a School house was opened in a log house which was situated, where the Village of Ohsweken now stands, and within 300 yards from where this beautiful School house is now being erected. The late Augustus Johnson, was the School teacher, and latterly the School was conducted by Thomas Thomas until his death, after which the School was closed and the old log school house was sold.
Subsequently another School was opened in a log house near the McKenzie Creek on the property of Chief Abram S. Hill, and therefore the School was removed to the other corner on the north half of Lot No. 12, Concession 4 Tuscarora. This School was taught by Mr. John S. Kingston, a man of Irish extraction and from this School Mr. Kingston was transferred to the Onondaga Baptist Church, now known as the Johnsfield Baptist Church. in which the School was conducted for some years. Owing to the removal of Mr. Kingston from our midst, this section of the Reserve was entirely deprived of School advantages for years and it was for that reason that the School now known as Thomas’ School, came into existence. This school had many hard struggles at its inception. For several years the teacher was paid by the parents of the pupils, from the proceedings of tea meetings and other services, including private subscriptions. The late George E. Bomberry, M.D. was its first pedagogue and eventually the New England Company assumed control of the School and engaged Mrs. R. J. Roberts. This School and that of the Kanyengeh, was given in charge of the Rev’d R. J. Roberts as teacher. This School and that of Kanyengeh, was given in charge of the Rev’d R. J. Roberts assistant missionary by the New England Company, and they were independent from those Schools which were under control and charges of the Rev. Canon Nelles. This School was closed by the opponents of the School and refused to reopen it. It was at this juncture that the residents of this section, now in the immediate vicinity of Ohsweken Village took advantage of the favourable conditions presented to them for securing a School.
The residents of this district approached Revd. R.J. Roberts with a view to securing a School for this corner and he immediately wrote to the Company explaining the desire of the people of the Council House, that they would be pleased to have a School and would willingly help to build a School house. Ex Chief John Hill offered a School plot, and in a few weeks Mr. Roberts received an answer from the Company, agreeing to the request of the people of this section and enclosing a cheque for £20, as a grant towards building the School house and the building of this School house was commenced by the people at once, and in a few weeks the Ohsweken School house had evolved from their labour and in it the children of this village are being taught today.
Revd. R. J. Roberts, was transferred in the year 1872 from the Kanyengeh Mission to the Cayuga Mission and consistently with his energetic manner in the cause of education he immediately set to work and inaugurated a School near Beaver’s Corners and another one near Chief Joseph S. Johnson’s settlement.
About the year 1878, the New England Company approached the Six Nations Council with a view to the formation of a School Board under whose charge and control the Schools upon the Reserve under the supervision of the New England Company would thereafter be conducted. It was agreed at the time that the New England Company would be represented by 3 representatives, the Six Nations Council by 3 Chiefs, the Methodist Conference by one member, and the Department of Indian Affairs was to have one representative in the person of the visiting superintendent, and the School funds were to be made up as followsA: $1500.00 from the New England Company; $1500.00 from the Six Nations Council; $500.00 from the Methodist Conference; and $50.00 was voted to each School by the Department of Indian Affairs. Thomas School was not included in these grants, as it was understood that the Council must continue to conduct this School, which was at that time as it is now, under control and management of the Chiefs in Council.
The action of the Chiefs in thus reserving this School to be solely managed and controlled by the Council was a wise stroke of policy, for in after years it proved to be an influence to other Schools which were managed by the School Board, as it became patent to the latter that their standard of education was inadequate and that efforts towards the obtaining of a higher standard were necessary to be put forth.
After many hard struggles covering a period of a quarter of a century the Council and the members of the School Board have at least gained grounds in the right direction. They have now secured to us a higher standard of education, in many particulars identical with the Ontario School system, and we, also, now have our qualified teachers, educated and trained under the Ontario School system and the Model Schools of Ontario for teachers.
In conclusion, we in behalf of the Council tender our thanks to the New England Company for the services they have rendered in the cause of education and the Christian Missions amongst the Six Nations in the past. Having withdrawn their grant to our schools in June 1897, and the Methodists in June 1899.
We are grateful for their kindness to us in supplying materials and for the maintenance of these Schools up to the time of the formation of the School Board and we now rejoice to know that their long and untiring work has been rewarded by awakening amongst the Chiefs and people of the Six Nations, a sense of the importance of education.
We sincerely trust that this School the cornerstone of which is now about to be well, truly and firmly laid by Chief Elias Lewis, speaker assisted by Chief William Wage will greatly enhance and espouse the cause of education and that the day may not be far distant when we may be able to assume the responsibilities incumbent upon a full control and charge of all our educational institutions upon this Reserve.
We are firm in the belief that should this take place it would redound in much good to the youth of our band by teaching them business principles and self reliance, which in the School of life is the first essentials to success.
We fervently hope and trust that the almighty God, who rules all things may be pleased to bless the efforts of the Six Nations Chiefs, and the Department of Indian Affairs who decided that this beautiful building should be erected for the benefit of our children and posterity for years to come and that it may prove the means of bringing them out of the dark recesses of ignorance into the sunshine of education, industry, honesty, sobriety, and a charitable Christian life.
Signed on behalf of the Six Nations Council by the Committee,
this 24th day of May A.D. 1902—Chief Josiah Hill,
Secretary of Six Nations Council
Control of Education—1925–1972
The period between 1901 and 1925 contained many efforts on the port of the Confederacy Council to gain control of the Six Nations School Board and the education system in place at that time. However, other events would influence the activities of the Council.
Of the many things which occurred, two of the most influential was, first, the First World War, which many of the Six Nations people participated, in both active duty and in the auxiliary services for those in active duty. The other influence was the change in the system of government occurring in 1924, wherein the Elective system replaced the Confederacy Council.
In 1925, the Elective Band Council assumed the responsibility for education, and proceeded to repair and make improvements in the schools. However, the Department of Indian Affairs began moving in the direction of greater control of residential or day schools in Canada. At Six Nations, the Indian Superintendent became responsible for the supervision of the operations of the schools.
Yet, the Department considered the formation of an all-Indian School Board, which had been a contentious issue for some thirty years past. In 1926, the Department proposed “Regulations for the Management of the Six Nations Day Schools,” under which “a School Board consisting of six members—five Indians to be chosen by the Six Nations Council and the Indian Superintendent who shall Act as Chairman.”49 Their regulations were essentially the same as those submitted by the Confederacy Council in 1906.50
In 1928, all Indians in Canada were granted free education. Charles Stewart, Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, said,
Free education for the Indians was definitely imposed by treaty in some provinces and by usage in others and was the only exceptions to the general rule were made in the case of Indians of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec who were fortunately in the possession of tribal funds, it seemed discrimination to refuse to extend to them the bounty of the Government in this regard. It has therefore been decided that in the future the education of these Indians shall be carried on without cost to them, thus completing a system of free education to all the Indian wards of the Crown in Canada.51
The Six Nations School Board was in operation until 1933, and although no record seems to exist, its termination is implied in a letter dated March 23, 1934, from Lt. Colonel Morgan to A. F. McKenzie, Departmental Secretary, which stated,
I am in receipt this morning of a Departmental letter No. 15-32 upon this subject which is a reply to a letter I wrote to the Deputy Superintendent General regarding Truant Officers and it appears that the purpose of my letter was not fully understood as it was far from my intention to suggest the re-appointment of a School Board or to infer that the Truant Officer should carry out the duties formerly performed by the Trustees.52
There are numerous other letters and directives between Departmental officials regarding financial matters, which had a limiting effect on the decision-making capacity of the School Board. Resolutions of the Six Nations Elective Council were rejected based on the financial control exercised by the Department, and it can only be assumed that this was a contributing factor to the termination of the Six Nations School Board in 1933.
By 1934, all Indian School Boards or Band Council had ceased participation in the control and management of their education. In 1946, a Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons began an inquiry into the legislative relation between the Government of Canada and the Indians of Canada. Education was a concern of this inquiry and the Six Nations Elective Council expressed concern over religious freedom in the residential schools (Mohawk Institute).
As one of its delegate, Reginald Hill told the members of the Special Joint Committee,
We specified undenominational residential schools largely for the protection of those children whose parents still believe in the original teachings of our people. We feel it is entirely unfair to take these children and expose them to a different religious training from that which their own parents followed.53
In all, the Special Joint Committee held 128 meetings heard 122 witnesses, received 411 written briefs from Indian Bands, organizations, and interested individuals. In 1951, on the basis of the recommendations made by the Special Joint Committee, the Indian Act was passed. In effect, the new legislation made the Minister of Indian Affairs directly and wholly responsible for Indian Education. This act has been since in effect to 1985.
Joseph C. Hill—1951–1972
The intention of the 1951 Indian Act was to place the control of education within the Department of Indian Affairs, however, that definition was never fully implemented on Six Nations. This was due primarily to the efforts of Dr. J. C. Hill.
Dr. Hill split the education administration from the office of the Department of Indian Affairs, Brantford Agency, and established it on the Six Nations Reserve. It was the only Indian Administration office located on a Reserve in Canada.
During the 1960s, Dr. Hill initiated course development on Indian Studies, History, Crafts and Arts, and introduced the teaching of Indian language, specifically Mohawk, at the time in the schools at Six Nations.
Dr. Hill also saw the employ of Indian teaching personnel as crucial to the success of the local education system. He pursued this concept and brought the number of teachers who were Indian to be in the majority.
Indian Control of Indian Education—1972–1985
The concepts and ideals of Indian Control of Indian Education are embodied in a report prepared by the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) of 1972. It is a report which reflects the desires and wishes of bands across Canada, and was adopted by the Government of Canada as policy in 1973.
It is a lengthy report, and should be reviewed as the state of affairs guiding present activities by Federal Government regarding Indian Education. But in keeping with the nature of this paper, a simple statement of the Six Nations perception of this concept is included here.
In his 1984 doctoral thesis, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education: A Case Study of the Iroquois of the Grand River Valley in Ontario, Canada,” Abate Wori Abate drew the following summary:
Local education control is perceived in two ways. In the first place, it is perceived as the Indianization of decision-making responsibility on the Reserve. But the Six Nations people have no desire to assume control of their education for two unrelated reasons. They would like constitutional or legislative guarantee of the funding before considering the local control of their education. On the other hand, they are aware that local education control would be a very sensitive political issue, given the existence of two Council systems on their Reserve.
Education is considered a political, and it is the only institution which, employs members or supports both the Elective Band and Confederacy Council systems. Local control would mean associating it with the former Council. This would effect the jobs, and subsequently the welfare of the members of the Confederacy Council system working in the current education climate. They might not agree to work in a system which takes its authority from the Elective Band Council. On the other hand, this Council has no desire to assume control of education.
The principals and counsellors are practically all Indians. It is generally believed that they are well placed to make effective the Indians’ own ideas regarding education of the children. In addition, there is a Principal’s Association and a School Committee which act as advisory bodies to the Superintendent. Moreover, parents have access to the Superintendent, principals and counsellors regarding any problems or grievances they might have.
Notes
These notes have been lightly updated to follow contemporary citation formatting.
1 Evelyn C. Adams, American Indian Education: Government Schools and Economic Progress (Kings Crown Press, 1946), 12.
2 Abate Wori Abate, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education: A Case Study of the Iroquois of the Grand River Valley in Ontario, Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1984), 69.
3 Charles M. Johnston, ed., The Valley of the Six Nations: A Collection of Documents on the Indian Lands of the Grand River (Champlain Society, 1964), 52.
4 Chief J. W. M. Elliot, History of the Progress of Education Among the Six Nations (Ohsweken, 1902), 5.
5 Isabel Thompson Kelsay, Joseph Brant, 1743–1807: Man of Two Worlds (Syracuse University Press, 1984), 57.
6 Kelsay, Joseph Brant, 83.
7 Kelsay, 167.
8 Johnston, Valley of the Six Nations, 60.
9 Johnston, 254.
10 Johnston, 256.
11 Johnston, 256.
12 Johnston, 287.
13 H. W. Busk, A Sketch of the Origin and the Recent History of the New England Company (Spottiswoode & Co., 1884). 38.
14 Abate, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education,” 11.
15 Thomas Donohoe, The Iroquois and the Jesuits (Buffalo Catholic Publication Co., 1895), 70–71.
16 John Gilmary Shea, History of the Catholic Missions Among the Indian Tribes of the United States (Edward Duncan & Brother, 1855), 300.
17 Public Archives of Canada, MF78-l 4, Reel 1 (c4497).
18 Ernest Hawkins, Historical Notices of the Mission of the Church of England in the American Colonies (B. Fellows, 1847), 266.
19 Abate, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education,” 56.
20 William Webb Kemp, The Support of Schools in Colonial New York by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913; repr., Arno Press, 1969), 210. Citation refers to Arno Press edition.
21 Kemp, The Support of Schools, 210.
22 Henry Carley to Philip Bearcroft, Albany, dated November 17, 1742, in Frank J. Klingbert, Anglican Humanitarianism in Colonial New York (Church Historical Society, 1940), 56.
23 Hawkins, Historical Notices, 285.
24 SPG Letterbook in Kemp, 226.
25 Abate, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education,” 71.
26 Classified digest of the records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1892, Second Edition (London, 1893), 166.
27 New England Co., Six Years Summary of the New England Company, for the Civilization and Conversion on Indians, Blacks and Pagans in the Dominion of Canada and the West Indies, 1873-1878 (Gilbert & Rivington 1879), 163.
28 Classified digest of the records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1892, Second Edition (London, 1893), 166.
29 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C11133 (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
30 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C11133 (RG10, Vol. 2006, File 7825-lA).
31 Six Years Summary, 166.
32 Canada, Order-In-Council dated November 18, 1878.
33 Canada, 43 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No.4), A. 1880, Volume 3, 18.
34 Canada, 46 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No.5), A. 1883, Volume 4, 2.
35 Canada, 47 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No. 4), A. 1884, Volume 3, np.
36 Canada, 59 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No. 14), A. 1896, Volume 10, 23.
37 Canada, 46 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No. 5), A. 1883, Volume 4, 2.
38 Canada, 48 Victoria, Sessional Papers (No. 3), A. 1885, Volume 3, 19.
39 Lloyd King, unpublished manuscript.
40 Lloyd King, unpublished manuscript.
41 Lloyd King, unpublished manuscript.
42 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C111CC (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
43 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C111CC (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
44 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C111CC (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
45 Abate, “Iroquois Control of Iroquois Education,” 128.
46 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C11133 (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
47 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C11133 (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
48 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C11133 (RG10, Vol. 2007, File 7825-18).
49 E. R. Daniels, “The Legal Context of Indian Education” ((PhD diss., University of Alberta), 1973.
50 Canada, Order-In-Council dated February 16, 1906.
51 Canada, Annual Report of the Department of Indian Affairs, 1928 (King’s Printer, 1929), 14.
52 Public Archives of Canada, Indian Affairs, Reel No. C-8218 (RG10, Vol. 6167, File 434-5, Part-3).
53 Canada, Proceedings of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on the Indian Act, 1947 (King’s Printer, 1947), 1274.