“At Home in the Adirondacks: a Regional History of Indigenous and Euroamerican Interactions, 1776 – 1920”

“At Home in the Adirondacks: A Regional History of Indigenous and Euroamerican Interactions, 1776 – 1920” by Melissa Otis A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by « Melissa Otis, 2013 “At Home in the Adirondacks: A Regional History of Indigenous and Euroamerican Interactions, 1776 – 1920” Melissa Otis Doctor of Philosophy Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education - History in Education program Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a social history of Algonquian and Iroquoian people in the Adirondacks of New York State, a rural, borderlands region that shares geography and history with parts of Canada. My study is a microhistory that brings a local history into a larger national dialogue and debates about Indigenous people in colonial and nineteenth- century North American history. It argues the Adirondacks have always been an indigenous homeland to Iroquoian and Algonquian peoples and that they contributed to the fabric of its culture there. It also examines and complicates the history of landscapes known as hunting territories or, as I have also called them, locations of exchange, defined as “a purposeful and occupied place where reciprocal acts occur, creating opportunities for entangled exchanges between people and the land.” These themes run throughout the thesis. ii My dissertation briefly investigates the pre-colonial relationship between Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking people with this place and then focuses on the entangled relationships that formed post-contact, over time, between Indigenous people and Euroamerican Adirondackers, as well as visiting urban sportsmen and tourists. My work examines nineteenth century relationships in the Northeast between men and women in both social and economic endeavours; it is also a history about labour, including performance. In addition to ethnicity, gender, and class, this study examines the nature of rural society in this time and place, to further complicate our understanding of Indigenous histories. I suggest that class relations and rural society are important lenses to view contact history during the nineteenth century and later, especially in the East where contact was longer and the trope of the “vanishing Indian” was privileged. Moreover, my dissertation demonstrates the ability and need to extend Native peoples’ history past the contact period in any historical narrative about place or culture in North America. iii Acknowledgments A project that on paper took nearly six years to complete has many people to acknowledge and thank. In reality, this undertaking encompassed a life time and it helped me to find my way home. Thus, first I must thank my parents for having the good sense of raising me in the Adirondacks, a beautiful haven to grow up in. I only wish they were still here to read the completed effort; I know they would be proud. In addition, I must thank the work itself for reuniting me with family and friends still living in the Adirondacks as I began my research in late 2008; they were always in my heart but we had not been physically connected for many years. I also need to acknowledge the influence of Ray Tehanetorens Fadden, whose Six Nations Indian Museum in Onchiota, NY and his life as an educator sparked a life- long desire in me to learn about the history of the Indigenous people of New York State and elsewhere. Mr. Fadden inspired me to appreciate the varied and rich culture and history of the Iroquoian, Algonquian, and other Indigenous people of North America. Visiting the museum as a young Girl Scout taught me to look beyond the stereotypes and this lesson remained with me all of my life. I would next like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Cecilia Morgan, for her professional guidance and valuable support and above all her patience as she edited and without judgment guided me back to the world of the historian. I want to also thank my committee member, Dr. Ruth Sandwell who provided me guidance and opportunities to network and teach, as well as for her and my other committee member, Dr. Heidi Bohaker’s useful and constructive feedback on my chapters. I am also very appreciative of the feedback provided to me by my external reviewer, Dr. Alice Nash of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst; her comments led to some break-through moments. All of these scholars have provided to me many ways to think about and consider my work. To all of you, I am very grateful. In addition, I need to express my appreciation to Dr. Marge Bruchac, Dr. James Rice, and Dr. Carl Benn for their valuable and useful suggestions and willingness to give of their time which was very much appreciated. A special thanks goes to Dr. Christopher Roy, whose work on the Abenaki and his willingness to share information with me was invaluable. I also want to thank my colleagues, especially Dr. Alison Norman for helping me to navigate the processes at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and for her continued efforts to guide me through the academic minefield. Also, to the writing groups that put up with me and my work including the Toronto Environmental History Group and the Labour History Group; your feedback was instrumental during an especially difficult period of writing. I’d also like to acknowledge the generous assistance provided by the Universi ty of Toronto’s Guaranteed Funding (2006 -2010) and Doctoral Completion Award (2010-2011) iv along with the University of Toronto Research Travel Grant Awards (2007-2009), all of which made this thesis possible. Further, I want to recognize the conference funding grants I received including those from the Graduate Student Association and from the University as well as from several professional organizations. Their generosity allowed me to present my work and receive additional feedback; I am especially grateful to the Conference on Iroquois Research, American Society for Ethnohistory, and the Canadian Historical Association / Société historique du Canada. I am particularly grateful for the assistance given to me by current and former Adirondackers John Kahionhes Fadden of the Six Nations Museum at Onchiota, Martha Lee Owens, the late Clarence Petty, Beverly Locke and her sister Edith Russell, and Phillip Straight Arrow Joseph for their interest, suggestions, and the sharing of their stories. A special thanks to John Fadden and Phil Joseph for literally spending years with me as I crafted this thesis. Thank you for your hospitality and I hope my work accurately and respectfully expresses your contributions. I am indebted to and must thank dozens of Adirondack and other archivists and local historians for their thoughtful and sometimes daunting assistance with the collection of my data. I have to especially acknowledge several people and places. First, Bill Zulo, the historian and curator of the Indian Lake Museum and now Hamilton County’s Historian for his support and generosity of time, and for going out of his way to provide me access and putting up with my many questions and requests to view material at the museum which was often closed when I wanted to visit. Also, my thanks go to the staff of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake including Jerry Pepper, research library librarian, Laura Rice, director, and to Angela Snye, Hallie Bond and other members of the staff who I relentlessly pestered and who graciously put up with me. They too went out of their way to provide me access to the museum, library archives, and stored materials; your generosity and patience were and still are greatly appreciated. Because I received so much help from the amazing staff of archives large and small throughout the Adirondacks and elsewhere, I will acknowledge them based on my chronological visits. I cannot thank them enough, this long list includes the following: Raymond W. Smith, Long Lake Archivist now retired; Jennifer Kuba, Librarian of the Adirondack History Center Museum; Michele Tucker, Curator at the Adirondack Research Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library; Clinton County Historical Association; Mark McMurray, Curator of Special Collections and University Archivist at St. Lawrence University; Janet Moore, local history librarian of the Potsdam Library; Emma Remington, Director of the Parishville Museum and town historian as well as her assistant, Joseph McGill; Christopher D. Fox, Curator at the Thompson-Pell Research Center at Fort Ticonderoga; Andy Kolovos, Archivist and Folklorist at The Vermont Folklife Center; Janet Hall, Keene Historian, Janet Cross, Deputy Clerk of Essex County and v patient teacher of how to research in a County Clerk’s Office; the librarian and archivist at the Keene Valley Library; Prudence Doherty, Librarian of Special Collections at the University of Vermont; Site Administrator at the Chimney Point State Historic Site; the archivists at the Vermont State Archives and Records; Paul Carnahan, Librarian of the Leahy Library for the Vermont Historical Society; the Special Collections Librarians at the Feinberg Library’s Special Collections; the Librarians for the Adirondack Collection at the North Country Community College Library; Anne Weaver, Lake Pleasant Town Historian; Amy Peters, Interim Hamilton County Historian; the staff at the Northville Public Library; the late Lynne Billington, Piseco Lake Town Historian and thoughtful hostess who graciously invited a lone traveler to attend their histor ical association meeting; the staff of the Hamilton County Clerk’s Office; the Librarians of the Akwesasne Cultural Center Library and especially Sue Ellen Herne the Akwesasne Museum Program Coordinator for all of her assistance; the staff of the Wead Library of Malone; Kay Olan Kanatsiohareke for her thorough research and survey of Native artefacts along the Champlain Valley and for her permission to copy those on the New York State side; the staff of the New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections, especially to Helen E.

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