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The Eighteenth-Century Wyandot: A Clan-Based Study by John Steckley Gary Warrick

Volume 106, Number 2, Fall 2014

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1050701ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1050701ar

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Publisher(s) The Historical Society

ISSN 0030-2953 (print) 2371-4654 (digital)

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Cite this review Warrick, G. (2014). Review of [The Eighteenth-Century Wyandot: A Clan-Based Study by John Steckley]. Ontario History, 106(2), 275–277. https://doi.org/10.7202/1050701ar

Copyright © The Ontario Historical Society, 2014 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/

This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ book reviews 275

into the 1747 census, producing a unique The Eighteenth- picture of the political lives of Wyandot Century Wyandot men and women in eighteenth-century A Clan-Based Study Ontario. The Eighteenth-Century Wyan- dot: A Clan-Based Study will have broad By John Steckley appeal not only to historians of colonial and Aboriginal , but also to Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2014. 305 pages. $85.00 hardcover. anthropologists and archaeologists. ISBN 978-1-55458-956-2 (www.wlupress.wlu.ca). The thesis of Steckley’s book is that clans, or related family groups tracing their ierre Potier, a Jesuit priest, was a mis- origin to an ancient ancestor, “kept the Psionary to the Wyandot of the Wyandot strong, which enabled them to area from 1744-1781. In an effort to bet- survive a forced migration and a splitting ter administer to the Wyandot, Potier up of the villages and tribes that made up conducted two censuses of Wyandot vil- the ancestors of the Wyandot” (p. 6). Fur- lages, recording the thermore, Steckley inhabitants of every believes that clans cabin and longhouse, “gave the Wyandot amounting to over links with the ances- 500 people in two tors and provided villages (Petit Village the foundations and Grand Village) necessary for build- and two outlying ing their political hamlets. In typical structure to survive Jesuit fashion, Potier’s the uncertain winds record keeping was of the future” (p.6). remarkably detailed. In short, according He noted the names to Steckley, the only of clan leaders, elders constant in Wyandot (both men and wom- life, from the time en), household demo- of their dispersal in graphics, marital and Ontario in 1650 un- family relationships, til today, is their clan and sometimes even system. Clans are the the age of individuals. glue that have held It is the most com- Wyandot society plete census of an Ab- together and made original community them resilient to cen- in prior to the nineteenth century. turies of forced migration and colonial in- The 1747 Wyandot census offers a unique terference. And Steckley offers compelling snapshot of a Wyandot community and evidence that senior Wyandot women have is the foundation of John Steckley’s latest been the key agents in maintaining clans book. Steckley’s unmatched expertise in and their crucially important socio-politi- Wendat language and history breathes life cal functions.

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The Eighteenth-Century Wyandot: A the French, on behalf of their clan brothers Clan-Based Study is organized into eight and sisters. For example, rivalries between chapters and four appendices, with a set of clans are revealed in the political machina- endnotes that are mostly interpretations of tions of Sastaretsi (Deer clan leader) and translations of Wendat words and names in Quarante Sols (Bear clan leader) regarding the eighteenth-century documents. In the relocation of the Wyandot from Michili- “Preface”, John Steckley summarizes his mackinac to Detroit in 1703 (pp. 68-72). 40-year academic interest in Wyandot lan- Chapter 4 deals with the adoption of guage, culture, and history and he declares outsiders into Wyandot clans. For native that the book is the culmination of his life’s Wyandot, clan membership was inherited work on the Wyandot. Chapter 1 intro- through the maternal line. However, non- duces the 1747 Wyandot census as a “pho- could become Wyandot tograph in time” (p. 1) and offers a brief by adoption into a clan (John Steckley is history of the Wyandot, listing the princi- an adopted member of the Wyandot). Jes- pal primary and secondary sources, from uit priests and French colonial leaders were their , Huron, and Neutral origins in commonly adopted, as were refugees and the seventeenth-century to the contempo- spouses from other Aboriginal nations. rary communities in , , Steckley skillfully uses historical records , and . Chapter 2 answers of adoption of Jesuits and commandants two questions: who are the Wyandot and of Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) to inter- what is the nature and purpose of Wyan- pret that the three Wyandot phratries were dot clans? Steckley defines the Wyandot rank-ordered (i.e., Deer, Turtle, Wolf ) in as a creation of the tumultuous events of importance. In the case of the defeated Fox the seventeenth century, and sees them as nation, refugees were adopted into various comprised of Petun, Wendat (Huron), and Wyandot clans in the 1740s, and baptized Neutral. as Christians (pp. 98-101). Chapter 5 ex- In the eighteenth century, there were amines amongst the Wyan- ten Wyandot clans, named after animals. dot. The level of participation of Wyandot In Wyandot society, clan name was inher- clans in Christian rituals, namely baptism, ited from one’s mother, clan members had marriage, and funerals, varied depending to marry outside of the clan, clan member- on their relationship with Jesuit priests, ship was extended to outsiders by adop- who commonly exercised their political tion, clans were further organized into power by befriending or shunning certain three phratries (sociopolitical groups com- clan leaders. posed of several clans), and each clan was Male political leadership of the Wyan- led by elders who had unique and heredi- dot is the focus of Chapter 6. Men were tary names. In Chapter 3, Steckley traces appointed to be clan leaders and repre- the lives of five prominent Wyandot clan sented their clans at village councils. Clan leaders of the late seventeenth and early leaders were selected at relatively young eighteenth century as illustration of the ages by elder women and filled overlap- autonomy of clans within the Wyandot na- ping political roles. For instance, the Deer tion. He presents convincing historical evi- clan leader Sastaretsi was the Grand Chief dence for clan leaders acting independent of the Wyandot, the leader of the Deer of larger tribes or nations in dealing with phratry, a household head, as well as a

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member of the council of Elders. Political all, there are no maps or historical illustra- rivalries existed within and between clans tions in the book. An overview map would and phratries, especially in dealings with have assisted the reader in tracking the Europeans. Also, there were peace chiefs Wyandot migrations and demonstrating and war chiefs for certain clans. Steckley the geographical distance between con- offers a political organization chart for the temporary Wyandot communities. Simi- Wyandot in 1747: grand chief (1), phratry larly, illustrations or reproduced maps of chiefs (3), associate chiefs (6), clan leaders eighteenth-century Detroit or the Wyan- (8), and a council of elders (60 – 31 men dot village are noteworthy in their absence. and 29 women) (pp. 167-168). Chapter 7 In addition, tables and charts are sprinkled provides a brilliant analysis of the role of liberally throughout the various chapters, women in Wyandot politics, providing resulting in a disruption to the flow of the brief biographical sketches of 34 named narrative of the text and adding to a sense women of significance (pp. 186-200). of disorganization at times. Some of the While Steckley is reluctant to call female charts should have been cut from the text elders “clan matrons” or “clan mothers” (p. and pasted into appendices (e.g., “Village 201), essentially his description of their Plan Chart” and “Basic Wendat Chronol- role and function in Wyandot household, ogy” in Chapter 1; “Petit Village Housing political, and ritual life both recognizes Pattern” in Chapter 4; “Christian Marriage and implies that women held the reins Records” and gift lists in Chapter 5 and of power in eighteenth-century Wyandot Chapter 7). communities. In summary, as stated in the conclu- Chapter 8 “A Summary” wraps up the sions in the final chapter, Steckley’s real rea- book, utilizing both text and tables to im- son for writing the book “is to take away the press on the reader the importance of clan anonymity and casual mention of people organization to the eighteenth-century who matter in the history of the Wyandot Wyandot. In Steckley’s view, the survival and of the in the eighteenth of the Wyandot to this day is a testament century” (p. 213). Virtually every page to the “flexibility and strength” of eight- of The Eighteenth-Century Wyandot con- eenth-century clan-based leaders and their tains the names, biographical sketches, and political strategies “to survive the danger- achievements of Wyandot people, rarely ous times in which they lived” (p. 203). seen in Aboriginal history, particularly of Four appendices follow the final chap- the seventeenth and eighteenth century. ter. Appendix A: “The Census” provides This book deserves a prominent place on Steckley’s analysis of the historical census the bookshelf of any serious scholar of Ab- data and its inclusion is absolutely essential original history and John Steckley deserves to a careful reading of the book. The other the highest praise for writing Wyandot his- appendices offer Steckley’s translations of tory that rightly depicts Aboriginal people historical texts in the Wendat language, of the past as multidimensional and as in- but they could have been omitted without fluential figures in Ontario and Canadian any serious loss to the overall message of history. I am certain that the Wyandot will the book. be very pleased with this book. While the content and overall organi- zation of the book are both generally excel- Gary Warrick lent, there are some minor faults. First of Wilfrid Laurier University

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