DAUGHTERS OF THE NATION: STOCKBRIDGE MOHICAN WOMEN, EDUCATION, AND CITIZENSHIP IN EARLY AMERICA, 1790-1840 by KALLIE M. KOSC Honors Bachelor of Arts, 2008 The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Texas Master of Arts, 2011 The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Texas Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of AddRan College of Liberal Arts Texas Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2019 Copyright by Kallie M. Kosc 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe thanks to a great number of people, both personal and professional, who supported the completion of this project over the past five years. I would first like to acknowledge the work of Stockbridge-Munsee tribal historians who created and maintained the tribal archives at the Arvid E. Miller Library and Museum. Nathalee Kristiansen and Yvette Malone helped me navigate their database and offered instructive conversation during my visit. Tribal Councilman Jeremy Mohawk graciously instructed me in the basics of the Mohican language and assisted in the translation of some Mohican words and phrases. I have also greatly valued my conversations with Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Bonney Hartley whose tireless work to preserve her nation’s history and sacred sites I greatly admire. Numerous curators, archivists, and librarians have assisted me along the way. Sarah Horowitz and Mary Crauderueff at Haverford College’s Quaker and Special Collections helped me locate many documents central to this dissertation’s analysis. I owe a large debt to the Gest Fellowship program at the Quaker and Special Collections for funding my research trip to Philadelphia. Pat O’Donnell and Christopher Densmore at the Friends’ Historical Library at Swarthmore were also helpful in navigating their voluminous collections. Gwendolyn Saul, Curator of Ethnology at the New York State Museum allowed me to tour the off-display Mohican items in the museum’s collection and better acquainted me with the material culture of the indigenous Northeast. Barbara Allen and Richard Wilcox have now welcomed me twice in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Their eagerness to help has been greatly appreciated. Mr. Wilcox also deserves particular recognition for the numerous hours he has dedicated to locating, transcribing, and annotating documents related to the Stockbridge-Munsee nation’s time at the original Stockbridge settlement. Cheney Schopiarey and the rest of the staff at the William L. ii Clements Library provided helpful conversations about my research and their collection over their morning coffee hour, a custom that made my time there even more fruitful than anticipated. Robyn Reid at TCU makes sure that the history department is well-equipped with online databases and has helped many of us navigate the early stages of researching new topics. I could not have completed this project without the support of the Department of History at Texas Christian University. The generosity of Dr. Weldon Cannon, Ms. Patricia Benoit, and Dr. Paul F. Boller allowed me to undergo extensive travel for research and present my work at a number of conferences where I received much-needed perspective on my work. Heather Confessore and Stacey Theisen keep the department running beautifully and have helped me personally many times over the last five years. I learned much about scholarship and the historical profession from a number of faculty members including Jodi Campbell, Peter Worthing, Alex Hidalgo, Bill Meier, and Max Krochmal. I would like to thank Hanan Hammad and Kara Vuic for their personal and professional support and advice over the years as fellow academic mothers. Rebecca Sharpless, Susan Ramirez, and Todd Kerstetter have each taught me a great deal and spent much time critiquing my writing and teaching. Their encouragement has been much appreciated. I could not have asked for a better advisor than Alan Gallay. He has challenged me to think bigger (and smaller) in ways that have greatly benefitted my approach to researching and writing about the past. I have valued his mentorship and support more than I can adequately express here. I have been lucky to meet many wonderful scholars along the way who have helped me through coursework and the dissertation in a variety of ways. Ann Little has been generous with her time and encouragement. I am grateful that she agreed to be on my committee and look forward to improving the following text with her critique in mind. Lucy Murphy has provided iii useful feedback for my early research and introduced me to several other scholars, including Maeve Kane whose scholarly expertise and support I’ve been glad to receive. Tisa Wenger and Alyssa Mt. Pleasant have also provided solid critique and advice that I will continue to take with me as I revise my work and begin new projects. I have enjoyed my conversations with Richard Niemi over the years. Dick was the first person to dig up archival information on Mary Peters/Doxtator. The groundwork he laid allowed me to build our knowledge of Mary Peters beyond what I thought possible. I am also grateful that he introduced me to Dawn Peterson, whose work overlaps with mine in exciting ways. Her encouragement of this young scholar has been a boon to dissertation morale. My colleagues Lisa Barnett, Brett Dowdle, and Mike Burns read and commented on some very rough drafts of the following text, for which I am thankful. Brady Winslow, Jason Cannon, Brenan Rivas, Jen McCutchen, Mike Burns, Nick Browning, Reilly Hatch, Joe Schiller, Blake Hill, Bill Cohoon, Katherine Bynum, and Jessica Webb all made graduate coursework at TCU downright delightful. I am not sure I could have weathered the hard times over the last several years without Katherine and Jessica’s friendship. Brady Winslow and Leah Ochoa have also become close and valued friends with whom I have enjoyed sharing this journey. I must also thank my previous advisors and mentors at the University of Texas at Arlington whose instruction and encouragement led me down this path to begin with. Sarah Rose, Stephanie Cole, Steven Reinhardt, and Kelly Igleright-Telgenhoff deserve special mention here for their continued support and excellent training. The biggest and most inadequate thanks must be reserved for my family. My mom and dad, Kathy and David Mitchell, deserve a novel-length treatment of thanks for their unwavering support of my many questionable ideas (pursuing a PhD being only the most recent). My dad instilled a love of history in me at a young age and my mom taught me how to diagram a iv sentence, so I blame most of this on them. My brother, Dustin Mitchell, and sister-in-love, Lisa Black, always help me see the lighter side of life, for which I am grateful. My grandmother, Evelyn Carlene Mitchell, taught me how to love unconditionally and laugh at myself, skills that have proven invaluable in life. My best friend, Feliz Tele Durham, has had my back (whether I deserved it or not) for twenty-seven years. Every person deserves such a loving and loyal friend. I may never have pursued or completed graduate school without the encouragement of Gregory Kosc. He has been my go-to copy editor, sounding board, comedian, and best friend for twelve years. Life is infinitely better with him by my side. Finally, to my daughter, Evie: You are my favorite part of life. I am in awe of your courage, kindness, and determination. Thank you for interrupting my workflow daily and reminding me how lucky I am to have you as a daughter. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…..…………………………………………………………………………... ii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………...…... vii I. Introduction …………………………………………………………………...…. 1 II. Daughters of a Mohican Nation ………………………………………………... 16 III. “Sisters in the Lord”: Stockbridge and Quaker Women Transform Indian Education, 1790 – 1797 …………………………………………………….….. 46 IV. “if I stay ever so long”: Isolation and Education in Quaker Homes, 1797 – 1801 ............................................................................................................................... 87 V. “in order to form perfect union”: Stockbridge Women and the Search for Communal Prosperity, 1800-1818 ……………………………………........ 121 VI. “through all the changing scenes of this life”: Removing and Remaining, 1818 – 1840 …………………………………………………………………………… 152 VII. Conclusion: Mohican Daughters in an American Nation …………………….. 194 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………….. 201 Vita Abstract vi LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1 Detail of a map of the Oneida Reservation …………………………………………. 44 Fig. 2 Woodsplint Basket ………………………...……………………………………….. 140 Fig. 3 Leggings ……....…………………………………………..……………………….. 140 Fig. 4 Pouch ………………………………………………………………………………. 149 Fig. 5 Doll ………………………………………………………………………………… 149 Fig. 6 Moccasins ………………………………………………………………………….. 150 Fig. 7 “Sauvauge de Balston Spring” …………………………………………………….. 150 Fig. 8 “Many Trails” ……………………………………………………………………… 191 Fig. 9 The old capitol buildings in Albany, New York …………...……………………… 191 Fig. 10 “Map of New Stockbridge” ………………………………………………………. 192 Fig. 11 Detail view of settlements near Fort Howard …………………………………….. 193 vii I. INTRODUCTION “We have been Christianized and colonized and expect men to have the power,” stated Stockbridge-Munsee tribal elder Dorothy Davids in a 2001 interview. The comment was made in the context of a discussion about the slow reemergence of women as recognized leaders within the nation, but it could equally apply to the whole of American history and much of American historiography. The following