More Contextual Documentation

I filled in the blanks from my previous post and have added a couple more things. I am including two maps and one painting (above that I thought just looked cool).

New Entries

Two books that give insight into the Seneca Indians are:

Abrams, George H.J. The Seneca People. Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series, 1976.

This book is a primer in the Seneca people, from their origin and history to illustrations, maps and twentieth century photographs.

Porter, Joy. To Be Indian: The Life of Iroquois-Seneca Arthur Caswell Parker. Norman:
U of Oklahoma P, 1967.

This book has a section on Parker’s adoption ceremony and gave detailed descriptions of it. Since Jemison was adopted by the Seneca during a tribal ceremony, I believe looking at other such adoptions ceremonies would be helpful.

The role of Native women in a tribe is key to understanding Jemison’s agency as an Indian woman:

Shoemaker, Nancy. "The Rise Or Fall Of Iroquois Women." Journal of Women's
History 2.3 (1991): 39-57.

From this essay I learned the term “declension narrative” which means a narrative history which demonstrates a change cast in terms of decline. Shoemaker says this is “prominent in t he history of Iroquois women” (39). In this essay, Shoemaker reveals how the political, economic and individual freedoms of Iroquois women have changed during colonization.
Pre-Revolutionary War, Iroquois women controlled the means of production and their “power came from the group’s matrilineal, not matriarchal, social organization” (40). As clan mothers, women had political influence since the oldest women of specific lineages chose successors to office from men in their clans.

Here is information on Sheninjee and Hiokatoo that I hope will help:

Hughes, James. "Those Who Passed Through: Unusual Visits To Unlikely Places. Mary
Jemison." New York History 87.1 (2006): 144-148.

James Hughes, a retired teacher and historian from Syracuse, New York writes about Mary Jemison in this issue of New York History produced by the New York State Historical Society. He gives detailed information on both of Mary Jemison’s Indian husbands: Sheninjee and Hiokatoo. It is through her marriages to powerful Indian men that Jemison gains some of her agency. From her marriage to second husband Hiokatoo, Jemison, “as the wife of a powerful leader of the Seneca Nation…becomes prominent in tribal councils, exhibiting both the strengths of her own race and those acquired from her adopted people” (147).



This is a map of the "Iroquois Land Cessions during colonial times, and early United States changes in Iroquois and Seneca land control" (Abrams 28-29).



This map shows the Seneca Indian Reservations from the Treaty of 1797 (Abrams 49).