Harriet Maxwell Converse

Harriet Maxwell Converse

Harriet Maxwell Converse (née, Harriet Arnot Maxwell; Seneca clan name, Gayaneshaoh; Seneca tribal chief name, Ya-ih-wah-non or Gaiiwanoh; 11 January 1836 - 18 November 1903) was an American author, folklorist, Native American civil rights advocate, and a Six-Nation chief.

Early years

Harriet Maxwell Converse was born in Elmira, New York, in 1836. She was Scotch by ancestry, American by birth and Indian by adoption. She was a daughter of Thomas Maxwell, vice-president of the Erie Railroad, and Maria Purdy Maxwell. Her father and grandfather, Guy Maxwell, had been Indian traders; both were adopted by the Seneca Nation.[1] Her mother died when Converse was young, and she was sent to live with an aunt in Milan, Ohio, where she attended school.[2]

Career

Early married to George B. Clarke,[3] she became a widow while her former companions were yet girls, and in 1861, she was married to her second husband, Franklin Buchanan Converse (d. 1903), a banjo player and inventor.[1] For five years after her this marriage, she traveled in the US and Europe, writing prose and verse under a pen name. Not until 1881 did she begin to make use of her own name in print. She then set herself seriously to her work and published her first volume of poems, Sheaves (New York City, 1883), which passed through several editions. In 1884, Converse was formally adopted by the Seneca people, as had been her father and grandfather before her. It was soon after the occasion of the re-interment by the Buffalo Historical Society of the remains of Red Jacket, and her adoption made her the great-granddaughter of him, with all the rights and honors pertaining to the relation.[4]

Converse was an industrious writer of prose and a contributor to several magazines and newspapers. Among the works written by her were the historical volumes, The Religious Festivals of the Iroquois Indians and Mythology and Folk Lore of the North American Indians.[4]

She always defended the rights of the Native Americans of New York, and effectively aided the delegation at Albany in 1891 to oppose a bill before the State Assembly which would have deprived them of their lands. The bill was defeated in committee. Before the hearing of the Iroquois by the committee, Converse had been invited to sit in their Six-Nation Council held in Albany, an honor never before bestowed upon a white woman, save Mary Jemison. After the bill was defeated, the Seneca National Council was convened at Carrollton, in the Allegany Reservation. During this session, an application was laid before the Council to the effect that, "by love and affection", it was the desire of the Native American that Converse should be received into their nation as a legal member of it. Upon this appeal, a vote was taken, and it was unanimously resolved that she be at once invited to appear before the Council and receive her Indian name. To this summons, Converse responded, and on her arrival at Carrollton was met by a delegation of Seneca and escorted to the Council House, where she was received by the marshal of the nation and presented by him to the President and Board of Councillors. A runner was immediately sent out to notify the Seneca, and 300 of them gathered in the Council House, when Converse was nominated by the matrons to sit with them. Taking her place between two of the "mothers" at the head of the Council House, the ceremony proceeded, conducted by a head chief of the Snipe clan, of which Converse had been made a family member in 1881. The resolution of the Council was then read in the Seneca language and interpreted to her. Then, an eloquent address was made by the head chief of the Snipes, to which Converse responded, recalling her inherited claim by reason of the adoption by their ancestors of her grandfather in 1794 and her father in 1804.[4] At the adoption, she was given a Seneca name, "Gayaneshaoh".[1]

In the fall of 1891, in a Six-Nation Condolence Council, held on the Tonawanda Reservation, Converse was nominated, elected, and installed as a Six-Nation chief, thereby receiving a title never before bestowed upon a woman in all the history of the North American Indians. The name given Converse was Ya-ih-wah-non or Gaiiwanoh, which signifies "ambassador," and is translated as "The Watcher." This was a clan name, and the last bearer of it was the wife of Gy-ant-wa-ka, or Cornplanter.[4][1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Biography of Harriet Maxwell Converse". Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Willard 1893, p. 200.
  3. ↑ James, James & Boyer 1971, p. 375.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Willard 1893, p. 201.

Bibliography

Attribution

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