"Mary McKee (Miss), whose native name was “Carrying-a-Pond,” belonged to the Bear clan; her nickname was “Turtle.” A refined half-breed Wyandot, aged 73 in 1911, she belonged to Anderdon township, Essex country, Ontario, and was one of the very last to speak the language of her nation on the Detroit River. Her mother, Kyuhkwe, a Wyandot of the Bear clan, had spoken only Wyandot, and her father, Thomas McKee, was a half-breed whose own father was a Scotsman of repute in the Revolutionary War - Colonel McKee."

How Was This Iroquoian Dialect Saved From Oblivion

Native Informants/Footnotes

The Native informants and interpreters, whose materials were phonetically recorded at first hand, in 1911-1912, at Wyandotte, Oklahoma, were the following in order of importance. All of them had died a decade later, and their language had virtually ceased to exist except, as taken down by the author under dictation:

Catherine Johnson (maiden name, Coon), of Wyandot Reservation, Oklahoma, half-breed Wyandot of the Deer clan. She spoke Wyandot almost exclusively and was slightly over 60 years of age in 1911. Her personal name was “She-is-Sailing-in-the-Sky.” In the course or my two seasons or field work during which her narratives were dictated, she visited several of her old acquaintances on the reservation to refresh her memory, as she could scarcely recall the details.

Smith Nichols, also of the Deer clan, was the oldest member of the so-called “breech-clout” band of the Wyandottes in Oklahoma. His knowledge of the past was extensive. He spoke Wyandot almost to the exclusion of English, yet at one time he had been nominally a preacher of the denomination or “Friends.” His mother, who was also or the Deer clan, had died in Ohio in 1842, and his father was a Cayuga, of the Bear clan. His grandmother, Nendusha, from whom he learned most of the old traditions, is said to have died a centenarian.

Star (Hiram)Young,  called “His-Sky-in-the-Water,” of the Seneca Reservation, Oklahoma, belonged to the Wolf clan; his nickname was “Tishon,” Star. He was about 65 years of age. Part of his information was recorded in English and part in text.

Mary McKee (Miss), whose native name was “Carrying-a-Pond,” belonged to the Bear clan; her nickname was “Turtle.” A refined half-breed Wyandot, aged 73 in 1911, she belonged to Anderdon township, Essex country, Ontario, and was one of the very last to speak the language of her nation on the Detroit River. Her mother, Kyuhkwe, a Wyandot of the Bear clan, had spoken only Wyandot, and her father, Thomas McKee, was a half-breed whose own father was a Scotsman of repute in the Revolutionary War - Colonel McKee.

John Kayrahoo, “His-arrow-kills,” of the Porcupine clan, was about 72 in 1912. His information was recorded in text, as he spoke only Wyandot. He died in 1913.

Allen Johnson, “He-Cannot-Find-Game,” of the Deer clan, was the son of the above mentioned Catherine Johnson. His services were valuable, chiefly as an interpreter and informant on the language

Footnotes

(1) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 93, No.3, 1949, pp. 226-232.

(2) Biggar, H.P., The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, Publ. Public Archives of Canada 11:61, 1924.

(3) Langaige (for langage) was a spelling adopted by Rabelais in his own work.

(4) See my Kingdom of Saguenay, Macmillan Company of Canada, 1937. First chapter: “A Tarande for the King. “

(5) Proc. and Trans. Royal Soc. of Canada for the Year 1842 (ii): 55-104, 1885.

(6) In his Histoire du Canada et Voyages III, IV, Paris, 1636.

(7) Shea’s Library of American Linguistics X: 123, 1863.

(8) New York, Cramoisy Press, 1862 pp. 123.

(9) Thwaites, Reuben Gold (ed.), The Jesuit Relations X (1636): 68-72, l897

(10) ibid. XXI (1641-l642): 250-265, l640-1641.

(11) This MS. was described in J .C. Pilling’s Bibliography of the Iroquoian languages (Smithsonian Institution, 135, 136, 1888), and published in the Firth Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario, 1908, by Alexander Fraser, 32, 1909. In the introduction, it is stated that this MS. was written by Potier at Lorette in 1743, l744.

(12) Reprinted from the Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. 12: 1-45, 1888.

(13) Montreal, Dawson Bros., 1869.

(14) Montreal, 1882.

(15) According to Shea: above Fifteenth Report. Pé. 707-708, footnote.