


Chief Cornplanter

Chief Cornplanter is my great-great-great-great-great grandfather
(I believe he is 5x great)....
He was the Chief to the Seneca Tribe of Indians....

   He shook the hand of George Washington in a land treaty where he
had to give up the land or watch his entire tribe killed off and he
eventually became Washington's Cheif of Indian affairs.

The indians thought he was a sell-out to the tribe but he was actually a hero...

He met and married a Lady of Great Britain and had children... 
 
Burial: Riverview - Corydon Cemetery
Warren County - Pennsylvania, USA
 
Created by: Kristin Noelle - Record added: Jan 23, 2008
Find A Grave Memorial# 24123575




   Gaiänt'wakê (c. 1750 – 1836) or Kaintwakon, generally known as
Cornplanter, was the son of a Seneca (Indian) mother and a Dutch-
American father. He was born at Canawagus (now the town of Caledonia)
on the Genesee River in present-day New York state. He was raised
with his mother's people.

   Cornplanter urged neutrality during the American Revolutionary War,
but finally accepted the majority decision of the Iroquois League, to
which the Seneca and six other tribes were aligned, and joined the side
of the British Empire. He then led attacks on American settlements in
New York and Pennsylvania. He emerged from that war regarded by the
Seneca as a principal war-chief.

   The era following the American Revolutionary War of Independence was
one of enormous conflict, especially for Native Americans on the East
Coast of the United States. During this time, Chief Cornplanter advocated
peace between the races. He participated in the negotiation of three
principal treaties (1784, 1789, and 1794) that ceded large tracts of
Native land to the fledgling United States government. His stated belief
was that it was the ultimate path of benefit for his people. His stance
of non-resistance to white expansion eventually earned him the enmity
of his people and he was displaced as leader of the Seneca by the more
militant Red Jacket in 1791.

   Chief Cornplanter died and was buried in 1836 on land that had been
granted to him in 1796 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in gratitude
for his efforts of reconciliation. The Cornplanter Tract was turned into
a reservoir in 1960 upon the construction of the Kinzua Dam and his grave
was re-located to a small cemetery in the forest overlooking the land
that is renowned for his legacy.

   While many of the Iroquois renounced him in the last years of his life,
Cornplanter has since been recognized for his far-sightedness and his love
for his people and his efforts for their welfare and future.




http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cornplanter






