Name
Tewowary. His name may derive from “tehóhare,” meaning “he has suspended something in two different places.” [1]
Toniwerot appears in only one known historical record, the journal of Harmen Meynderts van den Bogaert, who mentioned Tewowary in 1634.[2] The West India Company had sent three Dutch men to the area west of Fort Orange to investigate a decline in trade with the Iroquois nations and negotiate more favorable terms.[3]
Origin
Tewowary was a Native American chief who belonged to the Mohawk tribe.[4]
Settlement
Tewowary was the chief of Schanidisse castle (casteel), a term the Dutch used for Native American villages.[5] The village was probably located between present-day Canajoharie and Fort Plain in Montgomery County, New York.[6]
Biographical Details
A chief in 1634, Tewowary was probably born between say 1564 and 1609. He died at an unknown date after 1634.[7]
Offices
Tewowary was the chief of Schanidisse.[8]
Associations
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On 20 December 1634, Tewowary met with three Dutch settlers: Harmen Meynderts van den Bogaert, Jeronimus dela Croix, and Willem Thomassen. The West India Company had sent them to the area west of Fort Orange to investigate a decline in trade with the Iroquois nations and negotiate more favorable terms.[9] The Dutch men stayed at Schanidisse, where they ate venison and traded an awl for a beaver. At night, Van den Bogaert received a lice-ridden lion skin to use as a cover.[10] Tewowary would also have met Sqorhea, who acted as a guide for the Dutch explorers.[11]
Literature
Gehring, Charles T. and William A. Starna, eds., A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634–1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, Revised (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2013), 6 [English translation], 76 [Dutch transcription]. This journal is the only known contemporary source to mention Toniwerot. Gehring and Starna transcribed, translated, and annotated the journal.
Citations
[1] Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna, eds., A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634–1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, Revised (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2013), 40 (note 42).
[2] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 8.
[3] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, xxvii.
[4] The term in the journal is “Maquasen,” a Dutch reference to the Mohawks. Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 26–27.
[5] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 8.
[6] Dean Snow, “Mohawk Valley Archaeology: The Sites,” Occasional Papers in Anthropology at Penn State, no. 23 (June 21, 2016), https://journals.psu.edu/opa/article/view/59781.
[7] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 8.
[8] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 8.
[9] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, xxvii.
[10] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 8.
[11] Gehring and Starna, A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 7–8.
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