Teganissorens

Teganissorens (Also known as Decanesora; circa 1682-1718) was an influential Onondaga chief, orator and diplomat. He played a leading role in English-French-Iroquois relations during the last quarter of the seventeenth and first quarter of the eighteenth centuries.

Biography

He was strongly attached to the French, and in 1682 was placed at the head of a deputation of Iroquois chiefs that was sent to Montreal to make terms with Frontenac and his Indian allies. It was soon discovered that the Iroquois had sent Teganissorens as a blind, and were taking the field against the Illinois, while pretending to wish for peace. But the French governor dismissed him with honor, knowing that his influence did not extend to all the Iroquois tribes.

He set out on a similar mission in 1688, and the preliminaries for a treaty were arranged between Denonville, the Canadian governor, and the Iroquois deputies. The Hurons were dissatisfied with the proposed treaty, and, on the return of Teganissorens and his party, they were attacked by Kondiaronk, a Huron chief. Some were killed and others taken prisoners, among the latter Teganissorens, who, on complaining of this attack on an ambassador and a friend of the French, was told by Kondiaronk that the latter themselves had sent him. To show that he spoke sincerely, he at once released the Iroquois ambassador. Teganissorens, however, remained loyal, and continued to render such services that he ranked with Oureouhare and Garaconthie as one of the three Indians to whom the French colony in Canada was most indebted.

He became a Christian in 1693, and in May 1694, arrived in Quebec with eight deputies. He was received with kindness by Frontenac, the governor, who gave him many presents. He proposed the restoration of Catarocouy (Kingston), and that it should be strengthened and made the bulwark of the colony. The suggestion was eagerly adopted by Frontenac, who prepared a large escort which was to conduct to that port a garrison, mechanics, and all necessary stores, but he was obliged to countermand the expedition, owing to an order from the French court. He excited the displeasure of the governor afterward by not returning to Montreal at a fixed date with the submission of some of the Iroquois tribes who were holding back. But the reason of his delay was that he found his efforts to bring about a general reconciliation between the Iroquois and the French abortive.

He remained at Onondaga, where he received three French ambassadors that had been sent to make a treaty with the Iroquois on August 10, 1700. He afterward received both French and English agents and declared his intention of remaining neutral. Hearing in 1703 that some of the Iroquois were concerting with Vaudreuil (who had then succeeded Callières in the government of the colony) an attack on the English settlements, Teganissorens went to Montreal and protested angrily against this breach of neutrality and declared that his tribe would take part for neither side. As the neutrality of the Iroquois was what the French governor wanted, he assured the chief that he would not send any parties against the English in New York. Teganissorens, on his part, pledged himself to retain the missionaries that were in his country. In 1711 he informed Vaudreuil that preparations were made at New York, Albany, and Boston for an invasion of Canada.

His wife was murdered for alleged witchcraft. She was said to have learned "poisoning" from the Jesuits, but the description of her act of poisoning fits the classic pattern of Iroquois witchcraft. Her victim was the son of Aqueendero, the chief sachem of Onondaga who alternated speaking roles with Teganissorens. A relative of her victim spied her in Albany and beat out her brains.

References

• Einhorn, Arthur (1974). "Teganissorens". Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. III. ISBN 0-8020-3314-8. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1427. 
• Fenton, William Nelson (1998). The Great Law and the Longhouse. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 291–295. ISBN 0-8061-3003-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=LNKNhY0MX8UC. 
• Colden, Cadwallader (1958). The History of the Five Indian Nations depending on the Province of New-York in America. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9086-3. http://books.google.ca/books?id=OwJ3eANNbg4C. 
• Havard, Gilles; Aronoff, Phyllis; Scott, Howard (2001). Great Peace of Montreal of 1701. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 0-7735-2219-0. http://books.google.ca/books?id=YOQE3_sDJP0C. 
• Richter, Daniel K. (1992). The Ordeal of the Longhouse. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4394-6. http://books.google.ca/books?id=58zWiRBi6YkC.