1666 Paris Record “Iroquois Families” document
August 18, 2019 Redux
Michael Galban, Jamie Jacobs & George Hamell
The famous 1666 document has been republished and quoted often by many writers. The version which most people cite is translated in New York Colonial Documents (9:47-50) and can be found in The Documentary History of the State New York by E.B. O’Callaghan (pp, 3-11) Because of the detail of the drawings and the cultural meanings captured within, the document has been of great use as a tool for teaching about clan lineage, 17th century negotiation, wampum and even captive-taking.
Fenton believed it to be “probably Seneca” in origin, likely due to the timing of a Seneca contingency of ten Seneca Chiefs, who appear in New France in early spring of 1666 to negotiate a treaty of peace. The latter page that shows a person’s tattoo scheme, a representation of the Potato Clan, a war club and a captivity tool come directly from a “board” that appears in their cabins. This is curious because if the document is Seneca in origin due to the ambassadors to France in 1666, then why, are they viewing a board “typically found in a cabin”? Could these images come from one of the two French invasions of the Mohawk Valley in 1666? In the fall of 1666, the French attack four Mohawk towns and could have quite possibly seen or taken one of these bark documents then. The only problem I see with this scenario is the number of clans represented in the main image. Nine clans are shown and yet Mohawk people have only three clans. The main image could be from a general overview of the complexity and diversity of all of the Haudenosaunee peoples or it is a record of a specific event which included representatives of these nine clans. Either way, I suggest that the origins of the document and iconography are not simply “probably Seneca”.
Since its first English translation in the mid-19th century, not many have investigated the details and clarity of the English version. If you carefully read the O’Callaghan translation some of it makes so little sense as to be nearly meaningless. So, I decided to re-translate the French version and add to it some ethnological and cultural ideas, some history and an accurate Haudenosaunee word translation which will help future scholars.
Please keep in mind, that what we are seeing is a French copy of a Haudenosaunee depiction and then what we see in “Colonial Documents” is a re-drawing of the French re-drawing. At this point it gets to be a visual game of telephone. So, I am reproducing the original French crayon drawing so that we can get as close to the original intent as possible.
I enlisted the help of Jamie Jacobs (Tonawanda Seneca) with the early Haudenosaunee words. The languages of each the Haudenosaunee nations at this point in history were mutually intelligible and nearly identical. Comparisons of dictionaries compiled in both Seneca and Mohawk country prove this out. George Hamell was also instrumental in unraveling the mystery of the “Potato Clan” people. I will include quotes from his work here as well. Nyaweh Jamie & George!
If a linguist wishes to make notes or additions to this document, please feel free to send your updates into the comments section. This can become a living document where Haudenosaunee linguists, academics and scholars can improve on our work.
At the end of the translation I will include images of the original document as it appears in the archives of the French government.
The Nine Iroquois Clans
The Iroquois Nation is composed of nine families which makes two bands, one of four families the other of five families.
They call the first band Guéyniotiteshsgué ¹ this means the four families, they call the second band Ouicheniotishesgué ² this means the five families.
*note found written in the margin: [ it is called Atiniathin³]
The first family (clan) is the Turtle, it is the first one because they assert that when the master of life made the earth, he made it on a turtle, and when there are earthquakes it is because the turtle is shaking.
The second family (clan) is the Wolf and is called Enanthayonni⁴ or Cayenyisenhonon and is the brother of the Turtle family. When war matters are at stakes, they deliberate together, and if the matter is of great importance, they inform the other families for the purpose of deliberating together, as well as all the other families. they assemble in the cabin of a war chief when it is a matter of war, and when it is an ordinary State affair it is in the cabin of a council chief.
The third family (clan) is the one of the Bear which they call Atinionguin⁵.
The fourth family (clan) is the one of the Beaver and is the bear’s brother. These four first families compose the first band they call Guéy niontiteshesgué.
Second Band
The fifth family (clan) is the of the Deer which they call Canendeshé.⁶
The sixth is the one of the Potato which they call Schoneshioronon.⁷
The seventh is the one of the Great Plover which they call Otinanchahé.⁸
The eighth is the one of the Little Plover which they call Asco or Nicohes.
The ninth is the one of the Kiliou⁹ which they call Canonchahonronon¹⁰. They call these five families Ouichiniotititeshesgué.
These families (clans) then make the nine villages which were assembled to support war with more ease. The nine families (clans) originate in a cabin that sits inside the territory, and composed of many fires or households. In the middle of the cabin was a partition that divided the cabin in two.
The people were bothered because they knew no one else and hence could not marry, they all married each other [to one and each other] this is why their name means two cabins [united] together.
Each family (clan) has its family animal painted on the gable of the cabin, some painted in black, the others in red.
When they are gathered for some council, the first band goes to one side of the fire lit in the cabin, and the other band goes on the other side.
When the matter for which they are gathered is discussed in depth on each side, they each tell their resolution to the other side.
The band which decides upon the matter makes two resolution in order to take the best one and submit all the objections one could make against its resolution in order to show everything was well discussed.
They usually go with the first resolution unless there are some strong reasons to oppose it.
When they go to war and want to warn people who may cross their paths that they are a war party, they depict the animal of their family holding an ax in its right paw, sometimes it is a saber or a war club; and if in the war party are many families (clans), each one depicts its family (clan) animal and number who joined the party. The whole thing is on a tree from which they removed the bark. It is the animal of the family (clan) which is the master of the party that is always depicted first.
Usually they set up a rendezvous point when they leave for an attack, where, if they are pursued, they leave behind some guards and ammunition. When they are fighting they are well matachés ¹¹ (body painted), and they wear only the breech clout and moccasins.
When it is a large war party they leave 100 or 150 people, some leagues away from the village they are about to attack.
After the strike if they have case-tête or warclubs, they lay it against a corpse leaning towards the village that the deceased was from.
When they return, if they have prisoner or scalps they depict their family animal (clan) standing with a stick on the shoulder, with the scalps they took hanging from it. Following the animal are the captives they have taken with a chichicois¹² in the right hand, if there are women they depict them with a cadenette or couette [braided hair] and a skirt.
If there are many families (clans) in the war party, each one depicts its family animal with the scalps and prisoners as explained above, but they are always placed after the family (clan) which is the leader of the party.
When they have scalps, they give them to one or two men who carry these on their belt, hanging to their back.
The men who have scalps, follow the others from a certain distance, about a quarter of a league, they say it is because if they are fleeing and have scalps, and travel in front, the captives cannot walk because there as seized with fear at the sight of the flowing blood. This is only for the first day of walk, sometimes for the second and the third when they are pursued.
As soon as they are joined (by the pursuer) they warn the others and then each one flees on his side or they wait for the enemy. At dusk they dig a pit in the ground where they light their fire with bark to cook their meat, when they have some. They do this for three or four days.
They tie the captives to a post they stick in the ground. They have the captives leg or rather the foot of the slave go through the post and the post is closed by another which is tied to the first at the height of a man. They have a man sleeping on each side of the slave, and they take turns visiting them from time to time during the night.
When they have lost some of their people on the battle field, they draw men with the legs up and headless, the same number as they lost. To show the family (clan) they were from, they depict the deceased ones’ family (clan) animal leaning on its back, the legs up. If it is the war chief who died, the animal is headless.
If there are wounded ones, they depict a broken gun but still attached to the stock or they depict a broken arrow. To show where they are wounded, they depict the wounded one’s family (clan) animal with an arrow that goes through the wound location, and if it is a musket shot, they put the mark of the musket ball on the body of the animal, using another color.
If they have sick ones and must carry them, they depict stretchers in the same number as the sick ones; as they could carry only one per stretcher.
When they are within thirty or forty leagues from the village, they send runners ahead to warn of their arrival and to tell what happened to them. Then each one makes ready to receive the prisoners when there are some, and to inflict to each the torments they find suitable.
Those who are condemned to the fires are brought to the cabin which has been assigned to them. All the warriors are gathered in a war cabin, after they send for them (the captives) to have them sing and dance and to torment them until they are brought to the post.
Meanwhile, two or three young folks are preparing the post, they make a fire close to it and keep the musket barrels ready.
When everything is ready, they bring him (the prisoner) and tie him to the post. Then they burn him. When he is burnt up to the stomach, they untie him and break all of his fingers, and they scalp him. They let the scalp hang in the back on little tab of skin they leave on the head for the purpose of holding the scalp. They make him die in this suffering, upon which they all take a piece of him and go on feasting.
Explanation of what is on the sheet of paper
A This is a party which comes back from war. They have taken a prisoner and killed a man and a woman whose scalps are hanging on a stick he carries
B A Prisoner
C The Chichicois he holds in his hand [266 verso]
D These are the ropes he is tied with, at the neck, arms and belt
E This is the scalp. What is next to it is the braided hair [cadenette]
F This is the scalp of a woman. They depict it with loose hair
G A war council between the family (Clan) of the Bear and the family (Clan) of the Beaver. They are brothers.
H A Bear
I A beaver
L This is a wampum belt that it holds in his paws, for avenging the death of someone, and he is conferring this with the Beaver
K Council upon affairs of state
M It is the Bear
N It is the elders (council) fire
O This is the Turtle and the other families (clans)
P Canoe going to war
Q Paddles. By the number of paddles they know how many men are in the canoe because they place as many paddles as there are men. Underneath they paint the animal of the family (Clan) they belong to
R This is the canoe
S This is a man who comes back from hunting, who slept two night on his hunting trip and who has killed three does; because when they are males they drawn the antlers. What is shown on his back is a pack/bundle
T A Deer head. This is how they paint it.
V This is how they mark the time they spent hunting. Each mark or each bar is a day.
Y The way they depict the dead. The two first ones are men, the third is a woman who is only distinguished by the skirt she wears.
Regarding the dead, they bury them with everything they own. When it is a man, they paint red calumets on the tomb, they are peace calumets. Sometimes they plant a post on which they paint how many times he went to war, and how many prisoners he took. The post is usually four or five French feet tall and well mataché (painted).
The portrait of a Native man that they usually paint on a board in their cabin. How many times he went to war and how many men he took or killed.
a These are the tattoos he has on his body.
b This is how they mark when they went to war. When there is a bar hanging from a mark to another, this means that after going on a war party he [the man] didn’t come back right after to the village and went again with another war party he joined or assembled.
c This broken arrow shows the body parts where he was wounded
d This is how they depict when wampum belts are given for raising war parties and for avenging the death of someone who belonged to them or someone from the same family (Clan).
e He returned to war without entering the village.
f A man who has been killed on the battlefield and who had a bow and some arrows.
g These are two men he made prisoner, one had an ax (tomahawk) in his hand and the other a musket.
gg This is a woman that is distinguished only by a type of skirt
h This is how they distinguish her from the men.
This is how they draw their portraits
a This the way to depict the family (Clan) of the potato and not how it is on the other sheet.
b It is a stick stuck in the ground, at its end, two or three pieces of wood are tied to show the way they went for hunting; and on the nearest tree they paint the animal of the family (Clan) they belong to with the number of muskets they have with them, this is to say, that if there are three men, they paint three muskets, if there are more and someone has a bow instead of a musket they paint a bow.
When coming back from hunting, as they get close to the village they do the same thing and mark the number of beasts they killed, this is to say, they depict the deer and the buck, from the head to the neck, if there are any males they put antlers on it. The other animals are fully drawn. If they have been hunting for a few days, they mark the number of days as explained on the other sheet.
When coming back from hunting, as they get close to the village they do the same thing and mark the number of beasts they killed, this is to say, they depict the deer and the buck, from the head to the neck, if there are any males they put antlers on it. The other animals are fully drawn. If they have been hunting for a few days, they mark the number of days as explained on the other sheet.
c The club they used for smashing the head when going to war.
The post used to tie a prisoner. They put the leg between the two posts in the notch on the biggest one, this to say that the two posts go around the leg just above the ankle. Then they tie the two post together as high as a man’s height and sometimes higher. This way, it is impossible to remove the foot without undoing the ropes.
Endnotes
¹ Guéyniotiteshsgué ; modern spelling : Ge:h niodi’sägē:h - meaning; Ge:h (four) ni (how or what) odi (them) ‘sä (root for clan) gē:h ( a number of) - J.Jacobs
² Ouicheniotishesgué ; Wis (five) ni (how or what) odi (them) ‘sä (root for clan) gē:h ( a number of)
[Jacobs notes that the old pronunciation of “Wis” sounded more like “Owiche”]
³ Atiniathin ; modern spelling : Hadi (they) nyadē:h (are turtles) - J.Jacobs
⁴ Enanthayonni ; modern spelling : Honöta (the road) yöni (its making it longer) – the term for the Wolf Clan. - J.Jacobs
⁵ Atinionguin ; modern spelling : Hatinyagwai’ (they are bears) - J.Jacobs
⁶ Canendeshé ; modern spelling : Ganöndase:’ – the new village, newtown – According to J. Jacobs, the Deer Clan was from a people (Huron possibly) « absorbed by the Haudenosaunee whole and that’s where the Deer clan probably came from.» - J.Jacobs
⁷ Schoneshioronon ; modern spelling Jonesiyo:onö’ – people of the “genesee” (good sand – formerly good valley) this term is possibly related to refugee people who were placed with the western Seneca people of the Genesee Valley; also the term for snipe clan today; accounting for the large Seneca Snipe Clan representation today and the three Seneca Chiefs titles. The title Ganogaridawi (Snipe Clan doorkeeper) emerges among the western Seneca towns at this same time period. - J.Jacobs
⁸ Otinanchahé ; This term is possibly related to the Honondioga or Heron Clan in modern Seneca tradition. - J.Jacobs
⁹ The Quiliou or Kiliou is known as the “Calumet Bird” in Franco-Anishinabek pidgin. It was also known as a species of eagle. The obvious misunderstanding comes from the similarity of the Hawk (and its associated clan) with other large raptors. See: The Documentary History of the State of New York by O’Callaghan; Vol. I, Ch. I, Art. III - Enumeration of the Indian Tribes Connected with the Government of Canada; The Warriors and Armorial Bearings of Each Nation. 1736.
¹⁰ Canonchahonronon ; probably a derivative of the modern Seneca term Ganosaonö’ – which means they are of the house. It could relate to the modern Seneca term - Hodiswē’gaiyo’ –- they are of the planks/boards – the modern term for the Hawk Clan. - J.Jacobs
¹¹ Father Du Poisson in 1687 remarks that painted hides of the Quapaw are known as matachés or “painted”. See: The Rumble of a Distant Drum: The Quapaws and Old World Newcomers, 1673-1804, by Morris Arnold.
¹² The “Chichicois” is the gourd rattle which captives are given and by which they are made to sing their death songs. A pidginized version of an Algonkian term for bottle, chichigoué.
Images of the original French Documents
