Molly Brant - Final Years and Legacy

Final Years and Legacy

When Carleton Island was largely abandoned in 1783, Brant moved to Cataraqui, now Kingston, Ontario, where the government built her a house and gave her an annual pension of £100. The property that she was assigned was Farm Lot A in Kingston Township, along the northern limit of the town. It was only 116 acres instead of the standard 200 acres because it was encroached upon by the Clergy Reserve. Brant and her family received compensation from the British government for their losses in the American Revolution. Hoping to make use of her influence, the United States offered Brant compensation if she would return with her family to the Mohawk Valley, but she refused.

Brant lived in Kingston for the remainder of her life, a respected member of the community and a charter member of the local Anglican Church. Her son George Johnson, known as "Big George" among Natives, married an Iroquois woman and became a farmer and teacher; her daughters married prominent white men. She died in Kingston on April 16, 1796, at about age 60, and was buried in St. Paul's Churchyard, Kingston's original burial ground, now the site of St. Paul's Anglican Church. The exact location of her grave is unknown.

Brant's legacy is varied. Since 1994, she has been honored as a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada. Brant was long ignored or disparaged by historians of the United States, but scholarly interest in her increased in the late 20th century. The Johnson Hall State Historic Site in New York now interprets her public and private roles for visitors. She has sometimes been controversial, criticized for being pro-British at the expense of the Iroquois. According to Feister and Pulis, "She made choices for which she is sometimes criticized today; some have seen her as having played a large part in the loss of Iroquois land in New York State."

Brant is commemorated on April 16 in the calendar of the Anglican Church of Canada. No portraits of her are known to exist; an idealized likeness is featured on a statue in Kingston and on a Canadian stamp issued in 1986.