Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory - History

History

Following the American Revolution, the Mohawk, who were allies of the British Crown, lost their traditional homelands in the Mohawk Valley of what became New York state, when they were forced to cede their lands following the defeat of the British. As compensation for their allegiance, the Crown offered them unsettled land in Upper Canada. A group of Mohawk led by John Deseronto selected the Bay of Quinte because it allegedly was the birthplace of Tekanawita, one of the founders of the original Iroquois Confederacy in the 12th century.

On May 22, 1784, the group of 20 families (between 100 to 125 people) arrived. Nine years later, the Tyendinaga tract of land was officially set aside under Crown Treaty 3½, signed on on April 1, 1793, by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe and thereafter known as the 'Simcoe Deed'. This tract of land, measuring 92,700 acres (37,500 ha), was legally accepted by the British Crown, and subsequently by the Canadian Government.

But a wave of Loyalists also settled in the Bay of Quinte area, and the government granted many of whom land in the Tyendinaga Tract. During the period from 1820 to 1843, the Mohawk lost two-thirds of the treaty lands of the Simcoe Deed. Further land loss has left the Mohawk with only 71 square kilometres (18,000 acres) today in this area today. Other groups settled in the Six Nations Reserve, Kahnawake, Kanesatake, and Akwesasne (the latter three were established Mohawk settlements along the St. Lawrence River prior to the war.