Ganatsekwyagon, The Seneca!
and Other Observations

Christopher J. Amos; Hons. B.A. Native Studies, Trent University

My 'Native Studies' undergraduate degree, which included Mohawk and Ojibway language and cultural studies, together with an insatiable interest in the history of Lower Great Lakes First Nations, has allowed me to obtain an extensive insight into the early history of the area and, in some cases, I have collated new information for the historical record that might be of interest. Having qualified myself to some extent; I have noted certain omissions which I believe you might like to address.

Firstly: I have in my possession an atlatl or spear point which my father found when he was excavating the 'swamp' area immediately to the north of the Amos Pond. It is about 2.75 inches long and made of Onondaga chert from the Niagara Region, originating either east or west of the Niagara River, and has been dated to 4000 B.C. E. by Professor Susan Jamieson of Trent University (and incidently I also have an adze head found in the same location which we have been unable to date). This spear point places human occupation in the Pickering area to 6000 years ago.

Another point: Contrary to a popular perception; my research indicates that the Senecas were never in possession of any portion of the north shore of Lake Ontario. The Mohawks did control a portion of Ontario that was generally restricted to the Bay of Quinte area, the Trent River-Rice Lake-Otonabee River, and Karwarthas to Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay, plus an outpost near Madoc on Moira Lake north of Belleville, for about 90 years between 1650 and 1740, but the Senecas, who were extremely hostile to the French, never established themselves in Ontario. This point is well supported by the fact that in every case of French contact with 'supposed' Seneca villages along the north shore of Lake Ontario prior to and during the said period, with the French being accompanied by 'Huron' canoe crews who were traditionally and intensely hostile to the Senecas, the inhabitants of the villages were warmly receptive and hospitable to those parties with celebrations often taking place; and that there are records of French meetings with these Lake Ontario north shore communities which average about every ten years during the period in question ... Footnote 1

The Senecas were responsible for the defeat of the Hurons in 1649-50 at Huronia but did not seem to remain anywhere in Ontario as they seem to have preferred their home territory or trade relations to the west - leaving Ontario to the whims of the Mohawks.

The Arendarhronon of central and eastern Ontario, who joined the Huron Confederacy about 1590, as a result of a large war between themselves and the Mohawks and Onondagas in which they were driven from the Adirondack Mountains of New York State and St. Lawrence Valley, controlled the north shore of Lake Ontario between Ajax and Gananoque continuously prior to, during those 90 years, and afterward, albeit with a tenuous relationship with the Mohawks in the Quinte area and in the Karwarthas, until they entreated with the British with respect to those lands in the 1780's.

Another branch of the Arendarhonon tribe, which did not join the Huron Confederacy, were the Neutral Iroquois who controlled the north shore of Lake Ontario from Ajax to Niagara and as far west as London on the Thames River and as far north as Huronia. These Neutral Iroquois, most anciently referred to in legends by the New York Iroquois and others as the "Twakanah" or "Twakanhak", apparently so-named after the "Great Golden City", ie. "Teotihuacan" (Te'oh-tee-ah-wah-con), in Mexico, and being the source of the name "Nyahgeah", ie."Niagara", for the river and "Onghiara" for their principle town, now Lewiston New York, at Niagara.

The Neutrals were also referred to as the "Petun" and as the "Tobacco Indians" (ie. certain tribes associated with the Neutrals), were also in continuous possession of their territory until they entreated with the British for British rights to those territories following the defeat of the French at Niagara in 1759 in the French-Indian War, and 1783 and 1784 following the American Revolution. These events do not seem to concur with recognized history as this data does not seem to address "Mississauga" ownership of the territories in question and treaties with the British for those same lands.

This is caused by similarities between the Neutral Iroquois, who had very similar traditions to those of the Senecas, to the point of being possibly mistaken for Senecas by archeologists and historians. They were a bilingual people who began to adopt 'Ojibway' traditions and language following the annihilation of the Huron Confederacy in 1649 through 1740 and until after the American Revolution when they began to be associated with Anishnaabek customs, traditions, and language use, and thereafter considered to be the 'Ojibway' "Mississauga's", ie. "Mitchi:Sauga"; a term that quite literally means the "Big Mouth" which we know as Niagara Falls; this meaning is confused with the Mississauga River on the north shore of Lake Huron where many of the Mississauga's retreated following the defeat of the Huron.

A point that illustrates this confusion is the identity of Joseph "Thayendenaga" Brant whose father was a Neutral Iroquois Chief of Niagara but that his mother was a Mohawk, and that Joseph Brant was chosen as the War Chief of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy during the American Revolution and continued to represent the Six Nations following the war. Another example is the mother of the Mississauga Chief and Methodist Minister Peter Jones who was a great niece of Joseph Brant but that Peter Jones became the Chief of the Mississauga's of the Credit in present-day Mississauga.

The Arendarhonon 'town' of "Ganatsekwyagon", as noted on "Joliet's Map of 1673", is not located at the mouth of the Rouge River. This error may easily be noted by the fact that this 'town' is very clearly located on the map between Frenchman's Bay (clearly illustrated and being the only bay [shown as lacking the sandbar that now separates the bay from the lake] on the Lake Ontario shoreline between Oshawa and Toronto) and Ganaraske (Port Hope) at the mouth of Bowmanville Creek; which was the southern terminus of the "Taronta Passage" portage to Lake Scugog (essentially the 'Old Scugog Road' but including a branch 'walking' trail toward the northeast), the Karwarthas and Fenelon Falls, and Lake Simcoe

(the syllable 'gwy' or 'gha' or 'qwe' et al + 'gon' in this word indicates that the 'town' was located on a hill next to the water where a canoe landing area was located'; however if the name of the town contained, as in the name "Ganatsetsetiagon", the suffix 'taiaiegon' / 'twakanh' or similar epistemologies, the grammatical syntax relates to a 'town located on the 'flats' next to the water'; with the former term designating a 'High Town by the water' and latter term a 'Town on the Flats' such as "Teaiaigon" on the Humber "Taronta Passage" or "Tayayagon" at Frenchman's Bay, also re: "Joliet's Map 1673".).

"Ganatsekwyagon/Ganatsegwyagon" on Bowmanville Creek was indeed a portage town but by identifying this town with the Rouge Valley a wrongful perception has been created that the Rouge was a portage route - which it was not as it would not have been a practical location as such - though it does seem to have been located there as a port of entry to inland areas. Another portage route to Lake Scugog with a terminus on Lake Ontario at Oshawa and another at Port Perry would also have existed.

The 'town' by the mouth of the Rouge River, which according to custom was moved periodically and therefore located from time to time on either side of the valley at West Rouge and on the east side at Rosebank, with other sites just west of Graham's Park and other proximal locations, was known to the Neutral Iroquois as "Aroghyadagwya"/
"Tekarihogea"/ 'Degwyrihogea' or "Rihogea"; thereby indicating the source of the name "Rouge" ... Footnote 2

The term "Rihogea"/'Rihogha' does not originate with the French language, or pertain to anything of a pink or a rosy hue. The term means 'royal' or "roianne' " and thereby designates a principle Iroquoian town and which in this case controlled the lakeshore Indian Trail, ie. later Danforth Trail/Road-Military Trail, as well as two northerly routes with one continuing north through the Rouge Valley toward Markham and the other following the eastern rim of the valley, which later became a logging trail and a pioneer trail that splits with a west fork toward Beare Road and the east fork that passes the east end of Amos Pond (corduroy portions of this road still exist through the woods south of Finch Avenue) and continues north through Pickering Township to the hamlet of Altona in Uxbridge Township.

Footnotes

#1 ... Does this help explain Father Fenelon and Father Trouve; Sulpician Missionaries; experience at Quinte Oct 2 1668 Quote Father Trouve " No one could be received in a more friendly way than we were by these savages " The Pickering Story ... McKay ..... or La Salle's meeting of the Chiefs of Ganatsekwyagon with Governor Frontenac in 1673. Frontenac's comments a year later in 1674 on the results ... " They have given their word not to continue the trade which I informed you last year, they establish at Gandaskiagon "A History of Scarborough .. Robert Bonis ..... or the 200 roe bucks shared with Marquis De Nonville's Army; on his return from sacking the Seneca Villages on the south shore of Lake Ontario in August of 1687. These encounters appear to be with friendly Natives, not hostile to the French. Were they perhaps tne Mohawk at Quinte and the Neutal Iroquois at Ganatsekwagon rather than the feared Seneca?

#2 ... The Cowan Family ( Deceased ) are also a witness to fact. They found hundreds of First Nation Artifacts on their farms which were located on lots 30, 31, 32 shown on the Augustus Jones Map of 1793. This location in the 1910 thru 30's served as a farm, a campground, and picnic area all owned and operated by the Late Cowan Family .... Cowan Family Bible ... Pickering Library

"On the hill by the big oaks over-looking the mouth of the river, was once an Indian Village of over 2000 people. I did not know this when I built my first house there in 1916; but we were continually finding arrow heads,skinning knives, and iron axe heads, such as brought by La Salle. Bones identified as Indian, were found in the erosion of the lake bank" ... Wm Cowan ... Excerpted The Pickering Story .... See 1885 account by Historian C.B. Robinson Robinson

I have come up with other points of view on the meaning of the name Ganatsekwyagon. Page 243 Toronto During The French Regime (2nd printing) ... P.J. Robinson quotes J.N.B. Hewitt (Smithsonian Institute) Ganatsekwyagon signifies ' Amoung the Birches (ie) Amoung birch trees and on page 17 Quoting Professor Lewis Allen Gandatschekiagon may mean "sand cut" (ie) opening in sand cliffs from gandechia, "sand' and gaiagon, "cut" This supports David Redwolf's ( Seneca ) definition. See A Piece of Canada's Past

Yet another explanation of the name Rouge River Quote " A little to the west of the Seneca village ( Ganatsekwyagon ) was a stream that gave kindly shelter to distressed canoes; and so by the Indians of the next century and of a differnt race it was named Katabokokonk, or the " River of Easy Entrance". In making it's way to the lake it pierced a hill of red tenacious clay which sufficently coloured it's waters to justify the old French name Riviere Rouge. ... It is still the Rouge and the name is interesting as the sole remaining trace now on this north shore of the old Sulpican Mission of Louis the Fourteenth's domain. Boyle History of Scarborough Township pp. 26 and 27