Montour family

The Montour family was a family of Native American and French descent which was prominent in colonial New York and Pennsylvania before and during the American Revolution. Because of the Iroquois practice of reckoning descent through the female line the family is known as "Montour" after the matriarch.

Madam Montour
Main article: Madam Montour

Madam Montour (1667–c.1753). Information on Madam Montour is fragmentary and contradictory. Even her given name is uncertain.

According to her own account:

she was born in Canada, whereof her father (who was a French gentleman) had been Governor; under whose administration the then Five Nations of Indians had made war against the French, and the Hurons and that government (whom we term the French Indians, from espousing their part against the English, and living in Canada) and that, in the war, she was taken by some of the Five Nations’ warriors, bein then about ten years of age, and by them was carried away into their country, where she was habited and brought up in the same manner as their children.[1]

Current research indicates that she was born Élisabeth (or Isabelle) Couc around 1667, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, the daughter of Pierre Couc and Marie Mitouamegoukoue, an Algonquin.[2]

She was apparently married three times, the last to an Oneida named Carondawanna (Karontowá:nen—Big Tree), who later took the name "Robert Hunter" after the Governor of New York whom he met at the Albany Conference of 1711. By Carondawanna Madam Montour had at least several children:

  • Andrew (Sattelihu)
  • Margaret, known as French Margaret
  • a daughter, who may have been named Catherine
  • Lewis (Tau-weson)
  • Henry (most sources say Henry and Andrew were the same person: "Andrew Montour who by the name of Henry Montour,"—from his land grant)[3]:p.323

Her husband was killed about 1729 in battle with the Catawba;[4] after the death of her husband the family moved to Otstonwakin, on the Lawi-sahquick (Loyalsock Creek), now Montoursville, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.[5]

She served as interpreter on several occasions, notably Albany in 1711, and Philadelphia in 1727. Her skills were highly valued such that in 1719 the Commissioners for Indian Affairs in Albany decreed that she should receive "a man's pay."[4]

Andrew Montour
Main article: Andrew Montour

Andrew Montour (c. 1720–1772) was the eldest son of Madam Montour. He was commissioned a captain by the British in 1754 during the French and Indian War. Later he commanded of a raiding party in Ohio in 1764 during Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1766). He was granted land in Pennsylvania by the colonial government. He married Sally Ainse. His son John served on the side of the colonists in the American Revolution. Another son, Nicholas, became a wealthy businessman and landowner in Canada.

Margaret Montour

Margaret Montour, (1690–) also known as French Margaret, the eldest daughter (some say niece)[3]:p.135) of Madam Montour, was married to an Iroquois named Katarioniecha (Peter Quebeck), a Mohawk.[6] They resided at a village called on a 1759 map "French Margaret's Town" (Wenschpochkechung), on the west branch of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Lycoming Creek (now Williamsport, Pennsylvania). The couple had at least five children:

  • Catherine (French Catherine)
  • Esther (Queen Esther)
  • Nicholas
  • a son who was killed about 1753 fighting the Creeks
  • Mary, or Molly.[5]

Like her mother Margaret attended treaty conferences and often interpreted.[5]

Lewis Montour

Lewis Montour, the son of Madam Montour, was killed during the French and Indian War.

Catherine Montour
Main article: Catherine Montour
Shequaga Falls in the present-day village of Montour Falls, New York near the site of Catherine's Town

Catherine Mountour (1710–c.1780) was the daughter of French Margaret. She married Thomas Huston or Hudson (Telenemut). Their children were Roland, John, Amochol(son), and Belle. Catherine died c. 1780-81[5]:p.79 Her home was a large village at the head of Seneca Lake, New York called Shequaga,[7] or Catherine's Town.

Esther Montour

Esther Montour, (c.1720–[8]:p.984) called Queen Esther, was the eldest daughter of French Margaret. She married Echogohund, chief of the Munsee Delawares, and became their leader following his death. Her home was at Sheshequin (now Ulster Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania). During the American Revolution she is reported to have led a war party at the Battle of Wyoming in 1778. According to some sources, enraged by the death of her son on the previous day, she participated in the torture and murder of thirty or so of the enemy; as one puts it "she was the most infuriated demon in that carnival of blood."[5] Others dispute this, saying either that reports of atrocities were propaganda, or that Esther did not participate.[9][10] According to one story she was killed by Thomas Hartley later that year, although other sources state that she died around the year 1800 on Cayuga Lake in New York.[5]

Mary Montour

Mary Montour was the daughter of French Margaret Mountour. She married Kanaghragait (John Cook), called "The White Mingo" (died 1790). Mary was baptized in Philadelphia by a Catholic priest. In 1791, on the removal of the Moravian mission from New Salem (Petquotting) to Canada, Mary accompanied them. She was fluent in "English, French, Mohawk (her mother tongue), Wyandot [Huron], Ottawa, Chippewa, Shawnese, and Delaware."[4]

Roland Montour
Monument traditionally thought to mark the burial place of Roland Montour, Painted Post, New York

Roland Montour, also spelled Rowland, was the eldest son of Catherine Montour. He was married to a daughter of the Seneca chief Sayenqueraghta, known as "Old King" or "Old Smoke,"[11] by his Cayuga wife.

He was active in the American Revolution on the British side. He participated in the raid that captured Benjamin Gilbert.

He is reputed to have died in September, 1780 in Painted Post, New York of wounds received in the Sugarloaf Massacre at Little Nescopeck Creek, Pennsylvania.[5]:p.79[12] However sources say he lived for several years after the massacre.[13]

John Montour

John Montour("Stuttering John")(–c.1830) was the son of Catherine Montour, the younger brother of Roland. He died about 1830 at Big Tree, New York.[5]:p.79

John Montour

John Montour (1744–1788) was the son of Andrew Montour and the granddaughter of the Delaware chief Sassoonam. John fought on the British side in the American Revolution until 1778, when he was imprisoned in Detroit by Henry Hamilton for helping some prisoners escape. After this he switched sides and supported the Colonists. [14]

Simplified family tree

Many details are unclear and contradictory. This chart shows two possible identifications for Madam Montour (green boxes), and two possible lines of descent for French Margaret and Andrew Montour.

Family of Madam Montour (simplified)
Pierre Couc dit Lafleur
(1627–1690)		Marie Miteoamegoukoué
(1631–1699)
MadeleineLouis Montour
(c. 1659–1709)		Isabelle Couc
(b. 1667)		Marguerite Couc
(b. 1664)		Jean Baptiste Couc
(b. 1673)
Daughter
(b. c. 1685)
Andrew Montour"French Margaret""Queen Esther"Michael Montour
John MontourNicholas Montour"Queen Catharine"

Place names

The following places are named for members of the Montour family:

See also

References
  1. Marsh, Witham (1895). "Marshe's Journal of the Treaty of the Six Nations, Held at Lancaster in 1744". Notes Queries Historical and Genealogical Chiefly Relating to Interior Pennsylvania. I: 261–305.
  2. Sommerville, Suzanne Boivin. "Élisabeth/Isabelle COUC dit LAFLEUR/MONTOUR". LÉVEILLÉE - BÉLANGER. Retrieved Oct 30, 2015.
  3. Meginness, John Franklin (1889). Otzinachson: A History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna. Clinton County (Pa.): Gazette and bulletin printing house. Retrieved Nov 22, 2015.
  4. Hodge, Frederick Webb (1911). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: A-M, Volume 1; Volume 30, Part 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 936–939. Retrieved Oct 28, 2015.
  5. Egle (ed), William Henry (1895). NOTES QUERIES HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL CHIEFLY RELATING TO INTERIOR PENNSYLVANIA. 2. Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg publishing Company. Retrieved Oct 28, 2015.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  6. Murray, Louise Welles (1908). A History of Old Tioga Point and Early Athens, Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre, PA: The Raeder Press. p. 108. Retrieved Oct 31, 2015. Peter Quebeck.
  7. Merrill, Arch (1950). Land of the Senecas. American Book-Stratford Press. p. 119.
  8. Harvey, Oscar Jewell (1909). A History of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. 2. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Raeder Press. Retrieved Nov 23, 2015.
  9. Wallace, Paul (2007). Indians in Pennsylvania. DIANE Publishing Inc. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-4223-1493-7. Retrieved Oct 29, 2015.
  10. Abell, Guy. "Queen Esther -- Indian friend or fiend?". Tri-Counties Genealogy & History. Retrieved Oct 29, 2015.
  11. Conover, Hy-we-saus) (1885). Sayenqueraghta, King of the Senecas. Geneva, New York: Observer Steam Print. p. 5. Retrieved Nov 22, 2015.
  12. Harvey, Oscar Jewell (1909). A History of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. 1. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Raeder Press. Retrieved Nov 3, 2015.
  13. "THE STORY OF PAINTED POST A HUMBLE MONUMENT OF THE OLD INDIAN WARS". The New York Times. August 13, 1893. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  14. Kelly, Kevin P. "John Montour: Life of a Cultural Go-Between". Colonial Williamsburg. Archived from the original on 2010-04-07. Retrieved Dec 10, 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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