The Brothertown Collection

 

Photo taken by Mr. Dennis Gramentz.  Pictured left to right are Jessica Ryan, Jerry Walentoski, Loretta Metoxen, and Caroline Andler in front of a table of some of the items in the collection.

In 2010, the Oneida Nation, on behalf of the Brothertown Indian Nation, purchased, and continues to archive, a collection of Brothertown related artifacts. This purchase was the culmination of a 10+ year effort begun by Brothertown Tribal Genealogist, Caroline Andler, and furthered by Oneida Tribal Historian, Loretta Metoxen.

The collection had been inherited by a Mr. Jerry Walentoski from a friend of his who had inherited it from his own non-native grandfather, Otto Heller. After years of persuading, Mr. Walentoski finally accepted the Oneida Nation’s generous purchase offer and on October 7 a check presentation ceremony was held (see photo at top).

While consisting of hundreds of original documents, photos and artifacts, following are some of the items specifically remembered by Mrs. Caroline Andler.

Orsamus Fowler’s Appointment as Major in the 29th Reg during the Civil War 2-18-1858
Avery Samson Probate 1-5-1852
Many original Land Patents signed by President Tyler in 1842
Rachel Abner and Isaac Dick’s personal inventory 1847
Phebe Fowler’s dementia and her daughter’s legal papers
William Dick appointed as Peacemaker by Gov. DeWitt Clinton, NY 3-6-1822
Edgar Dick’s Notary License 1894
Last Will and Testiment of Harriet Niles
Lawsuit Graves v. Fowler 4-24-1863
Official Election resuls Orsamus Fowler elected Calumet County Treasurer 1852=1854Original paperwork of 1st lawsuit filed by an Indian tribe against the US government
Personal correspondence in several hundred envelopes -including 119 letters written by Brothertown men fighting during the Civil War and writing to relations back home in Brothertown
Correspondence from those still living in Brothertown, NY, detailing how hard life is for them 1850

Hundreds of photos – most named – including many in little red velvet boxes of our Civil War soldiers

Dozens of tiny school and church books
The Court Book
Thomas Commuck’s book of hymns
An original copy of Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England
A couple of Stockbridge history books including one telling of those Stockbridge thrown off their land for back taxes and served by John Crosley Hammer, First Sheriff of the new county

Most valuable are the two maps which divided up the Brothertown Township into lots and signed by G.H. Feathersonbaugh on July 13th, 1840

Some later articles
The Baptist celebration which was held in Phillips woods plays written and preformed, speeches, photos of the gathering.

Beautiful marriage certificates preformed in Utica, NY, mostly Fowler and Johnson.

**photo of John Hammer’s blacksmith shop from the below referenced Wisconsin Historical Society Magazine

For further information and photos on the over 1000 items in this collection, please see the 2008-2009 winter edition of The Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol.92, number 2 entitled, “The Relocation of the Brothertown Tribe in Territorial Wisconsin”. The magazine is available through the Wisconsin Historical Society and can be found online at http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/utils/getfile/collection/wmh/id/49801/filename/print/page/download/fparams/forcedownload**

Another great story about the obtaining of this collection can be found within the Patty Loew book, Seventh Generation Earth Ethics: Native Voices of Wisconsin. In part, Loew recounts the visit of Mrs. Andler’s ancestor, Joseph Johnson, to Oneida in January, 1774 and the quote recounted by Mrs. Andler from the 2010 ceremony with the Oneida Tribe wherein they acknowledged her Johnson ancestor and told us Brothertown that, “We {are} their brothers and will always be protected by them.”

Advertisement

Brothertown New York Cemeteries

“We Keep a Fire For the Dead”

We keep a fire for the dead whose spirits walked before us
Who, shoes exchanged for eagle’s wings, now sing angelic chorus
Though we no longer walk the land in Brothertown today
Our hearts remain forevermore where there our brethren lay
~Megan

---

According to his 2010 dissertation, Craig Cipolla identified 6 Brothertown burial sites in our former tribal lands in New York. These sites are known as the Niles/Occom, Dick, Skeesuck, Deansboro, Shelley, and Fowler cemeteries. Most of these are now on private property and one needs permission to access them. In his dissertation, Cipolla includes plot maps, photos, and where applicable, inscriptions for all of them except Fowler as he was not allowed to access that area.

Photo sent in by Mr Gilley of Deansboro, NY.  This sign is off of Hwy 315.

Fowler Cemetery is one of the larger ones and, according to William DeLoss Love’s book, it is also the resting place of Samson Occom. Love’s book (originally published in 1899) also cites two other Brothertown cemeteries, Tuhie and Dugaway. Unfortunately, the exact whereabouts of these two is currently unknown.

If you would like to view or download Cipolla’s dissertion (the photos and explanations of the cemeteries begin around p 131) please go to http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1130&context=edissertations.

To download Love’s book please visit https://archive.org/details/samsonoccomchris00love

Here is reprinted a Brothertown plat map which Cipolla marked with the locations of these Brothertown cemeteries.

Above: Map of cemetery locations in Brothertown, New York: A) Tuhie Cemetery (precise location unknown); B) Deansboro Cemetery; C) Fowler Cemetery; D) Dugaway Cemetery; E) Skeesuck Cemetery; F) Shelley Cemetery; G) Dick Cemetery; H) Niles/Occom Cemetery (Map modified from Love 1899).

An Engraved Invitation

I have recently been made aware of a few events which may be of interest to our Brothertown family.  I will post updates to the current events page of this site so please check there for subsequent information or feel free to contact me directly.

*First, a group is forming to travel to (formerly) Brothertown, New York this Spring to work on cutting back underbrush and tending to the graves of our ancestors.  If you are available the weekend of May 6th, 2016 and would like to lend a hand please contact me through the contact link on this website.

*Second, Brothertown descendant, Mr Paul Werth of Washington state has tentavily set this year’s Pacific NW gathering for Saturday April 23, 2016.  If you plan on attending please contact Paul directly or let me know and I can relay your information to him.  Also, there is a gathering in MN on the the weekend of April 30th.

*Also of news is a symposium September 9-11, 2016 being co-hosted by Ms Ivy Schweitzer at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.  This symposium is open to the public and all members of our Tribe have kindly been invited by Ms. Schweitzer to attend.

Below is reprinted, in part, a document which explains a bit more about the event.  If you are interested in attending, please let me know and perhaps we can arrange some group travel and/or hotel accommodations.

Digital archives of Indigenous materials have enriched our notions of texts and what counts as Native writing, but raise questions of ownership and control. This workshop and symposium will celebrate The Occom Circle and other indigenous digital archives by exploring the multiple modalities of Indigenous histories and texts and their remediation through digital means. How can archives be turned into living places—that is, how can they serve community interests of Indigenous survivance? How might we understand the multiple literacies of Indigenous communities and how does that reshape our conception of literary history?

The program will offer a keynote address by Tim Powell, Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR, https://amphilsoc.org/cnair) and Rick Hill, director of the Deyohaha:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Center at Six Nations Polytechnic in Ontario (http://www.snpolytechnic.com/index.php/indigenous-knowledge-centre.) There will be two plenary panels. Confirmed speakers include: Damián Baca (University of Arizona), Jason Lewis (Concordia University), Kim Christen Withey (Washington State University), Gordon Henry (MSU Native American Instituite).

There will be an exhibit of documents from the Occom and Wheelock Papers at Dartmouth, exhibits of recent and ongoing digital archives as well as hands-on workshops teaching DH skills. Attendees will be able to visit the Occom and Eleazar Wheelock papers in Dartmouth’s Special Collections. A tour of the Orozco Murals and a stroll around Occom Pond will be part of the conference activities.