| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Fitzhugh Williams |
Posted - November 04 2005 : 12:11:00 AM
This was posted on the FrontierFolk message board.
Posted on Wed, Nov. 02, 2005
Revered female Indian elder
G. TANTAQUIDGEON, OLDEST MOHEGAN
By Mryna Oliver
Los Angeles Times
Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who was, if not ``the last of the Mohicans,''
at least the most revered elder of the Mohegan Indian tribe and its
oldest member, died Tuesday. She was 106.
Ms. Tantaquidgeon, a medicine woman who wrote several books on Indian
medical practices and folklore, died at her home in the Uncasville
section of Montville, Conn. The town was formed from the tribe's
former eight-acre reservation.
She had devoted much of her life to keeping alive her tribe's ancient
culture, and documents and material she collected helped the Mohegans
regain official tribal status from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
1994.
Ms. Tantaquidgeon once dismissed James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 tale of
the French and Indian War, which she said she never read, as
``historical fiction, of course.'' Cooper's fictional book ended with
the death of the Mohicans' young chief Uncas and, because he left no
heirs, signified the end of the tribe. (Cooper used the Dutch
spelling of the tribe's name, ``Mohican,'' but the English spelling
of ``Mohegan'' has won greater acceptance, despite the 1992 film
remake starring Daniel Day-Lewis that re-popularized the ``Mohicans''
novel.)
``Contrary to James Fenimore Cooper's famous book,'' Ms.
Tantaquidgeon told the Los Angeles Times in 1990, ``my tribe,
obviously, did not die out.''
Then she added with a sigh, ``I let the cause down. I never married,
never had any children.''
The tribe is small, with about 1,600 members this year, up 700 from
those recognized when the tribe regained federal recognition 11 years
ago.
The Tantaquidgeons -- whose name means ``going fast'' -- traced their
own ancestry to Uncas, who, unlike Cooper's fictional counterpart,
lived into his 80s and left many offspring. It was Chief Uncas who
established the tribe separately from the Pequots in the 1600s, and
for which the section of Montville is named.
Gladys Iola ``Glady'' Tantaquidgeon, who was born June 15, 1899, was
a 10th generation descendant. Many of her male relatives, including
her brother Harold, who died in 1989, had served as tribal chiefs.
In 1931, her family founded the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum near her
home, and she had run it from 1947 until 1997, when her health
declined. During those years, she welcomed thousands of
schoolchildren and others annually to learn about ancient lifestyles
by examining the museum's baskets, bowls, beadwork, jewelry, dolls,
clothing and other artifacts.
Only the third medicine woman of her tribe since 1859, Ms.
Tantaquidgeon learned her herbal cures and other lore from two great-
aunts and her maternal grandmother. From her mother, Harriet, she
learned beading, sewing and quilting and trimming her hair only
during the waning moon to ensure luster. Her father, John, taught her
basket-weaving.
Ms. Tantaquidgeon earned respect far beyond her own small tribe. She
spent time with the Lenni Lenape tribe in Delaware, the Nanticokes in
Virginia, Cayugas in Ontario and Naskapis in Quebec. In 1934, she
served as a community worker on the Yankton Sioux reservation in
South Dakota and later during the Depression worked to promote Indian
art for the Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Board in the Dakotas,
Montana and Wyoming.
Her life was featured in the 2000 book by her great-niece, Melissa
Tantaquidgeon Zobel, ``Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys
Tantaquidgeon.'' |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Emily |
Posted - November 13 2005 : 2:08:24 PM
I thought I had read that the Mohegan people were an entirely different people from the Mohican people, and the Mohegans lived in Conn. somewhere and were a close relation to the Pequot people.
I had also read that the Mohican people were originally the Mahican people from around the Hudson river area. J.F.C. just spelled it with an "o" it in his book and the change was accepted.
Then, in other places, I saw where they all said they all were the same people.
Anyway, I have just been thinking that they were a different people from the Mohegans. I just thought I had read it somewhere. Knowing me though, it is a very likely possibility that I just dreamed it up. Every stinkin' bit of it. Can anybody clear this up for me? |
| Lurking Huron5981 |
Posted - November 13 2005 : 1:09:19 PM
thanks for the info. i also saw it on the nov.13 TIME milestone section. it said the 1700 members of mohegan tribe runs the succesful Conn.casino Mohegan Sun. |
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![The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]](images/wwwboard.gif "The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]")
