All Forums  LAST OF THE MOHICANS  The Last of the Mohicans ...  Well, maybe not the last, but . . . .

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message Icon:                             Message: Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Fitzhugh Williams[/i] [br]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.'' [/quote]    Upload an Image File From Your PC For Insertion in Your Post    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON   Check here to include your profile signature. Check here to subscribe to this topic.