Ancestors and descendants of Joseph Brant

Joseph Brant is today remembered as one of the most influential leaders of the Mohawk nation, skillful diplomat and fierce warrior, but legacy of his life has also been preserved into his descendants. During his life, he and his sister Mary had several children of whom some of them gained much fame in the life. This article will try to describe all the famous ancestors of the Joseph Brant's family and his most important descendants.

Brant was born in the 1742 in the present day Ohio under the name Thayendanegea ("he who places two bets"), by the Peter and Margaret Tehonwaghkwangearahkwa. The origin of his parents is not known to great detail, but some historian claim that both of them were Christian and were descendants of the Wyandots slaves that Mohawks captured several generations ago. Although Brant's father was not a part of a ruling sachem class, after the years of education, gathering contacts and learning military technique from the English army, Brant managed to secure his position as a great Mohawk war Chief during the period of American Revolution. After the end of the war, he became known for his diplomatic work, and especially as a leader of the Western Coalition - gathering of many Indian tribes who fought to stay on their ancestral lands.

During his life, Bran married three times. Between 1954 and 1771 he was married to assimilated slave Peggie, daughter of unknown Virginian planters (some historians claim that he was the daughter of Oneida Chief). She gave him two children, Isaac who died after getting into a fight against his father and daughter Christine. He remarried to his second wife Susanna, who died in 1777. Almost nothing is known about her. Her last marriage happened in 1780, when he married Catherine Adonwentishon Croghan who had bloodline connection to oneMohawk Turtle clan. Catherine gave him seven children (Joseph, Jacob, John, Margaret, Catherine, Mary and Elizabeth). One of the most famous children of Joseph Brant was his youngest daughter Elizabeth (born in 1794) who married William Johnson Kerr, grandson of Sir William Johnson and Brant's sister Molly Brant. Her son later on became a Chief of a Mohawk tribe.

It is also worthwhile to mention bloodline connection of Brant's mother Margaret. After the death of Peter Tehonwaghkwangearahkwa, she married the Mohawk Chief Canagaraduncka whose grandfather was one of the four famous Mohawk Chiefs who visited the England and Queen Elizabeth in the 1710.