Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Dekanisora

[This text was originally published in 1907 by the Bureau of American Ethnology as part of its Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico . It was later reproduced, in 1913, by the Geographic Board of Canada. The work done by the American Bureau was monumental, well informed and incorporated the most advanced scholarship available at the time. In many respects, the information is still useful today, although prudence should be exercised and the reader should consult some of the contemporary texts on the history and the anthropology of the North American Indians suggested in the bibliographic introduction to this section. The articles were not completely devoid of the paternalism and the prejudices prevalent at the time. While some of the terminology used would not pass the test of our "politically correct" era, most terms have been left unchanged by the editor. If a change in the original text has been effected it will be found between brackets [.] The original work contained long bibliographies that have not been reproduced for this web edition. For the full citation, see the end of the text.]

An Onondaga chief who came into prominence in the latter part of the 17th century, chiefly through his oratorical powers and his efforts to maintain peace with both the French and the English. He was first mentioned by Charlevoix in 1682 as a member of an embassy from the Iroquois to the French at Montreal. He was also one of the embassy to the French in 1688, which was captured by Adario (Le Rat), and then released by the wily captor under the plea that there had been a mistake, blaming the French for the purpose of widening the breach between them and the Iroquois. Colden (Hist. Five Nat ., I, 165, 1755) says Dekanisora was tall and well made, and that he, "had for many years the greatest reputation among the Five Nations for speaking, and was generally employed as their speaker in their negotiations with both French and English". His death is supposed to have occurred about 1730, as he was a very old man when he was a member of an embassy at Albany in 1726.         

Source: James WHITE, ed., Handbook of Indians of Canada, Published as an Appendix to the Tenth Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1913, 632p., p. 124.