Life Story: Molly Brant aka Konwatsi'tsiaienni (Mohawk) (1736-1796)

Konwatsi’tsiaienni or Molly Brant was born into the Mohawk community around the year 1735. Historians are not sure of the exact place where she was born, or who her parents were. They may have been the Margaret and Canassware who baptized a baby named Mary at Fort Hunter in the colony of New York on April 13, 1735. If so, they gave her the English name Mary to indicate she was part of the Mohawk community that had converted to Christianity. At some point she was given the nickname Molly. This is the name she is most recognized by today.  

Molly spent her early childhood living with the Mohawk community of the Ohio Valley, where her brother Thayendanegea, or Joseph, was born. In 1753 she and Joseph moved to the Mohawk village of Canajoharie in what is today central New York. Their mother married a leader of the Turtle Clan named Kanagaradunkwa or Brant. Molly and Joseph likely took the last name Brant to mark their place as members of his family. 

The people of Canajoharie had close ties with English settlers, and the two cultures were blended in the Brant home. Molly learned to speak Mohawk and English fluently and lived in an English colonial style house. She may have even attended an English school. But Molly was also taught Mohawk traditions. When she reached adulthood, she was given the new Mohawk name Degonwadonti to mark the important transition. Her parents included her in important community affairs. When she was eighteen years old, she accompanied her stepfather on a trip to Philadelphia with a delegation of Mohawk chiefs to discuss a land dispute. 

Molly met Sir Willian Johnson, the Superintendent for Northern Indian Affairs, in the 1750s. William was an officer in the British Army who was responsible for representing the English government in all transactions with the Indigenous communities of Central New York. He was also a close friend of Molly’s stepfather. Molly and William were soon living together, and Molly gave birth to their first child in 1759. Molly and William never married, but they lived together until William’s death in 1774. They had eight children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. 

Molly continued the tradition of blending Mohawk and English cultures in the home she kept with William. Together they made a formidable political team. Molly helped William cultivate his strong ties to the Mohawk. She also charmed and impressed William’s English colleagues. When William was called away by the French and Indian War, Molly skillfully managed his farm and business. William took on mentoring Molly’s younger brother Joseph, eventually sending him to a mission school in Connecticut. When Joseph was eventually named a Mohawk war chief, the family’s power and status grew. 

But life was not always easy for Molly and her family. William had a close and friendly relationship with the Mohawk, but the Mohawk were not the only Indigenous community in central New York. They were part of a larger confederacy of communities called the Haudenosaunee, and not all of the Haudenosaunee communities supported William. In the 1760s William entered a land dispute with a German settler named George Klock. The Mohawks supported William, but their closest neighbors the Oneida sided with George because they felt William had been favoring the Mohawk for too long. The dispute dragged on for years, sometimes spilling over into physical violence between the Oneida and Mohawk. Joseph rose to prominence as a war leader during this period. Unfortunately, William died in 1774 before the matter was settled.

After William’s death, Molly and her children moved to Canajoharie, where she established a trading post. Less than a year later, the Revolutionary War broke out, plunging all of the English colonies into chaos. Like the English colonists, the Haudenosaunee were divided on how to respond to the war. Some communities splintered, with individual members choosing to fight for the side they believed in. The Oneida tried to stay neutral before siding with the Americans. But Molly’s entire adult life had been spent building ties with the English, and by the time of the outbreak of the war her brother Joseph was a captain in the British Army. Together, Molly and Joseph urged the Mohawk to side with the British. In Canajoharie, Molly provided shelter, weapons, and food to any Loyalists in need. 

In 1777 the British marched through central New York to take Fort Stanwix from the Americans. When Molly heard a rumor that American soldiers were on the way to save the fort, she sent runners to warn the British Army. The British and their Mohawk allies were able to ambush the Americans and the Oneida who had joined them. It was an important victory for the British, but the Oneida were furious when they learned the role Molly played. They attacked Canajoharie to get revenge. Molly and her children were forced to flee, leaving their home and most of their possessions behind. Their home was plundered and occupied by Patriot forces.

Molly first moved to the Haudenosaunee city Onondaga, where she fiercely rallied the leadership to support the British cause. Her influence was so great that one British agent noted that “one word from her is more taken notice of by the Five Nations than a thousand from any white man without exception.” She soon moved on to Fort Niagara, where she continued her work as a mediator between the British and Haudenosaunee. Molly was forced to flee again in 1779 during Sullivan’s Campaign, making her way to Carleton Island. 

When the war ended, Molly evacuated with the British Army. She settled in the area known today as Kingston, Ontario. In recognition of her service, the British government built her a home and gave her farmland. They also compensated Molly and her family for all they had lost during the war. The United States government knew how influential Molly had become, so they offered to pay her to encourage her to return to the US. Molly rejected their offer. She remained proudly pro-British and pro-Haudenosaunee for the rest of her life. Molly died in 1796. 

• French and Indian War: A colonial war that was fought from 1754 to 1763 between the British and the French. Indigenous communities sided with the colonial power they expected would best protect their sovereignty. The Spanish were allies of the British. Part of the larger global conflict known as the Seven Years’ War. The British triumphed and greatly expanded their territory in North America.
• Haudenosaunee: Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations, refers to an alliance of Indigenous communities traditionally located in the northeastern region of North America, primarily in present-day New York State. There were five communities in the original Haudenosaunee alliance: Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Tuscarora joined the alliance in 1722.
• Loyalist: A person who supported the British during the American Revolution.
• Mohawk: The easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also known as the Iroquois Confederacy). The Mohawk historically lived in the northeastern United States and southern Canada, particularly in the Mohawk River valley and St. Lawrence region. Today, there are Mohawk communities in northern New York State and southeastern Canada.
• Oneida: One of the six founding nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. They are known as “People of the Standing Stone” and historically lived in what is today known as upstate New York, in the areas called Oneida Lake and Oneida County. Today, there are large Oneida communities in New York State, Wisconsin, and Canada.
• Patriot: A person who supported the American rebellion during the American Revolution.

• To learn more about the Oneida experience of the American Revolution, see Life Story: Polly Cooper.
• Pair this life story with Life Story: Nanyehi Nancy Ward and Life Story: Polly Cooper to consider how Indigenous American women participated in the American Revolution.
• For a broader discussion of women’s service during the Revolutionary War, pair this life story with Life Story: Margaret Corbin, Life Story: Lorenda Holmes, and Life Story: Margaret “Peggy” Shippen Arnold.
• For a lesson about Loyalist women, pair this life story with Life Story: Lorenda Holmes, and Life Story: Margaret “Peggy” Shippen Arnold.
• To learn more about how the Haudenosaunee were impacted by the American Revolution, see Madam Sacho and Sullivan’s Army.

POWER AND POLITICS