Chiefswood

E. Pauline Johnson 1861-1913

and

E. Pauline Johnson Tekahionwakeh 1861-1913

There are three plaques at this location.
All can be seen on this page.

Photos and transcription by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted October, 2011

Plaque Location

The County of Brant
At Chiefswood National Historic Site
at Six Nations of the Grand River
at Road 54 and Pauline Johnson Road

Coordinates: N 43 05.978 W 80 05.697

Plaque Text

Completed in 1856, Chiefswood owes its importance to its architecture and the prominence of the people who lived here. Derived from the popular Italianate style of the Picturesque movement, the grandeur of the house reflects the status of its builder and owner, Chief George H.M. Johnson, a Mohawk chief of Six Nations and an intermediary with non-Aboriginal society. His daughter, the celebrated poet Pauline Johnson, drew inspiration from the years she spent in this house.

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2004

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted April, 2010

Photo Source - Wikipedia

Plaque Text

In this house "Chiefswood", erected about 1853, was born the Mohawk poetess Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake). Her father, Chief G.H.M. Johnson a greatly respected leader of the Six Nations, built "Chiefswood" as a wedding gift for her English mother, a cousin of the well-known American novelist William Dean Howells. By her writing and dramatic recitals from her own works in Great Britain and throughout North America, Pauline made herself the voice of the Indian race in the English-tongue. No book of poetry by a Canadian has outsold her collected verse, "Flint and Feather".

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted April, 2010

Photo Source - Wikipedia

Plaque Text

Born here at Chiefswood, the daughter of a Mohawk chief, E. Pauline Johnson gained international fame for her romantic writings on Indian themes, but she also wrote about nature, religion and Canadian nationalism. Beginning in the 1890s, she published numerous poems, essays and short stories and recited them in theatrical fashion on public stages throughout Canada and abroad. Reaching a wide audience, she succeeded in making the public more aware of the colourful history and cultural diversity of Canadian Indians. Her ashes were buried in Stanley Park, Vancouver.

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted October 27, 2011
It's a safe bet that the federal plaque to Chiefswood (unveiled Sept. 2011) is among the first--if not the first--trilingual marker in the new 'side-by-side' text style. Note, too, how the Mohawk text appears first (at left), while, on the older federal plaque to E. Pauline Johnson, it appears last, suggesting a move from inclusive acknowledgement to symbolic preeminence. -Wayne

Posted August 11, 2011
In researching my grandmother Susan Racael McKim's birth place i was thrilled to find Horning Mills was also the birthplace of Pauline Johnson. Susan was born March 2 1861 and i wonder if they knew each other? I barely knew my grandmother who married James Ritchie and lived on the Manitoulin Island until around 1909 when they moved to Alta & operated a small hotelat Consort. They moved there as a daughter was suffering from tubercolosis and there was little treatment other than sunshine & dry air.When that daughter died in 1914 the family moved on to Vancouver BC.I grew up in Alta as my mother the Ritchies eldest daughter had married my father in 1912. I have loved Pauline Johnsons work all of my life. Indeed I think she influenced my own attempt at writing. Although I am little known I have been published. I am absolutely thrilled to think my grandmother may have known Pauline Johnson so many years ago.
Sincerely Margaret (McKim-Ritchie) Dunnington Chisholm

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