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Mary Brant, 1736-1796,  Joseph Brant, 1743-1807 Aboriginal leaders - Biography
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Currently featuring
Detail of commemorative stamp featuring Mary Brant, 1986

Detail of commemorative stamp featuring
Mary Brant, 1986

Sara Tyson
Reproduced with permission of Canada Post Corporation

Signature of Mary Brant
Brant Family fonds, Claus Papers, Library and Archives of Canada MG 19, F1, vol. 2,
e007913627

Captain Joseph Brant, 1797

Captain Joseph Brant 1797
Charles Wilson Peale
Courtesy of Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia

Signature of Joseph Brant
Brant Family fonds, Claus Papers, Library and Archives of Canada
MG 19, F6, vol. 1, e007913628


Architects of the Mohawk alliance

Mary and Joseph Brant, Mohawk brother and sister, were a bridge between
the Iroquois and British worlds in eighteenth-century North America. Mary
(or “Molly”), through marriage to a British official, and Joseph, through
education, gained solid positions in colonial society.

As ambassadors of the Iroquois, they defended Mohawk interests; as people
of influence within their Aboriginal nation, they built support for the embattled British.
The Mohawks ultimately paid for that loyalty. American independence in 1783
robbed them of their Mohawk Valley homeland and turned them into Loyalist refugees. Joseph Brant spent the rest of his life attempting — and failing — to create a new Iroquois state in Canada.

quote The whole Matter is that the Officers at Niagara are so haughty and
proud, not knowing or considering that the King’s Interest is so nearly connected with that of the Indians. quote

Mary Brant, 1781

Signature of Mary Brant

quote I always looked upon these engagements, or covenants, between
the King and the Indian nations, as a sacred thing. quote

Joseph Brant, 1783

Signature of Joseph Brant

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