Totiakton was a town of the

Seneca Nation The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western Ne ...

located in the present-day town of

Mendon, New York Mendon is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States, and has been ranked as the most affluent suburb of the city of Rochester. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,095. The Town of Mendon is on the southern border of ...

. It is located "on the northernmost bend of Honeoye outlet" two miles from the current village of Honeoye Falls. The Seneca name for the town was ''De-yu-di-haak-doh'', meaning “the bend," because of its location at a bend of

Honeoye Creek Honeoye Creek ( )Honeoye Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
''honeoyelakechamber.org'', accessed March 16, 2012 ...

. The archaeological remains of the site are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

"The ancient town was located on the table land which projects into the west side of the valley in the form of a bold bluff, facing the east, at an elevation of about one hundred and fifty feet above the water." The town occupied an area of (Peck says 25 acres) and is estimated to have held 4000 people. In 1667 a visitor, Wentworth Greenhalgh, described the town as follows— the houses mentioned would have been the traditional

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often re ...

: Totiakton was the site of a French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

mission, led by Father Jacques Frémin, between 1668 and 1673. The Jesuits built a small chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception (La Conception). The French explorer La Salle visited the town twice, the first time in 1669, and again about ten years later. In 1687 the Governor of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

Marquis de Denonville A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

, destroyed the town during his expedition against the Seneca. It appears that following the destruction a small palisaded temporary village of about was constructed at the site prior to the remaining population moving elsewhere. Previously Seneca towns had not been defended by a palisade. In 1802 the site was purchased by Abner Sheldon, who did some exploration. In 1898 the farm was owned by Sheldon's descendant, Antoinette and her husband, William J. Kirkpatrick of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. In 1925 Kirkpatrick sold the property to Louis Desmann, whose family continued to farm until 1979. A large part of the property was sold to neighbors of Totiakton, but were donated to The Seneca Nation.

References

{{coord missing, New York (state) Iroquois populated places Former Native American populated places in the United States Seneca Nation of New York Native American history of New York (state) Monroe County, New York Archaeological sites in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, New York Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)

History

See also

References