Ganneious, also spelled Ganneous, is a former village, first settled by the

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida N ...

, located on the North Shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

near the present site of

Napanee Greater Napanee is a town in southeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately west of Kingston and the county seat of Lennox and Addington County. It is located on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte. Greater Napanee municipality was created on Jan ...

, Ontario, Canada. Starting in 1696, it was occupied by the Mississaugas, Mississauga. The name is most likely a likely misprint for the French "Gannejout(s)", meaning Oneida.

History

Ganneious was settled temporarily as part of a mid 17th-century northward push by the Iroquois confederacy, from their traditional homeland in New York state. The village was one of seven northern bases for the Iroquois from which to hunt beaver and other fur-bearers and to control the flow of furs from the north and west to the markets at Albany, New York, Albany. The village was located on or near the fertile and productive soils of the Hay Bay area, near Fredericksburg and Cataraqui. The exact location of the village has not been determined. In 1673, the French built Fort Frontenac, which is located in modern day Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario and approximately 40 kilometres east of Ganneious. The establishment of the fort had a significant impact on Ganneious; French missionaries made several attempts to encourage the population in Ganneious to resettle closer to the Fort, in order to Christianization, Christianize, Europeanisation, Europeanize and encourage them to learn trades and farm. In 1675, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Louis Hennepin, Father Louis Hennepin undertook a journey to Ganneious to convince the Oneida settled there to relocate closer to Fort Frontenac. One of Hennepin's accounts suggests that he was successful and able to convince some people from Ganneious to move and settle around the fort: In June 1687, under pressure from King Louis XIV to capture 'prisoners of war for his galleys' the inhabitants of Ganneious were rounded up and held as captives by Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville, Jacques Rene de Brisay de Donneville. Donneville departed Montreal in June 1687 with 2,700 men. The troops took 200 prisoners from Kente and Ganneious and destroyed both villages. After 1687, all seven Iroquois Villages on the northern shore of Lake Ontario were abandoned. Starting from 1696, the village was the location of a Mississauga settlement, but was not occupied until 1721.

Iroquois villages

By the late 1660s various groups of Iroquois had established seven villages along the shores of Lake Ontario where trails led off into the interior. In addition to Ganneious, the following settlements have been identified by Historian Percy James Robinson: * Kente – on the Bay of Quinte * Kentsio – on Rice Lake (Ontario), Rice Lake * Ganaraske – on the site of present day Port Hope, Ontario, Port Hope * Bead Hill, Ganatsekwyagon – at the mouth of the Rouge River (Ontario), Rouge River * Teiaiagon – at the mouth of the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River * Quinaouatoua (or Tinawatawa) – Near modern day Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton

Fiction

Author Gerald Richardson Brown has written a work of historical fiction, ''Road to Ganneious'', which is set in Hay Bay during the 17th and 18th century.

References

{{authority control Iroquois populated places Oneida First Nations in Ontario History of Lennox and Addington County