Nikonha, also known as Waskiteng and Mosquito, (–1871) was known as the last full-blooded speaker of

Tutelo The Tutelo (also Totero, Totteroy, Tutera; Yesan in Tutelo) were Native American people living above the Fall Line in present-day Virginia and West Virginia. They spoke a dialect of the Siouan Tutelo language thought to be similar to that of th ...

, a

Siouan Siouan ( ), also known as Siouan–Catawban ( ), is a language family of North America located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who ...

language formerly spoken in Virginia. He is reported to have been around 106 years old when he died at

Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Six Nations (or Six Nations of the Grand River) is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. As of the end of 2017, it has a total of 27,276 members, 12,848 of whom live on the reserve. The six nations of the Iroquois Confederac ...

, Ontario in 1871, where his people had migrated with the Cayuga during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. In 1870, the year before his death, Nikonha was visited by the American-Canadian ethnologist

Horatio Hale Horatio Emmons Hale (May 3, 1817December 28, 1896) was an American-Canadian ethnologist, philologist and businessman. He is known for his study of languages as a key for classifying ancient peoples and being able to trace their migrations. Hale ...

, who was seeking to learn about the languages of the mixed peoples at the Reserve. He described Nikonha as follows, when discussing his findings at an 1883 conference on languages:

His appearance, as we first saw him, basking in the sunshine on the slope before his cabin, confirmed the reports, which I had heard, both of his great age and of his marked intelligence. "A wrinkled, smiling countenance, a high forehead, half-shut eyes, white hair, a scanty, stubby beard, fingers bent with age like a bird's claws" is the description recorded in my note-book. Not only in physiognomy, but also in demeanor and character, he differed strikingly from the grave and composed Iroquois among whom he dwelt. The lively, mirthful disposition of his race survived in full force in its latest member. His replies to our inquiries were intermingled with many jocose remarks, and much good-humored laughter.Horatio Hale, "Tutelo Tribe and Language", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 21, no. 114 (1883), pp. 9–11.

Nikonha told Hale that his father had been a

chief named Onusowa. His mother had died when he was a child, and he was raised by her brother, his maternal uncle, as his people had a

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

system. Children were considered born to their mother's family and clan, and were reared largely by her people. Nikonha's people had gradually migrated north out of Virginia. By the time Nikonha was approximately 14, in 1779, his Tutelo people were living in the Cayuga village of Coreorgonel, New York, near the current location of

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

. The Cayuga were one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League, or

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

. All these nations were Iroquoian-speaking. The village was attacked in 1779 by forces led by Colonel Dearborn during the Americans'

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...

of the Revolutionary War. The village was one of 40 Iroquois villages razed during this raiding, and the Expedition also destroyed most of the winter crops stored by the Cayuga. The Tutelo survivors fled north with the Cayuga and other Iroquois, settling on land granted to them by the Crown at Grand River in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Nikonha served with the British and their allies against the United States in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. They had some hopes of expelling the Americans from former Cayuga and other Iroquois territory. His wife was Cayuga. He had spoken only the Cayuga language at home for years, after learning it as a youth. As Hale worked with him, Nikonha was able to provide about 100 words of the Tutelo language of his youth. Hale was collecting information on Tutelo from the few surviving individuals who had preserved any knowledge of it. Aside from Nikonha, the other speakers mixed their Tutelo more indiscriminately with Cayuga. On the basis of the vocabulary and grammar that Hale collected and analyzed, he later confirmed the classification of Tutelo as a

Siouan language Siouan ( ), also known as Siouan–Catawban ( ), is a language family of North America located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who ...

. It is related to Dakota and

Hidatsa The Hidatsa ( ) are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a pa ...

, languages of tribes located mostly west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. There were also historically other Siouan-speaking tribes in the interior of the American Southeast.

Notes

External links

Henry H. Mitchell, Pittsylvania Historical Society, 1997
- includes Hale's photograph of Nikonha. *{{Cite web , title = Rediscovering Pittsylvania's "Missing" Native Americans - Virginia History , work = Native Americans of

Pittsylvania County Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 60,501. The county seat is Chatham. Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical ...

, Virginia , access-date = 2012-08-10 , url = http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/native/redis.htm Last known speakers of a Native American language Native American people in the American Revolution Native Americans in the War of 1812 Native American history of New York (state) 1760s births 1871 deaths American men centenarians Tutelo