Ahyouwaeghs was a member of the Church of England, though not a communicant. A number of his friends and relations were with him when he died, all of whom believed his death was that of a happy and sincere Christian. In closing the present imperfect sketch of this remarkable man, who had but just attained the prime of manhood, and was cut off as it were in the dawn of a career bright with hope and brilliant with promise, the Christian philanthropist may pause a moment in the contemplation of at least one proud example of what letters and civilization may accomplish with the sons of the American forest.
Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Joseph Brant, whose name has already been repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing pages, was married several years ago to William Johnson Kerr, Esq. son of the late Dr. Robert Kerr of Niagara, and a grandson of Sir William Johnson. Mrs. Kerr, as the reader must have inferred from what has been previously said respecting her, was educated with great care, as well in regard to her mental culture as her personal accomplishments. With her husband and little family she now occupies the old mansion of her father, at the head of Lake Ontario—a noble situation, as the author can certify from personal observation. Though fully conscious of the delicacy due to a lady living in unostentatious retirement, yet, as the daughter of Joseph Brant, the author trusts that, should this page meet her eye, the enthusiasm of her father's biographer may plead his apology for introducing her before the public—more especially as it shall be done in the language of one of the fair companions [FN] of his journey:—
[FN] Miss Ann Elizabeth Wayland.
". . . Let, then, my reader present to himself a lady of rather more than middling stature, of dignified, reserved, and gentle address, most pleasing in person, and attired in a costume sufficiently Indian to retain the flow and drapery, but donned with the ease, adaptation, and grace, so peculiarly the attributes of an elegant mind.
"Let my reader mark the keen, penetrating glance of that dark eye, as now it rests upon the stranger, whose too eager interest might be deemed obtrusiveness, or anon, its soft, tender, or melting expression, when it falls upon the portraits of her brother, is cast upon her father's miniature, or bides upon her children.
"Let him mark the haughty curl of that lip as she speaks of those who depreciate her people, its sarcastic curve when she alludes to the so-called delineations of her father's character, or its fond smile as she looks upon her husband; let him have before him a being in whom mind rules every action, and predominates above all; and let him attach this idea to one who glories in the fact, that the blood of the Mohawk courses in her veins; and he will know the daughter of Joseph Brant. But no; he must yet learn that this mind and these energies are devoted not alone to her immediate circle; but have been exerted most faithfully for the improvement and well-being of her race. She has, within a few years, translated portions of the New Testament into her vernacular, and is devising various means for the elevation of the Indian character."
Colonel Kerr, her husband, is the eldest of three brothers, William Johnson, Walter, and Robert, all of whom bore commissions, and fought the Americans bravely on the Niagara frontier during the last war. They were likewise all wounded, and two of them taken prisoners, and brought to Greenbush and Pittsfield, whence they escaped, striking first upon Schoharie, and thence across the country from the Mohawk Valley, through the woods to the St. Lawrence—though, it is believed, not both at the same time. Walter was accompanied in his escape and flight by a fellow-prisoner named Gregg. In the course of their travels through the county of St. Lawrence, they fell in with a courier going from the American commander at Sackett's Harbor to General Wilkinson, then below, on his successful approach to Montreal. The fugitives had the address to pass themselves off for Yankees looking for lands, and obtained from the express such information as they desired. Gregg was disposed to rob him of his dispatches, but Walter Kerr would not consent. He subsequently died from the effects of his wound in London. Inheriting a share of Indian blood, from their grandmother, Molly Brant, the young Kerrs have been represented to the author by an American gentleman, who has known them well, "as being alike fearless in battle, and full of stratagem."
On the death of her favorite son, John, the venerable widow of Joseph Brant, [FN] pursuant to the Mohawk law of succession heretofore explained, being herself of the royal line, conferred the title of Tekarihogea upon the infant son of her daughter, Mrs. Kerr. During the minority, the government is exercised by a regency of some kind; but how it is appointed, what are its powers, and at what age the minority terminates, are points unknown to the author. The infant chief is a fine-looking lad, three quarters Mohawk, with an eye piercing as the eagle's. But the people over whom he is the legitimate chief—the once mighty Six Nations—the Romans of the new world—whose conquests extended from Lake Champlain west to the falls cf the Ohio, and south to the Santee—where are they? The proud race is doomed; and Echo will shortly answer, where?