Photographs (left to right): Turtles, Florida; Wooley Sunflowers, California; White Mountains, California

 

Cornplanter's Belt

1796?

NYSM #37432

Original (Clarke, 1931)

Reproduction R. D. Hamell

July 07 2010

Original Size:	Length: 36.5 inches. Width: 2.0 inches. Rows: 7.
Reproduction:	Beaded length: 37.75 inches. Width: 3.25 inches. Length w/ fringe: 61.75 inches
Beads:	Rows: 7. Columns: 225. Total: 1,575 beads.
Materials:	Warp: leather. Weave: Artificial sinew. Beads: Polymer.

Description:

"A long, narrow, somewhat mutilated belt made entirely of purple beads strung on fine buckskin thongs which are double and twisted along the edges. It once may have carried five white designs of some nature in the now regularly distributed gaps along its length.

It was the person belt of the once noted Seneca civil chief, Cornplanter. The demonstration of sorrow was portrayed by dark ritualistic ceremonies performed for decease sachems.

In obedience to a dream, Cornplanter destroyed all of his personal effects except this belt and a tomahawk. He resigned his title in favor of an Indian by the name of Canada was installed in office he received these two tokens." (Clarke, 1931).

According to Bardeau (2010): "It represents the treaty belt given to Cornplanter as a record of the land reserved for him in Pennsylvania. There once were five designs which have become unclear because of the gaps from  missing beads. This was Cornplanter's personal belt."

Purchased from Harriet M. Converse in 1903: collected among the Seneca (Clarke, 1931)

The Cornplanter Tract or Cornplanter Indian Reservation was a plot of land in Elk Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania that was administered by the Seneca tribe. The tract consisted of 1,500 acres (610 ha) along the Allegheny River (Wikipedia, 2012).

The tract comprised the only native reserved lands within the state of Pennsylvania during its existence. It was originally established in 1796 as a grant to John "Cornplanter" Abeel, the Seneca diplomat, for his personal use, with the right to pass the plot down through his descendants forever (PHMC, 2018). Cornplanter promptly opened up his plot to native settlement, and within two years, 400 Seneca were living on the tract (Penna People, 2012). In 1918, most of Cornplanter's descendants were killed in the 1918 flu pandemic (NYS MUS. Bulletin, 1920) and Jesse Cornplanter, the last male heir, died in 1957 without having children (Lester, 1995) leaving the plot without ownership. The plot was already largely abandoned as a residence by the time of Jesse's death, and a 1941 map (seen at right) shows only scattered buildings on the tract (Lester, 1995). In the early 1960s, construction of the Kinzua Dam created the Allegheny Reservoir, which submerged the vast majority of the tract. Graves located in a cemetery on the tract were exhumed and their bodies, including what is believed to be Cornplanter's, were reinterred in higher ground (Josephy, 1968).

Comment:

In reproducing Cornplanter's belt the author decided to fill the 'gaps' with purple beads.

 

References

Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (1968). Cornplanter, Can You Swim?. American Heritage Magazine. December.

Bardeau, Phyllis Eileen Wms. and Jare Cardinal (eds.). 2011. Definitive Seneca: It's In The Word. Jaré Cardinal, editor. Seneca-Iroquois Museum Publisher, Salamanca, New York, 443pp.Clarke, Noah T. 1931. New York State Museum Bulletin No. 288.

Clarke, Noah T. 1931 New York State Museum Bulletin No. 288.

Lester, Patrick D.  1920. Death of Chief Edward Cornplanter. Bulletin of the New York State Museum, pages 104 and 105.

Penna Historic Preservation. 2018. The Cornplanter Grant: The Last Native American Settlement in Pennsylvania. https://pahistoricpreservation.com/cornplanter-grant-native-american/

Penna People. 2012. Cornplanter ca. 1740-1836, Chief of the Seneca. Level 2 Biography.https://pennsylvaniapeople.weebly.com/cornplanter-level-2.html

Wikipedia. 2012. Cornplanter.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornplanter