Mary Brant

Koñwatsiãtsiaiéñni or Mary (Molly) Brant ( c.1736 – April 16, 1796 ) was a Mohawk leader and the older sister of Joseph Brant, both of whom wielded considerable influence during the American Revolution as British Loyalists.

Mary Brant was the common-law wife of Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Mohawk Valley in the colony of New York. She is credited with passing information to the British in advance of the Battle of Oriskany and otherwise aiding the Loyalist cause, and was forced by the Americans to flee west into the Cayuga nation and eventually to Canada. There she continued her role as head of the Six Nations matrons and in keeping four of the six Iroquois nations loyal to Great Britain. After the war, she moved to Kingston, Ontario where she was given a house and a large pension by the British government.

References

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Cataraqui Archaeology Research Foundation: Who Was Molly Brant?
• Molly Brant – Mohawk, Consort, Mother, Loyalist