Guide to the Jasper Parrish Papers, 1757-1954 (bulk 1757-1869)

Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Jasper Parrish (1767-1836) was born in Windham, Connecticut, but as a child moved with his family to the head of the Delaware River in the Southern Tier of New York State, a region still territorially controlled by the Iroquois Confederacy of Six Nations (Haudenosaunee). Parrish was eight years old when the Revolutionary War broke out. In 1778, at the age of eleven, Parrish and his father, while tending their corn fields, were captured by a group of Munsee, a band of the Delaware (Lenape) tribe. Soon thereafter, the senior Parrish was separated from his son, turned over to the British, and later exchanged as a prisoner of war and returned to his family. His son, however, remained with the Indians for nearly seven years. The last five years were with the family of a Mohawk chief, David Hill. Hill welcomed Parrish into his family and in 1780, during a council meeting among the Chiefs of the Six Nations, Hill formally adopted him in a traditional ceremony.

In 1784, when Parrish was seventeen, he was surrendered along with other captives according to the peace terms of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix between the United States and the Six Nations in present-day Rome, New York. Although his adoptive family wanted him to stay, Parrish opted to leave what had become his home to find his birth parents and rejoin the culture in which he was born. Re-entering that world was difficult for Parrish. Although he was then fluent in the Delaware and Mohawk languages, he had lost most of his English. He spent less than one year in school relearning the language and continued his education on his own, catching up with the world he had become a stranger to.

In 1790, Parrish was asked to serve as an interpreter for the United States government, and in 1792, he moved to Canandaigua and worked under General Israel Chapin, U.S. Superintendent of the Six Nations. Parrish spoke several Indian languages and interpreted for a number of important treaty negotiations, including the Pickering Treaty at Canandaigua in 1794 which gave the Six Nations sovereignty and full title to their lands, and established peace between the confederacy and the United States. This treaty is still cited today in New York State Native American land claims. Parrish continued his government service for nearly forty years, working not only as an interpreter but also as a sub-agent to the Six Nations. His duties included handling various kinds of business transactions and negotiations between the confederacy and the federal government as well as the New York State government.

Parrish left his position in 1829. He spent the rest of his life in Canandaigua, where he had become an important figure in local business and civic affairs. Little is known about Parrish's personal life except that he married Roxcelana Paine (daughter of General Edward Paine)in 1800 and they had three sons and three daughters. Parrish died July 12, 1836 and is buried in Canandaigua's Pioneer Cemetery.

Chronology

Scope and Content Note

The collection includes correspondence of Jasper Parrish, 1790-1829, and others, 1757-1869, relating to the Painted Post treaty, payments to Indians, supplies to the Seneca mission, conduct of the St. Regis Indians, and work of the Quakers among the Indians. There are addresses and messages, 1803-1823, of Timothy Pickering, Thomas Jefferson, and John C. Calhoun to Iroquois chiefs including Red Jacket, Cornplanter, Farmer’s Brother, Little Billy, Young King, and others. There are also legal papers, agreements and deeds, 1791-1824, including a deed of conveyance pertaining to the property of Mary Jemison. Records of Jasper Parrish’s business transactions include receipts, invoices, notes, and accounts, 1793-1837. There are military and government records relating to the War of 1812 and the New York State Indians, including annuity payment agreements to the Indians and petitions for payments not received, a census of the Six Nations, 1792-1828, and other miscellaneous items, 1799-1860. There is also a set of transcripts along with an introduction prepared by Dorothy May Fairbank, Vassar Class of 1940, another set of transcripts created in 1954, and two biographical narratives of Jasper Parrish contributed by Caroline Townsend Monks, who was Vassar Class of 1940 and a direct descendant of Jasper Parrish.

Access and Use

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Encoding Information

Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, April 2007. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, March 2023.

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