Mohawk – Wyandot Ancestry of Lt. John Young's ... - Davidkfaux.org

Sir William Johnson?:There is another persuasive interpretation worthy of consideration. We might accept thatCatharine, daughter of Nicholas Brant and Margaret Hill, was baptized 3 June 1747 at theSchenectady Reformed Dutch Church. Perhaps Margaret Hill was already pregnant whenshe married Brant (in the Mohawk fashion, not in the Church) or may have already givenbirth to Catharine sometime earlier, the paternal side is in question and there is noindependent evidence of Catharine’s father (Nicholas may have been a step-father). Thissituation is parallel to what the present author has encountered with a Scottish ancestor,and here the decision was to only focus on the maternal side due to biological realities.There are multiple sources of evidence pointing to Margaret Hill as being the birthmother of Catharine. The genetics findings (see above) leave open the possibility that thefather of Catharine was a white man (not uncommon among Mohawks at this time).Considering the documented behaviour of one Sir William Johnson among the Mohawkwomen at this time, he must be considered as a prime candidate. One respected author(Wallace, 1945) estimated the number of illegitimate children of William Johnson at 100!Others have questioned this figure (Jennings, 2000). However there is no knowngenealogical evidence to offer solid leads as to a paternal candidate. A John Youngdescendant who matches an autosomal DNA segment with someone in this Johnsonfamily would “seal the deal”. A reading of the references to Aaron Hill Oseraghete in theJohnson Papers shows a strong connection between Aaron and Sir William Johnson,despite the fact that Aaron was often a thorn in his side. This dynamic is certainlyconsistent with Johnson being a paramour to one of Aaron’s daughters as was the casewith the Brant family and one or two of Brant Kanagaradunckwa’s daughters (sisters toNicholas Brant).It is perhaps noteworthy that 14 September 1765 (about the time John and Catharine werelikely married), there is the following reference in the Accounts of John Butler charged toSir William Johnson (JP, Vol. 13, p. 511):To 1 gallon of Rum & a Cagg to Cattreen the SquaTo 2 shillings Cash to Johannes of ConajoharyThis amount of alcohol was typical of that expended at a wedding, and it is difficult tosee this as anything other than a very unusual gift by Sir William to a Mohawk woman.The next entry suggests that Catreen was residing at Canajohary.The fact that three of the four children of Lt. John Young and Catharine named one oftheir children William is perhaps a coincidence, but worthy of note.Going back to the information showing John Young’s two uncles residing on whatappears to be Hill property during the Revolution, the connection between the Young andHill family could relate to someone other than Margaret Hill Kayadontyi – although itwould be difficult to oust the latter from the candidate list.52