199 
villages on the Genesee, about eighteen miles from its present 
location. It was falling to decay when Mr. Letchworth decided 
to remove it to its present site in 1871. In taking it down each 
part was carefully numbered so that it might be put together 
exactly as it was originally. 
The Senecas were one of the five nations which composed the 
league of the Iroquois; the other four being: the Mohawks, 
Oneidas, Onundagas, and Cayugas. Of these the Senecas were 
the most numerous, enterprising, and chivalrous, and were set to 
guard the western door of the confederacy. They were organ 
dea was in the southwestern border of the Seneca country, it was 
a convenient rendezvous of war-like parties passing to their fights 
in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
On October 1, 1872, the last council of the Senecas was held 
in this house, nineteen warriors, a mere remnant, being present 
from the neighboring reservation. At this council the Indians 
urged Mr. Letchworth to consent to adoption into the Seneca 
nation, which was their way of showing appreciation of his devo- 
tion to the interests of the Indians, for whom he had done so 
much. Mr. Letchworth, however, declined. That evening he 
was surprised by a visit from them,.when they repeated their re- 
quest, to which he acceded, the ceremony being performed on 
his front porch. As was their custom on such occasions, they 
bestowed on him a name — Hai-wa- i is-tah — meaning, “the 
man who always does the right thing. 
Not far from the council house is the ‘‘ White Woman’s Cabin,” 
and near by the grave of Mary Jemison. The house was built 
by Mary Jemison for one of her daughters on the Gardeau reser- 
vation. The monument in front of this house was erected b 
Mr. Letchworth to her memory. Upon this are two inscriptions 
which tell the story of her life among the Senecas. 
At the further end of the Council House Grounds is a section 
of the big treaty oak which formerly stood on the banks of the 
Genesee below Mt. Morris, opposite Geneseo. This tree stood 
near where the treaty was made transferring practically all of the 
land west of the Genesee to the whites. It took place in 1797, 
