THE CODE OF HANDSOME LAKE 



HANDSOME LAKE 



Handsome Lake, the Seneca prophet, was born in 1735 in the 

 Seneca village of Conawagas (Gano n 'wages) on the Genesee river 

 opposite the present town of Avon, Livingston county. He is de- 

 scribed by Buffalo Tom Jemison as a middle-sized man, slim and 

 unhealthy looking. He was a member of one of the noble 

 (hoya'ne') families in which the title of Ganio'dai'io' or 

 Ska'niadar'io' is vested, thus holding the most honored Seneca title. 

 What his warrior name was is not known and neither is it known 

 just when he received the name and title by which he later became 

 known. It is known, however, that he belonged to the Turtle clan. 

 Later he was " borrowed " by the Wolves and reared by them. His 

 half brother was the celebrated Cornplanter. 



The general story of his life may be gleaned from a perusal of 

 his code, there being nothing of any consequence known of his life 

 up to the time of his " vision." In 1794 his name appears on a 

 treaty but whether he took active part in the debates that led up to 

 it is not known. It is known from tradition and from his own 

 story that he was a dissolute person and a miserable victim of the 

 drink habit. The loss of the Genesee country caused him to go 

 with his tribesmen to the Allegany river settlements. Here he 

 became afflicted with a wasting disease that was aggravated by his 

 continued use of the white man's fire water. For four years he 

 lay a helpless invalid. His bare cabin scarcely afforded him shelter 

 but later he was nursed by. his married daughter who seems to have 

 treated him with affection. His sickness afforded him much time 

 for serious meditation and it is quite possible that some of his pre- 

 cepts are the result of this opportunity. His own condition could 

 not fail to impress him with the folly of using alcoholic drink and 

 the wild whoops of the drunken raftsmen continually reminded him 

 of the " demon's " power over thought and action. In the fore- 

 word of his revelation he tells how he became as dead, and of the 

 visitation of the " four beings " who revealed the will of the 

 Creator. 



After this first revelation he seemed to recover and immediately 

 began to tell the story of his visions. His first efforts were to con- 

 demn the use of the " first word " or the white man's " one'ga." 

 He became a temperance reformer but his success came not from 

 an appeal to reason but to religious instinct. The ravages of 



