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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



A runner was immediately sent out to notify the people and 

 300 of them had gathered at the Council House when Mrs Converse 

 was nominated by the Indian matrons to sit with them. Taking 

 her place between two of the ' mothers ' at the head of the Council 

 House, the ceremony proceeded, conducted by the head chief of 

 the Snipe Clan of which Mrs Converse had been made a family 

 member in 1884. The resolution of the council was then read in 

 the Seneca language and interpreted to her as follows: 



Whereas, Harriet Maxwell Converse has through her kindness 

 and tender feeling to our Nation exerted herself to the uttermost 

 in behalf of the protection and welfare of our Nation, and is always 

 ready to stand at the helm of the canoe to avoid the crash of extinc- 

 tion of the Indians; it is 



j Resolved, On account of our appreciation and love thereof, she 

 shall be honorably admitted as a member^ of the Seneca Nation 

 of New York Indians. 



1 



Chauncey Abrams, Sachem of the Tonawanda Snipe Clan 



The new name and title which was given was Ya-ie-wa-noh, 

 meaning She Watches Over Us. This name had once been borne 

 by the wife of the celebrated Chief Cornplanter. " 



The next year, 1892, the Onondaga chiefs, the legislative body 

 of the Six Nations, determined to share in the honors which were 

 due Mrs Converse. 



