Researching the Petun · 2015. 7. 10. · Mulmurownship T to the south and Collingwood Township...

Garrad ResearchingthePetun 3

Researching the Petun

CharlesGarrad

More than a century of research has led to the present state of knowledge of the Petun occupation of the Petun Country, in the former Collingwood, Nottawasaga, and Mulmur townships. Many individuals, with different skills and interests, have contributed to the study of the Petun between ca. AD 1580 and 1650. This paper outlines the history of investigation of the Petun, describing the work of the more notable contributors.

Introduction

The area of Ontario between the NottawasagaRiver and the Blue Mountains, south ofNottawasagaBay,partofGeorgianBayofLakeHuron, has been occupied intermittently sincethe Ice Age. It was occupied historically by theseveral Iroquoian tribes that were collectivelynicknamed “Petun” by the French.1The Petunwere present for only about 70 years (ca. AD1580–1650)butleftabundantevidenceoftheirpresence, their role in the fur trade and of thedestructivediseasesoftheperiod.Becauseoftheabsenceoflarge-scalearchaeology,notonePetunhouse, let alone a village, has been completelyexcavated; yet the Petun Country has beendescribedasarchaeologicallythebestdocumentedinOntario(Bursey1997:85).

Archaeological surveys, assessments, andexcavations reflecting varying degrees ofcompetence, scholarship, and interest have beenconductedinPetunCountrysinceDavidBoyle’sfirst survey of Nottawasaga Township in 1887.Modern,frequentlylocal,researcherscompiledtheindividualcontributionsofearlierworkers intoacohesiverecordandthenundertookresearchtofillinthegapsinknowledge.Principally,J.AllanBlairand I devised a program in which we collected,reconciled, and coordinated earlier work. Wefollowed this with field surveys and limitedexcavations. Subsequently, many colleaguescontributed a great deal of volunteer andprofessional assistance. The results include theconfirmationoftheplacementandboundariesofthePetunCountry,andthelocation,examination,

identification, and interpretation of at least theprincipalarchaeologicalsitesthere.Thiswasdonewith as little damage to the resource as possibleandinco-operationwithPetundescendants.

The story of how we arrived at our currentunderstanding of Petun history involvesdocumenting the contributions of manyindividuals. It is presented here mostly inchronologicalorder,whileacknowledgingthematictrends. Owing to the long-lasting nature of thework of certain researchers, the story at timesjumps ahead or returns to the work of earlierresearchers. This history also indicates in thefootnotes the current locations of many of thenotes and collections discussed. Although theselocationsaregiveninthefootnotes,ratherthaninthe main text, they should by no means beoverlooked.Within the text, sites are referred tousing their assigned names. Borden designationsmaybefoundinTable1.

Land Surveyors and First Settlers (1830–1895)

The former Petun Country in OntariosubstantiallycoincideswiththeboundariesoftheformerNottawasagaTownship (since1994partof ClearwaterTownship), extending partly intoMulmurTownshiptothesouthandCollingwoodTownship (since 1998 part of theTown of theBlue Mountains) to the northwest, respectively,inSimcoe,Dufferin, andGrey counties (Figure1).

These townships were opened for settlementbyEuropeanmigrants in the1830s and1840s,

4 OntarioArchaeology No.89/90,2010

Table 1. Petun archaeological sites discussed in the text.Site Name Borden Designation Settlement Type Sizea Jesuit Name or Mission Petun Name GBPa

Arnold BbHa-3 camp small 2-3a

Baker BcHb-13 other

Beecroft BcHb-6 camps 2-3a

Bell BcHb-11 camp 3a

Best BbHb-1 camp 2-3a

Best BbHb-4 camp 3a

BillMcConnell BcHb-47 village 2ha. St.Bartholomew(2)? 3

Bowman BcHa-6 village 3ha.

Buckingham BcHb-24 other

Carmichael BcHa-15 camp

Currie BcHb-18 camp 2-3a

Currie BcHb-34 camp 1-2

Currie-Brack BcHa-13 camp 2

Connor-Rolling BcHb-3 village 1.2ha. St.Andrew 2-3a

Day BbHa-8 camp

Duggan BcHa-11 camp small 2

Edmunds BcHa-43 camp 2-3a

Glebe BcHb-1 village 1.33ha. St.Thomas 2-3a

Graham-Ferguson BcHb-7 village .8ha. St.James 2-3a

Grose BcHa-9 camp small

Hamilton-Lougheed BbHa-10 village 4.8ha. StPeter&St.Paul Ehwae 2-3a

Haney-Cook BcHb-27 villages Ekarenniondi(1) 2-3a

Haney-CookLower BcHb-27 village .4ha. " 2-3a

Haney-CookUpper BcHb-27 village .6ha. " 2-3a

Howie BbHa-3 village 4.8ha. 1-2

Jardine BcHb-15 camp 3

Joyce BcHb-2 camp small 2-3a

Kelly-Campbell BcHb-10 village 4.8ha. St.John Etharita 3a-3b

KennedyPit BbHa-18 village

Lane BbHb-2 camp 3a

Latimer BbHa-12 village .8ha. 2

Long BcHb-9 other 3b

MacMurchy BcHb-26 village 2-8ha. 1-2

McAllister BcHb-25 village 1.2ha. 1-3a

McBeth BcHa-4 other

McEwen(Lower) BcHb-17 village 1.2ha. 1

McEwen(Upper) BcHb-17 village St.James&St.Philip 3a-3b

McLean BcHb-12 other

McQueen BcHa-14 camp 1

McQueen-McConnell BcHb-31 village 1.7ha. 1

Melville BbHa-7 village 4.8ha. 2

Paddison-Bellwood BcHa-3 village

Peacock BcHa-5 village .9ha. 1-2

Perry BbHa-4 camp 1-2

Plater-Fleming BdHb-2 village 1.25ha St.Simon&St.Jude 3a-3b

Plater-Martin BdHb-1 village 3.4ha St.Matthew Ekarenniondi(2) 3a-3b

PrettyRiver BcHb-22 village 4.2ha St.Bartholomew(1) 2-3a

RockBottom BcHb-20 village 2.6ha 2

Sidey-Mackay BbHa-6 village 2.2ha 1

Weatherall BbHa-17 camp 1-2

White BcHa-1 village 1.2ha.

White-Coyle BcHa-2 village .8ha. 1-2

Young-McQueen BcHb-19 village 1.2ha. 1-2aGlassBeadPeriod


Figure 1. Southern Georgian Bay region of Ontario showing the Petun Country with twentieth-century places, former township (municipal lower-tier) boundaries and natural features named in the text (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 2001, 2010; NRCAN 2002).


buttheincomingsettlers,concernedwithmattersof immediate survival such as land clearing,planting, andbuilding, took littlenotice of theremains of earlier peoples that they found.Theexceptions were the ossuaries or bone pits,because these often contained useful iron axes,andbrassandcopperkettles.Theseweresoughtand dug out, as they were in Huronia (Noble1972:15),usuallywithinthefirstdecadeortwoofsettlement.Itissaidthatcartloadsofironaxes,traded to the Petun Indians by the French twohundred years previously, were taken from thePetun Country to the blacksmith Povey, inBarrie, who specialized in making ploughsharesfromthem(Blairpersonalcommunication1961-1979; Jardine 1981:19). The first settlerspresumedthebonepitsweretheresultofwars.

Although the first land surveyors and settlersrecordedfewarchaeologicalsites,theydescribedthe landscape before widespread Europeansettlement. Some of their interpretations oflandforms may have been fanciful, but theyprovidedetailsofthelocationsoftraditionaluseareasaswellastheprobablefirstrecordofatleastoneimportantarchaeologicalsite.

Thomas Kelly and Charles Rankin OnOctober17,1818, the landcomprising theformer Petun Country was surrendered to theBritishCrownunderProvisionalAgreementNo.18bytheOjibwabandstheninpossessionofit(Canada 1891:1:47; Shaw 1932). Except forongoing Ojibwa hunting and gatheringexpeditions, the land lay dormant until 1832,when Thomas Kelly began the survey of theproposed townships of Java, Merlin, andSunnidale. In Merlin, he recorded two beavermeadowsandanoldfortand,moreimaginatively,thoughthehaddiscoveredtwoextinctvolcanoesin the sedimentary rocks of the NiagaraEscarpment.Hedidnotmentionanyevidenceofearlier occupations by Native Indian peoples(Kelly1832).

In1833,CharlesRankinwassenttocompletethe survey because there were problems withKelly’swork.MerlinandJavawere toosmall tobe separate townships and were combined intoone township,Nottawasaga.According toBlair,

Rankin may have had a part in choosing theIndian name (Nottawasaga Municipal Council1934).HenotedanoldIndianclearingoneithersideofthePrettyRiverneartheNottawasagaBayshore.ThiscoveredapproximatelythesameareathatwouldbecomethemillreserveandvillageofHurontario Mills, today in the east end of theTown of Collingwood (Nottawasaga MunicipalCouncil1934:95-96;1967:83-84;1987;Rankin1833a,1833b).

Rankin’sawarenessofFirstNationspeoplewasnodoubtheightenedwhenhiscrewrowedoutofPenetanguisheneHarbourtobeginthesurveyofNottawasaga.Theywereaccompaniedby“afleetofbirchbarkcanoescontainingpartoftheOttawaNation of Indians who, having received theirannualpresents,werereturningtotheirhuntingand planting grounds.” The party camped thefirst night on Christian Island, where RankinenteredinhisdiaryofthesurveywhatisprobablythefirstrecordeddescriptionoftheruinsofFortSte.MarieII.

Rankin also surveyed the townships of Altaand “Zorra” (Zero). In Alta he recorded anabandoned sugar camp and a small IndianclearingonIndianBrook(Rankin1833a,1833b,1833c), which today is a commercial campground.RankincontinuedtoEuphrasiain1836,andtoArtemesiaandOspreyin1850.Henotedmany beaver meadows, beaver dams, and deerlicks.Rankin’ssurveynotesserveastheoriginofmany current place names. The river heincidentally recorded as “pretty” became thePrettyRiver.Theriverhethoughthadamouththat could harbour batteaux is today’s BatteauCreekandBatteauRiver.

(Sir) Sandford Fleming NoneofSandfordFleming’sprincipalbiographers(e.g.,Burpee1915;Cole1990;Creet1989;Green1993; MacLean 1969; Regehr 1999; Shortreed1978;Unittetal.1968;Webb1993)mentionhisintellectual interest in archaeology and Nativeremains in Ontario or his association with thePetunCountryastheresultofhisrailwaywork.

FlemingwasafoundingmemberandsecretaryoftheCanadianInstitutewhenitreceivedacopyofEphraimG.Squier’sworkAboriginal Monuments


of the State of New York (Squier 1850). Flemingrealized that by comparison to the state ofknowledge in New York, Ontario was a terra incognita (Fleming1852:4;Killan1983:84).Yet,here,too,asfarmswereclearedandrailwaysbuilt,thereportsofIndianremainswerebecomingmorefrequent. At a Conversazione meeting of theInstituteonMay10,1852,thechairman,CaptainLefroy,remarkedthat,

Everyyear theplough isobliterating thelasttracesofourpredecessorsonthissoil.Everyyeartheaxelayslowsomeinvaluablewitness to the ages which have elapsedsince populous villages of another racewere scattered far andwide throughournowlifelessforests.Wearefastforgettingthat the bygone ages even of the newworld were filled with living men…Ialludetothesesubjectshere,becausetheyofferanimmediatefieldfortheexertionsoftheInstitute[Fleming1899:13-14].

Fleming responded to the challenge bysponsoringandcirculatingaquestionnairedatedJune 12, 1852, asking people to record thewhereaboutsofIndianremainsknowntothem.The emphasis on “intrenchments, mounds andearthworks”inthe13-questioncircular(Fleming1852:5)isevidencethatSquierwasthesourceofbothFleming’s inspiration andhis terminology.ByDecember, therewasa reportof “favourableresults”tothequestionnaire,includingnotonlyinformationbutalsoartifacts.Consequently,thefirst attempt to record, systematically,archaeologicalremainsinOntarioalsoledtothebeginningofamuseum(Boyle1893:1,1908:12;Cole 1990:15-16; Killan 1983:84; Wallace1949:127,136,157,191-192). Unfortunately,neitheroftheseinitiativeswaspursued,andbothlapseduntilDavidBoylejoinedtheInstitute32years later.By1886, the responses toFleming’squestionnaireandmostoftheartifactshadbeenlost (Boyle 1893:1; Killan 1983:84). For thisreason, we do not know if the respondentsdescribedPetunsitesorartifacts.

In1854,Flemingbecamethede factoownerofanarchaeologicalsiteinPetunCountrywhenhe

purchased,inhisfather’sname,afarmpropertyontheGeorgianBayshoreatCraigleith.ItwastoprovidematerialsfortherailwayhewasbuildingfromBarrietotheHenandChickensHarbour,thefutureCollingwood.Itisnotknowntowhatextenthe investigatedthesitebeforeplanting itinappletreesorwhetherherespondedtohisowncircular and sent artifacts to the CanadianInstitutemuseum.

Inconversationswithme,thelateEdwardH.ThomasindicatedthatFleminghadstatedthatifhehadnotbeenanengineer,hewouldhavebeenanarchaeologist.Ihavebeenunabletofindanyreference to support this claim; indeed, at thetime Sir Daniel Wilson, Chair of English andHistory at University College,Toronto was theonlyarchaeologist inOntario(Killan1998)2.Itis interesting, however, that the first person tohave a learned appreciative awareness of thearchaeological heritage of Petun Country may havebeenSirSandfordFleming.

The Moberlys and the MacMurchys In1834,Post-CaptainJohnMoberly,R.N.,retiredcommander of the Royal Navy establishment atPenetanguishene,learnedthathewouldreceiveacrown grant of 200 acres of land in one of twotownships where surveys were being completed.These new townships were provisionally namedAlta(fromitsallegedlyhighestelevation)andZero(fromitssupposedfrosts).Hepetitionedthatthenames of the townships be changed to those ofadmirals Lord Cuthbert Collingwood and EarlJervis St. Vincent, both “distinguished navalcommanders.”3 The names were accordinglychanged the same year (Belden 1880:5; Garrad1978a:13, 2003a:11; Hartman 1920:37; Marsh1931:38; Shannon 1979:20-21). When CaptainMoberlyreceivedhiscrowngrantintheTownshipof Collingwood in 1837, he could not havesuspectedthathislandincludedtheremainsofalarge Petun village (c. 1580–1616) as well asevidenceofearlypost-glacialpeopleintheformofa 10,000-year-old fluted point (Garrad 1967a,1971,2003a).

Archibald MacMurchy, his brother Malcolm,his three sons, and a son-in-law, all fromArgyleshire,Scotland, settled inKingTownship


in1840.In1843,theymovedtotakeupseveraladjacent lots on the Nottawasaga/CollingwoodTown Line, creating a community that becameknownastheMacMurchySettlement.In1852,Malcolm MacMurchy purchased CaptainMoberly’scrowngrant.OneormoreofMoberly’ssons, some of whom became surveyors, musthave stayed in touch with the MacMurchys,because,atsomepoint,PetunartifactsfoundbytheMacMurchyswhenclearingandfarmingtheland were taken to the Geological Survey ofCanada (GSC), the agency to which surveyorsreported. They were donated in the name ofMalcolmMacMurchy.BeforeConfederation,theGSChadbeencalledtheGeologicalandNaturalHistorySurveyoftheProvinceofCanada,withamandatetocollectIndianartifacts.Theartifactswere formally catalogued in 1895. In 1927 theGSCcollectionbecametheNationalMuseumofCanada(Fyfe1999:967;Garrad1975;Williams1999:378-379). The donations from theMacMurchy site were the first from the Petunarea.4 An illustration of one of the pieces ofpottery was published by the museum (Smith1923:150-151Figure9).

Early Professional Interests: Archaeologists and Historians in Petun Country (1886–1926)

As open farmland increasingly replaced forest,theremainsofvillagesitesbecamemoreapparent.AswasthecaseforarchaeologicalsiteselsewhereinOntario,Petunsitesandartifactsbecamethesubjectofformalacademicinterest.Anumberofthe earliest archaeologists to work in OntarioplayedapartinrecordingthelocationofsitesinthePetunCountry,andtheyinitiatedanongoingprocess of artifact collection. Sometimes,academicinterest laymainlyintherecordingofsites and collection of artifacts. At other times,researchershopedtoidentifysitesrecordedintheJesuit Relations.These efforts led to occasionalrancorous debate, but from this discussionevolvedboththeprocessofexaminingthecriteriaforsiteidentificationandtheefforttosearchfor,record, excavate, and understand archaeologicalremains. Figure 2 shows the current state of

knowledge about the location of villages andtheirnames.

David Boyle and the Canadian Institute Archaeology in Ontario owes much toDavidBoyle,andnofutureworkcanfailto take cognizance of his records[McIlwraith1949:7].

Blacksmith, school-teacher, and bookseller,David Boyle joined the Canadian Institute in1884. He was elected curator of the institute’smuseum, which contained the remains of theartifactcollectionresultingfromFleming's1852circular. Boyle donated his own collection andupdatedFleming’s1852circular.InApril1885,Boylemailedout1,000copiesofthenewversionas part of a plan to undertake field work, tofurther develop the museum, and to solicitgovernmentfinancialsupport.Thisinitiativewassuccessful, and he received many responses. In1887, the Canadian Institute received a grantthroughtheDepartmentofEducationtosupportDavidBoyleasOntario’sfirstpaidarchaeologistand museum curator. Boyle started the AnnualArchaeologicalReportofOntario(AARO)seriestorecordhisworkandtoacknowledgethepeoplewhodonatedartifactsandprovidedinformationtothemuseum.Thisexcellentseriessurvivedhisdeathin1911,butceasedin1928(Garrad1987;Killan 1983:84,89,91-100; Wallace1949:154,176).

In June 1887, David Boyle and James Bain,possibly accompanied by other CanadianInstitutemembers,visitedNottawasagaTownshipandspentfourdaysinventoryingsites,excavating,and collecting artifacts for the museum (Boyle1886:4-5, 1888:12; Garrad 1986a; Killan1983:102). Boyle had also visited the previousyear (Boyle 1888:12), presumably to collectdonationsofferedinresponsetohis1885circular,andperhapstoconductlimitedexcavations.TheNormal School Accession Catalogue, compiledretroactively after the Canadian InstitutecollectionwasmovedintotheNormalSchoolin1897,givesthenamesofdonorsin1885(A.andG.Lougheed,W.andD.Melville,andJ.Smith)and in 1886 (E. Nelson). These artifacts


Figure 2. Location of Petun sites mentioned in the text: 1—St. Pierre and St. Paul (Ehwae); 2—St. André; 3—St. Thomas; 4—St. Jacques; 5—St. Jean (Etharita); 6—St. Jacques and St. Phillippe; 7—St. Barthelemy; 8—St. Matthieu (Ekarenniondi); 9—St. Simon and St. Jude. Adjusted from Garrad and Heidenreich (1978:Figure 1).


apparently came from the village sites nowknownasHamilton-LougheedandMelville.

After fourdays in theNottawasagaTownshippartofthePetunCountryin1887,Boylewrote:

Apart from historic knowledge there isabundant evidence that this was at onetimeapopulousIndiansection.Onmanyof theprincipal elevations are found theoldpit-gravesorossuariessocharacteristicof our Indian sepulture, and the higherlands contiguous to the streams affordampleproofofformerencampmentsandvillage sites. The people of the TobaccoNationwhooccupiedthisportionofthecountryappeartohavedevotedthemselvesinalargemeasuretomanufacturingclaypots, pipes, bone implements and beadsfortradingpurposeswithothertribeslessingenious,ormorenomadic,whowouldwillinglyexchangetheresultofthechaseforcovetedarticlesofutilityorornament[Boyle1888:12].

Boylelistedthesiteshevisitedin1887andthepeoplewhogavehimartifacts.RobertLougheed,owner of the farm on which the Hamilton-Lougheed site lay was mentioned several times,onceasthedonorof“agreatmanyrelics”(Boyle1888:especially12-13,17;Killan1983:102).

Boyle astutely observed the criteria for thelocation of Petun village sites (higher lands,contiguous to streams); he described the itemsmanufacturedby the industriousPetun; andheeven suggested the basis for a commercialrelationship with the nomadic Algonquianpeoples. He further proposed, “It frequentlyhappens that the number and arrangement ofash-heaps in a field enable us to form a fairestimate not only as to the number of ‘lodges’thatcomposedavillage,butastothenumberof‘fires’ or families in each lodge.” He gave as anexampleafieldonthefarmofRobertLougheed,Nottawasaga, where “the extent of a village isthusplainlydiscernableandindicatestheformerexistence on the site of about fifty lodges, eachaffordingsheltertofromthreetosevenfamilies”(Boyle 1888:17). This estimate remarkably

coincideswiththe1639Jesuiteyewitnessreport“of45or50cabins”(Thwaites1896-1901:20:47)at the village of Ehwae, identified as theHamilton-Lougheedsite(Garrad1975).

InJune1889,BoylereturnedtoNottawasagaTownshipforathirdexpedition,afterwhichhepublished the results of all his work there,interspersedwithvariousdigressionsconcerningPetun burial, forest-clearing, agricultural,manufacturing, and other practices (Boyle1889a:4-15; Boyle 1889b; Killan 1983:118-120).Helocatedtohissatisfaction“tenvillageortown sites, twenty-one ossuaries, one fortifiedplace, and three potteries.” He observed thattheseremainslaydiagonallyacrossthetownship,conformingwith the topography, and that theycontinuedintoCollingwoodtownship,whichhedid not enter. Among the sites and donorsmentioned, “the famous Lougheed farm” wasslightlyedgedoutbytheMelvillesiteatCreemoreintermsofspacedevotedto itsdescription.Herecognized that the Petun were “Ouendots orWyandots”andmusedonwhatmighthavebeentheirfuturehadtheynot“totallydisappeared.”Inthisandinafewotherinterpretationshemaybechallenged. His “fortified place” was in fact anold beaver dam (Garrad 1981:31-32; Hunter1886-1940a,Wintemberg1923).5

Boyle did not return to Nottawasaga toconduct fieldwork after 1889, but artifactscontinued to flow to Toronto, encouraged byacknowledgment of the donors in the AAROs.The Melvilles at Creemore, the Lougheeds atSmithdale, and the Connors at Glen HuronstaunchlysupportedBoyleandcontinuedtosendartifactstothemuseum.AtleasttwoNottawasagaresidents, Angus Buie of near Duntroon andAliceWebsterofWebsterville,compiledcompletesets of AAROs by their continuing support ofBoyle; the museum; and Boyle’s successor,RowlandOrr.

In1897,theOntariogovernmenttookcontroloftheCanadianInstitutemuseumcollectionandmoved it to theOntarioProvincialMuseum inthe Toronto Normal School building. Boyleremained curator of the archaeological sectionandmovedwiththecollection(Killan1983:175).At its new location, he set up the display cases


andcompiledacatalogueinwhichthefirstPetunartifacts, glass trade beads from the Lougheedfarm,appearedasitem14(Boyle1889b:47-101).Eight years later, in a revised version, the firstartifact listed was a stone pipe from the samefarm(Boyle1897:1).

Boyle“hadnotechnicaltraininginarchaeology;indeed, such was not available at the period”(McIlwraith 1949:6). His reports have beendescribed as “not too scientific” (Currelly1956:295). Some of his ossuary identificationsturned out to be “natural hollows” (Jenness1928:8) or hollows left by fallen trees, and his“excavation technique left a great deal to bedesired,”buthe“was the first…torecordand topublishasystematicrecordofhis...findings,”notonly in Ontario generally but in the PetunCountry specifically (Killan 1983:102-103,109).Hispublicrelationsskillsdevelopedintoatalentfor persuading people to send him artifacts andinformation. Particularly his fellow Scots, whoformed the majority of settlers in NottawasagaTownship, enjoyed his “intense personality andpenchant for spirited discussion” (Killan1983:77,104,109). As a learned, literate, andworldly man, he counselled and advised acrossmany a settler’s table and formed long-lastingfriendships. Boyle’s work resulted in the firstarchaeologicalsurveyandmapofPetunCountry,limited though it was to NottawasagaTownship(Boyle 1889a:4-15; Killan 1983:102,118-20). ItalsoattractedtheattentionoftheTorontomediaand the commendation of the establishedAmericanhistorianFrancisParkman(1889).

Boyle’slegacywasnotlimitedtohisacquisitionofknowledgeforhisrecordsandofartifactsforthemuseum. He provided a foundation for futurearchaeological work and a model for others tocontinue. He inspired two younger associates,AndrewF.HunterandWilliamJ.Wintemberg,tocontinue his interest and work. He was also aninspiration for local people, who, as individualsand through the Huron Institute, later assumedthetasksofresponsiblyrecording,collecting,andconserving Petun heritage. Another legacy ofDavidBoyle’sworkinNottawasagaTownshipisatradition of goodwill and hospitality towardsvisitingresearchers.

WhilenoneoftheresponsestoBoyle’scircularof1885survive,andby1884“agreatportion”oftheCanadian Institute’smuseumcollectionshaddisappeared (Killan 1983:84, 88), most of theartifactsgatheredbyBoyleinPetunCountryandthosesent tohiminresponsetohiscircularandlater appeals reside today in the Royal OntarioMuseum(ROM).

AswellasbeingactiveascuratoroftheCanadianInstitute, as provincial archaeologist, and assuperintendent of the Provincial ArchaeologicalMuseum,BoyleservedasthefirstsecretaryoftheOntarioHistoricalSociety(OHS),from1898to1907(Killan1983:160).TherehefraternizedwithanumberofpeoplewhodevelopedaninterestinPetun research, including Andrew F. Hunter,JamesH.Coyne,MauriceGavillerofCollingwood,ReubenGoldThwaitesofWisconsin,andtheRev.Father Arthur E. Jones. In 1906, the HuronInstitute in Collingwood hosted the annualmeeting of the OHS. Attendees included DavidBoyle,MajorGeorgeW.Bruce,DeputyMinisterof Agriculture Charles C. James (1906), G.K.Mills(1907),FrancesA.Redmond(1909),AliceWebster,andDavidWilliams.TheeventincludedatriptoChristianIslandandwasreportedinthelocal Collingwood press (Enterprise-Messenger1906;Hunter1897a,1897b). ItwasBoyle’s lastknowntriptoPetunCountry.

OnBoyle’sdeathin1911(James1911:23-24),DavidWilliamsofCollingwood,whowasat thetimethepresidentoftheOHSandthesecretaryoftheHuronInstitute,said,“thenameofDr.Boyleisreveredandbeloved”(Williams1911:20-21).

Andrew Frederick Hunter AndrewFrederickHunter’sfatheranduncleweresometime postmasters, the former at Phelpstonand the latter at Clarksburg, near the westernedgeofPetunCountry.ItwasatPhelpston,inhishigh school years, that Andrew found his firstIndian artifacts and met Samuel Haney. Since1868, Haney had owned a farm on the BlueMountaininPetunCountrywhereartifactshadbeenfound.HunterenrolledattheUniversityofTorontoin1884attheageof21.Whilethere,hemet(Sir)DanielWilson,DavidBoyle,andotherleading scholars who influenced his budding


interest in Ontario archaeology. His summeremploymentin1886and1887wasinhisuncleWalter’spostandinsuranceofficeatClarksburg(Hunter1957).

Some of the local people Hunter met inClarksburgtoldhimofartifactsandsitesontheirfarms. He recorded these details in notebooks(Hunter1886-1940a,1886-1940b).HemettheOjibwaIndianPeterYork,whoatthetimelivedin nearby Thornbury, and Hunter formallyinterviewedYorkthreetimesin1886,recordingthe subjects they discussed. York spoke of hispeople’straditionsconcerningossuariesandotherIndianremainsintheBlueMountainarea,whichhebelievedweredefeatedMohawk, andalsoofthe “fort” on Christian Island (Ste. Marie II).Hunter was considerably influenced by PeterYork;ChristianIslandandSte.MarieIIservedasthesubjectofHunter’sfirstresearchtripandhisfirst published article in The Indian newspaper(Hunter1886).Hewrotebutdidnotpublishapaper “The Country of theTionnontates,” andcontinuedcollectingartifactsandinformationathis own expense. In 1888, Hunter joined theCanadian Institute and remained a memberthroughouthislife(Hunter1957:18).

Hunter was the second person to compiledetailed records of archaeological sites andcollectionsinPetunCountry,andhewasthefirstto do so in the Beaver Valley (Hunter 1886-1940a,1886-1940b).Fortunately,heapproachedPetun Country from his base in Clarksburg inthe north (Figure 1). This was the oppositedirectionfromthatofBoyle,soHunterrecordedthe sites in Collingwood Township that Boylehadnotreached.IncorporatingBoyle’swork,by1889Hunterhad listed32possiblevillage sitesand 41 ossuaries, and he even proposed whichsiteswerehistoric(“Post-French”)(Hunter1886-1940a:43; 1889:44). In his Grey Countynotebook,helistedthelargePlater-MartinvillagesiteatCraigleithandtheHaney-CooksiteattheScenicCaves(Hunter1886-1940b).AsnotedbyhissisterMarthaHunter,

Owing chiefly tohis efforts, the SimcoePioneer and Historical Society waseventually founded. When he became

editorandowneroftheBarrieExaminer,Andrew used his newspaper to promotemany causes. He joined a number ofacademic organizations, and in 1892 hejoined the Executive Committee ofTheOntario Historical Society [Hunter1957].

Because of Hunter’s many activities, ReubenGoldThwaitesoftheStateHistoricalSocietyofWisconsin viewed him as the leading authorityon the Petun. At the time, Thwaites wascompiling Jesuit documents and relatedinformationforaproposedextensivepublicationseries.Huntercontributed22endnotestothe73volumes of the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,mostlyabouttheHuron,but4werespecific to the Petun (Thwaites 1896-1901:5:279fn18; 20:307-308fn6; 23:326 fn8;35:29fn25). In the first of these he describedPetunCountryasfollows:

Tobacco Nation (Khionontaterrhonons;also called, by the French, Nation duPetun).—The territory of this tribecoincided closely with the presenttownship of Nottawasaga, SimcoeCounty,theirvillageshavingbeensituatedon rising spurs along the eastern side oftheBlueMountains.Thiscountryisnowcoveredbywell-cultivatedfarms.Remainsof the aborigines are abundant there, asmanyasthirty-twovillagesitesandfortyossuaries having been found at varioustimes[Hunter1897a:279fn18].

Hunter’scaveat“closely”isjustified.Hunteralsocontributedashortpieceentitled

“ArchaeologicalResearchintheHuronCountry,”which includedabriefmentionofBoyle’svisitstoPetunCountry(Hunter1897b).ToHunter’sprobable chagrin, another contributor to theseries not only contradicted some of Hunter’sopinions on the location of certain historicHuron village sites, but was given more space,thanks, credibility, and even a photograph(Thwaites 1896-1901:34:facing 249). This wasthe Rev. Father Arthur E. Jones, S.J., F.R.S.C.,


ArchivistatSt.Mary’sCollege,Montreal.Hunterthought his work was belittled, and his “firstenthusiasmflagged”(Hunter1957).Heconsoledhimselfbyworking,recording,assimilating,andwriting with heightened commitment and caretowards his masterwork, A History of Simcoe County(Hunter1909).

Annually from1901 to1905,Hunter visitedthePetunCountrytoupdatehisrecords.Hewasthefirsttoidentifyas“oldbeaverdams”(Hunter1886-1940a) Boyle’s “fortified place,” whichFather Jones had accepted in 1902 as “OldIndianEarthworks,”(Jones1903:132,1909:243).

Fromhisvariouspublicationsandunpublishednotebooks (Hunter 1886-1940a, 1886-1940b),itseemslikelythatHunterrecorded11sitesandfindspotsinandaroundPetunCountryduringhis summers at Clarksburg. He learned of 5 ofthese from Samuel Haney, who moved fromPhelpston to his farm on the Blue Mountain.Theothersix,Hunterrecordedwhileemployedby the GSC. He followed up on 31 of DavidBoyle’ssitespublishedintheAAROs.Hedidnotnecessarilyvisitallthesesites,nordidhecarefullychecktheactuallocationshewastoldabout.Asaresult,someduplicationinflatedthenumberofestimatedsites,particularlyossuaries.Hunterwasprobably the first topropose that the sitesnearClarksburg and in the Beaver Valley were pre-contactOdawa,andthatthesequenceoftheninePetunvillagesontheJesuit1639listcorrespondedto their geographic sequence on the ground,southtonorth.Hewasalsothefirsttospeculateon the historic identifications of some of thesevillages.That he wrote “it is doubtful whetherany of the nine villages were outside ofNottawasaga township,” when he knew aboutSamuelHaney’sfarminCollingwoodtownship,suggests that he had concluded the Haneyoccupationwaspre-Jesuit(Hunter1909;Garrad1999a).

Hunter first visited Samuel Haney’s farm onthe Blue Mountain in 1887. His final visitsoccurred in 1904 and 1905, when he wasresearcher for theGSC, andbefore Haney soldand moved in 1906. In between, Hunter wasunemployed, researching and compiling A History of Simcoe County (Hunter1909).Yet in

1901,1902, and twice in1903,he returned toHaney's farm and took time to record Haney’sreminiscencesaboutthearea.

Early in the twentieth century, a controversyaroseoverthelocationoftheprincipalvillageoftheDeerNation,Ekarenniondi.In1898,Hunterheldtheopinionthatthelocationofthevillageand the rock it was named for “cannot bedetermined” (Thwaites 1896-1901:20:308fn6).However, in 1902, on realizing there were theremains of a substantial Indian village site andalso rocks on the Haney farm (today’s “ScenicCaves”), he concluded that Ekarenniondi, thePetun village by the rock, was on the Haneyfarm.Hunter’stwovisitstoSamuelHaney’sfarmin June 1903 were likely to confirm thisconclusion.

His intellectual rival, Father Arthur E. Jones,hadannouncedthattherockEkarenniondilayinthePrettyRiverValley,morethanfivemilesaway(Jones1903).HunterfoundJones’proposal,theprocessbywhichitwasachieved,andaboveallitsauthor, unacceptable, and was probablyconcernedthatFatherJoneswasnowturninghisattention to theBlue Mountain country,whereHunter’s opinions had not been challenged.HunterwastodescribeotherresearchbyJonesin1902as“Utterlywithoutprooforprobability…Itlookslearned,butitisabagofwind”(Killan1983:194). From 1903, the disagreementbetweenHunterandJones,whichhadbegunin1888 as a difference of opinion about thelocation of St. Ignace II in Huronia, became aseries of clashes, usually in print, which onlyended with the death of Father Jones 20 yearslater.Thwaites’discreetcommentonthedisputewas,“Antiquariansdifferastothesite”(Thwaites1896-1901:33:273fn7).

Perhapsfortunately,Hunterbecamedistractedbyemploymentandwritinguntil1908.In1909,Hunter and Jones both published booksconcerningthehistoryofSimcoeCounty.Afterthis,isolatedbydeafness,Jonesdedicatedhimselfto the cause of the Canadian Martyrs (Devine1918)andwithdrewfromthefray.WhenHunter(1912) published a scathing criticism of Jones’book, Jonesdidnot respond.The last shotwasHunter’s.


Although Hunter developed an antagonismtowards his former friend and mentor DavidBoyle,HuntersucceededBoyleasthesecretaryofthe OHS, working in the same building as theOntarioProvincialMuseumfrom1913untilhebecameill.InFebruary1931,Huntersufferedadebilitatingstroke,andhediedin1940(Hunter1957:31,37; Killan 1983:160). Perhaps his lastmajorcontributionwastoproposetheroutebywhich the Petun and Neutrals communicated(Hunter1927).6

Rev. Father Arthur Edward Jones S.J.As the archivist of the Society of Jesus at St.Mary’s College, Montreal, Father Jones hadaccess to original Jesuit manuscripts and maps,someunpublished.Hisgiftforlanguagesenabledhim to attempt translations, sometimes for thefirsttime,ofHuron,Latin,andFrenchdocumentsand names. He was a substantial and scholarlycontributortotheThwaiteseditionoftheJesuit Relations and Allied Documents,authorofvarioushistorical works, and editor of the Canadian Messenger from1893 to1900 (Jones1909:viii).His book ‘8endake Ehen’ or Old Huronia,published in 1909, was 15 years in the writingandincorporated30yearsofstudyandfieldwork,including two research field trips to the PetunCountry.Morethan500pageslong,52ofwhichwere devoted to the Petun, the publicationearnedhimanhonoraryLL.D.degreefromtheUniversityofToronto.Tohis supportershewas“a recognized authority, perhaps the greatest inAmerica, on the Canadian missions between1611and1800,”andhisbookwas“anexhaustivetreatise,abookofreferenceratherthanahistory;butittellsthereaderallthatwilleverbeknownon the work of the Jesuits among the Hurons”(Devine1918).ButconcerningthePetun,FatherJoneswasmoreoftenwrongthanright.

Among Father Jones’ critics were those whoknew the ground better and demanded factualarchaeologicalevidence forJones’archivallyandlinguistically-based theories. Jones has beendescribed as an archaeologist (e.g., Williams1950:1),buthehimselfmadenosuchclaim.Hisapproachtotheidentificationofaspecificvillagesite was to translate its name and seek a place

with corresponding geography—a techniqueparticularlyirksometothemorearchaeologically-mindedAndrewF.Hunter,whoinsistedthat“thephilological method must be secondary to thearchaeological” (Hunter 1912:78). Thearguments between these two men were soentertaining that the Collingwood Bulletinserializedoneoftheirdisputesin10consecutiveissues(Hunter1908a,1908b;Jones1908).Inhis“Prefatory” to Jones’ 1909 volume, ProvincialArchivistAlexanderFraseraddressedaplacatoryandconsolingmessagetoHunterthatmayapplytomanyofus:

The subject is not free of difficulties;opinions may well differ on someimportant points. Friendly criticism andearnest research on reasonable lines mayyetelucidateproblemsnowobscure,andare to be welcomed. In this connectionthe work of Mr. A.F. Hunter, M.A.,merits careful consideration [Fraser1909:vii].

AfterstudyingtheJesuitrecordsandtranslatingthe Petun names of villages into English, Jones(1903:107-108, 1909:232-233) renderedEkarenniondias“wherethereisapointofrockswhich projects or stands out,” “Here the rocksstands (or juts) out,” which he abbreviated to“TheStandingRock.”Hereasonedfromthisthatthevillagewiththesamename,whichhebelievedthe Jesuits named St. Mathias, must be near“some monumental rock: a rock of exceptionalformation, somethingoutof the common.”Hebelievedthatthelocationoftherockwouldleadto finding not only the nearby village of St.Mathias but also the more distant village ofEtharita (St. John). It lay “about twelve milesfromSt.Mathiasinasoutherly,ormorelikelyina south-westerly direction” (Jones 1903:112,1909:235).

Father Jones twice published the story of his1902expeditiontothePetunCountrytosearchfor the rock Ekarenniondi (Jones 1903:106-117,131-136; 1909:214-248). In August 1902,theexplorationpartyoffivesetoutwesterlyfromStaynertosearchforamonumentalorprominent


rock. Turning south at Duntroon, they madetheir first stop the Anderson farm, to see whatBoyle had thought was an Indian earthwork(Boyle1889a:11-12).Theiruncriticalacceptanceof Boyle’s determination (Jones 1903:132,1909:243) indicates they failed to seek theopinionof thehospitableMr.Anderson,ownerof the property, who was probably puzzled atsuchinterestinoldbeaverdams(Garrad1981:31-32; Hunter 1886-1940a; Wintemberg 1923).Passing through an area with a number ofarchaeological sites that they either ignored ordidn’t know of, the party proceeded toSinghampton.HeretheyweredirectednorthontheCountyLineto“rocksandcaves.”Theroaddead-endednear thebrinkof the southern clifffaceof thePrettyRiverValley.Thescenebelowthem

wasbareofvegetation:nomoss,nofern...but masses of stone...Across these rockslayprone,ineverydirection,wholetrunksof trees bleached by alternate rain andsunshine...Starkfromthefieldofshapelessruins and on the steep slope of the hill,detached from all around, rose arectangularmassofrockofmonumentalproportions…it alone stood erect whereall else had yielded to the shock...whentheveryearthhadrockedandquaked…Itwas,infineekarenniondi,ortheStandingRock of the Petuns…[Jones 1903:135-136,1909:247-248].

FatherJoneswasincorrectoneverycount.HethoughtthathewasatDevil’sGlen,buthehadpassed that feature miles back. The rock andvicinity he described so picturesquely wereneitherigneousnortheproductsofearthquakes.Instead, they were formed by erosion ofsedimentarydeposits.Thestarknesswasduetoaforest fire from which the vegetation was onlythen beginning to recover. Although Joneshimselfwrotethat“manysuchboldprominenceswerelikelytobefoundalongthiseasternfringeof theBlueHills” (Jones1903:132,1909:243),hedidnotlookforanyothersimilarrocksinthevicinity.Aboveall,hedidnotfindtheremainsof

anearbyvillagethatcouldbeEkarenniondi.Nordid the siteof the rockmeetanyof thecriteriathat can be reasonably deduced from FatherBrébeuf ’s 1636 description of it in the Jesuitrecords (Thwaites 1896-1901:10:145-147;Garrad1998a).Tenyears later,AndrewHunterwas still pointing out the flaw of the missingvillage(Hunter1912:80).

In August 1903, Father Jones returned to thearea,thistimetosearchforthevillageofEtharita,whichhebelievedwasfourleagues(twelvemiles)from the rock Ekarenniondi, “in all probabilitynot due south but in a southwesterly direction”(Jones1909:230,249).HispartyspentseveraldaystravellingthroughArtemesia,Osprey,Proton,andMelancthon townships, enquiring about Indianremainswithoutanypositiveresult.AppealsfromthepulpitsofSt.Patrick’sChurchatProtonandthe “chapel” at Dundalk drew no informationfromthebewilderedcongregations.Thenewspaperpublicitythatcontinuedhiscampaignafterheleftwassimilarlyunfruitful(Economist1903).Hesawa“lowembankmentatShrigley”ofindeterminateorigin(Jones1909:254-255)andheardstoriesofartifactsbeingfound,whichhecouldnotconfirm.

IntworesearchexpeditionsJonesfailedtofindeven a single artifact, let alone a village site. Hereturned to Montreal to write about his“ineffectual”search.Hetitledhisreport“TheSiteofEtharita,orSt.Jean,asyetUndiscovered,”andincluded it in ‘8endake Ehen’ or Old Huronia(Jones 1909:249-261).Hedidnot comment onthe fact that in the interim Fred Birch (1904a,1904b) and John Lawrence (1908a, 1908b) hadpublished an alternative and excellent candidatefor Ekarenniondi, both the rock and village. In1909, Jones repeated all his 1902 proposalsunchanged,includingtheideathatthePetunshadlived in the Bruce Peninsula and on the LakeHuron shore. He then confused his own earlierconstructionoftherouteofFatherNöelChabaneltotheNottawasagaRiverwithanew,andevenlesslikely, proposal that he had previously rejected(Garrad 1998b; Jones 1903:113,115; 1909:214-261).

Of Father Jones’ research technique in PetunCountry, Andrew F. Hunter, in his review of‘8endake Ehen’ or Old Huronia,observedthat:


IndealingwiththePetunvillagesites,thoseofSt.MathiasandSt.Jeanoccupymostofthe space.Father Jones’smethodof searchfor St. Mathias is so typical of the wholeworkthatwemaylingeronitinpassing.HefirstseeksameaningforEkarenniondi,theIndiannameoftheplace,giving‘StandingRock’ as its English equivalent. Then hefinds in Nottawasaga an outstandingsplinter of limestone rock and thereuponclaims that the ‘identification’ is complete!He does not enquire whether or not anactualvillagesite,withremains,isanywherenearthespot…Theresultof[Jones’]searchforSt.Jeaniscontainedintheheading“Asyet Undiscovered”, although he devotesthirteen pages of the text to it [Hunter1912:80].

Father Jones failed to find Petun villages in1902 and 1903 because he started from thewrong rock (Garrad 1999b). He rejected theevidence from Boyle’s surveys and Hunter’sfieldwork,bothofwhomhadfoundvillagesites.He ignored Hunter’s published conclusion thattheJesuitperiodPetunvillageswereprobablyallin Nottawasaga township (Thwaites 1896-1901:20:307fn6). He avoided the offer of helpand advice from the knowledgeable local FredBirch.Jonesreliedmoreonhisinterpretationofdocumentary evidence, which progressively ledhimawayfromreality.EvenbeforebeginninghissearchforthePetunCountry,herationalizedthatitlaywest,insteadofeast,oftheBlueMountains,and that the village of Etharita was in Ospreytownship(Jones1903:111-112,114)

Jones’mistakenbeliefthathehadfoundboththe rock and later the villageEkarenniondiwasacceptedasfactasfarawayasFrance(Fouqueray1930:297fn1). Even more misleading was hisproposalthatbefore1639thePetunlivedon,andsouthof,theBrucePeninsula(cf.,Figure1).Thisarose from his uncritical acceptance of theinaccurate secondary-source Du Creux map,together with his belief that he could derivereliableandspecificgeographicinformationfromPetun names. To sustain the proposal, Jonesignored the more reliable available primary-

source maps and argued for impossibly longjourneysforChamplainandthemissionaries.Hestretchedbeyondcredibility a translationof thename Tionnontate, invented a war with theHurons to make the Petun move west fromNottawasagatotheBrucePeninsula,andanotherwar with the Mascoutens to make them movebackagain.Heoverlookedtheinconsistenciesinhisownproposedchronology,andhedismissedthe archaeological evidence for the location ofPetunCountryproducedbyBoyleandHunterascircumscribed “within too narrow limits theregionoccupiedbythatnation”(Jones1903:109,1909:219-220,227-229).

Father Jones persisted in the belief that thePetun lived in the Bruce Peninsula and on theLake Huron shore despite the testimony andmapsrecordedbypeoplewhohadactuallyvisitedthem.Hebelieved, incorrectly, thatSt.Mathiaswas the name of a Petun village rather than amissionterritoryheadquarteredinthevillageofSt.Matthew.Heproposedthatthethirdmissionin Petun Country in 1649 was entrusted toFather Noël Chabanel rather than being therefugeeMissionofLaConceptionfromOssossanéunder Father Joseph Marie Chaumonot. Heclaimed that the Nottawasaga River was“unfordable”eventhoughitwasregularlycrossedin all seasons andhehimself proposed that theIroquoiscrossed it twice inoneday, the secondtime in the dark, in winter, while herdingcaptives and carrying loot. Father Jones’translationsof thenamesEhwae,Ekarenniondi,Etharita, and Khionontateronons are all nowchallenged,asaresomeofhisHuronplacenames(Jones1903:107-109&fn;Steckley1996:9,10).Noneof the locationsdeducedby Jones for sixPetun villages (Jones 1909:225-240, 265) arecorrect.

FatherJonesdescribedhisbookas“abookofreference,ratherthanahistory”(Jones1909:xi),and it is as a reference that it is most useful.DespiteJones’caveat,hisauthorityandstatusasarchivistattheJesuitcollegeofSt.Marycausedlater Jesuit writers to espouse and repeat hisspeculations as facts and reject consideration ofalternatives(e.g.,Campbell1910:363,370-372;Larivière1957:202fn1;Talbot1961:500noteto


page155).Manyhistorians,ignoringthecontraryopinions and evidence of Birch, Blair, Hunter,Lawrence, Williams, and others, did the same.PercyJ.Robinson(1941)commented“Itseemsapity that two of Father Jones’ most seriousmistakes have been perpetuated by recentwriters.”

EventhoughnearlyeveryproposalJonesmadeabout the Petun has been proven wrong, heprovokedotherresearchers,especiallythosemorefamiliar with Petun Country, to ask the samequestions, re-examine the same evidence, andcome to more feasible conclusions. TheestablishmentoftheHuronInstitute(seebelow)wasinpartanorganizedresponsetoJones’work.Inobservingtheerrors,contradictions,andotherpoints of contention in Jones’ 1909 ‘8endake Ehen’ or Old Huronia, Andrew F. Hunterconcluded,“oneregretsthatsoextensiveaworkis not more serviceable” (Hunter 1912:81).Paradoxically, we find that Father Jones’ errorsand contradictions comprise his greatestcontribution; they have kept historians,archaeologists, cartographers, and linguists busyconfirmingorrevisinghiswork.

William J. Wintemberg WilliamJohnWintemberghadanearlyinterestinIndianremains,which ledhimtoBoyleandtheOntarioArchaeologicalMuseum.Herehegainedhis first experience (McIlwraith 1949) andpublished research articles, some mentioningPetun artifacts (Wintemberg 1905, 1906). In1911,hemovedtoOttawaandbecamethestaffarchaeologist at the Victoria Memorial Museum(later National Museum of Canada). Althoughmainly self-taught, “his prolific and modelpublicationsestablishedthefoundationformuchoftheprehistoryofeasternCanada,inparticular,concerning the prehistoric Iroquoian farmers ofOntario” (Wright 1999:2524). A review of thefirst 50 years of archaeology in Canada in 1932concludedthat“themostactiveworkerhasbeenW.J.Wintemberg,whohasexcavatednolessthansix largevillagesitessince1913,andpublishedascore of papers in various journals” (Jenness1932:74). One of these village sites was Sidey-MackayinPetunCountry.Wintembergalsospent

asummerconductinganarchaeologicalsurveyofPetunCountryandbeyond.

InJuly1923,Wintembergtookupresidenceinthe Sovereign Hotel, Creemore, and from therebegan his survey. For two months he travelledwidely.Hewaswellreceivedinthearea,recordingsites andartifact collections, takingphotographs,and confirming and correcting Boyle’s andHunter’srecords.HespentaweekinCollingwoodrecording the Huron Institute collection(Collingwood Bulletin 1923; Wintemberg 1923).Wintemberg made his way as far as Cape Rich,now part of the Meaford Tank Range, visiting,recording,andcollectingartifactsandrecordsforthemuseum inOttawa.Theonlyoppositionheencounteredwasinattemptingtoseethecollectionof Albert Williams on the Williams farm in St.VincentTownship(Wintemberg1923).7

WhatmotivatedthemuseuminOttawatosendWintemberg to Nottawasaga Township in 1923foranuncharacteristicallyextensiveandexpensivestay? It is true that the Petun were poorlyrepresented in the museum’s collections; therewere only the Moberly donations of 1895 fromtheMacMurchyfarmandacollectionpurchasedfrom the Rev. J.M. Goodwillie in 1908, knownonlytohavecomefromtheCraigleitharea.Thispaucity was emphasized by the museum’s ownpublicationAn Album of Prehistoric Art,inwhichonly 5 of the 10 Petun artifacts illustrated wereheld by the museum (Smith 1923). Whathappened to induce the sudden but short-livedliberalityof themuseum’spurse-strings in1923?Whatpromptedtheefforttocontactmembersofthe public and appear to be doing somethingmassive and important? A federal governmentarchaeologist to whom I posed this questiondeniedtheprobabilityofassociation,butIsuspectitisnocoincidencethatallthiswasgoingonlessthan a year after British archaeologist HowardCarter,infar-offEgypt,haddiscoveredthetombofTutankhamun.This event caused a revitalizedinterest in archaeological heritage in manycountries,ifonlyforashorttime.

Duringhis1923survey,Wintembergconcludedthat the most promising archaeological sites toexcavateinPetunCountrywouldbeMacMurchyand Melville, but when he returned in 1926


neither was available. Janet MacMurchy wasinterested, and donated material, but the site’slocationwasincrop(Jenness1928:8).AccordingtoMelvillefamilylore,theydidnotwanttheirartifactsremoved because finding artifacts relieved thetedium of ploughing. They did, however, directWintemberg across the Mad River valley to theirrelatives the Sideys. According to Wintemberg’sposthumous report, it was Alice Webster, a localenthusiastofarchaeology,whoarrangedforhimtodig on the Sidey farm (Wintemberg 1946:154).Wintemberg hired Milton Melville as excavationcrewforeman,hisqualificationforthe$3-per-daystipend (Melville 1968) being that, as the gravedigger in the Creemore Union Cemetery, he hadbothdiggingexperienceandhisownequipment.

In addition to Melville, the crew consisted ofseveralhighschoolboys,includingDavidNicolandHerbertG.Webster.ThediglastedfromJune18toSeptember24,1926 (Jenness1928:7-8), andwasthe longest and largest archaeological excavationconducted to that date in Petun Country. TheCreemore community followed Wintemberg’sprogresswithinterest,andtheCreemore Starranacommentary, even recording the arrival anddeparture of the archaeologist’s visiting wife andchildduringaveryhotsummer.Mrs.WintemberganddaughterresidedthetwoweeksasguestsoftheSidey family. Editor C. Bert Smith commended“Messrs.SideyandMackay...fortheirpublicspiritinpermitting themuseumauthorities to excavateon their property.” He interviewed Wintemberg,andinlateryearsreminiscedaboutthedigandthemeeting. “This learned man [was]...an authority”(Smith1926a,1926b,1926c,1926d,1926e,1959,1962). Until recently there were still local peoplewhoremembered the summerof1926, includingArt Gowan, Herbert G. Webster, C. Bert Smith(1959),andJenny(Nichol)Sidey.JennySideyalsoremembered cornhills near the site (personalcommunication1969).Websterwasaschoolboyatthetime,but,nevertheless,Wintembergconsultedand cited Herbert and his father (Wintemberg1946:155,180).

Duringtheexcavations,MiltonMelvillefoundapiece of European brass that he described assomehowdifferentfromthebrasshefoundonhisownfarm(Melville1968).Hewonderedif ithad

been deposited from somewhere else, possiblybrought in with manure. For this reason,WintembergwascautiousinacceptingthebrassasevidenceofEuropeancontactforthesite.

Wintemberg’s work at the Sidey-Mackay siteprovedthevalueofpriorexperiencebecausehewasabletomakecomparisonswithearliersiteshehadexcavated and with other collections. Potteryresembling that of St. Lawrence Iroquoianssuggested to him that the Sidey-Mackay peoplewere related more closely to people formerlyinhabiting regions to the east than to the west(Wintemberg 1946:181-182). Thanks to theassistance he received from the United StatesNationalMuseumat theSmithsonianInstitute inWashington(USNM),wherethebonesheexcavatedwereanalyzed,hewasabletoobservethat,atSidey-Mackay, thereweremorebeaver thandeerbones.Thenumberofstoneendscrapers“probablyusedindressinghides”ledhimtosuggestthatthebeaverswere processed in the village (Wintemberg1946:167). This, together with the piece ofEuropeanmetalthatwasfound,ledtotheproposalthat these people were processing beaver for theEuropeanfurtrade(Garrad1981).

Wintemberg included references to Petunmaterialin“ForeignAboriginalartifactsfrompost-European Iroquoian sites in Ontario,” and“Distinguishing characteristics of Algonkian andIroquoian cultures” (Wintemberg 1926, 1931)amongotherpapers.

Thehugevolumeofmaterial thatWintembergshipped to Ottawa from his 1926 work on theSidey-Mackay site included “two thousand threehundred sixty fragments of rims appertained to1,997 pots,” elsewhere described as “about 2,000pots” (Wintemberg 1946:159,180). TheAnthropologyDivision’sunheatedstoragebuildingwas filled. In 1927 more than “49 cases ofarchaeologicalspecimens”containing4,000artifactsawaited unpacking and the construction of newstorage cabinets. “Only those specimens that areleastperishableandleastoftenrequired”weregivenspace(Jenness1928:5,11).

Manyofthepotteryrimsherdsandindeed“themajorityofthematerialsreportedbyWintemberg”from Sidey-Mackay, and also from other sitesthat Wintemberg excavated, were apparently


dispersedtoothermuseumsalthoughin1974norecord of these transactions could be found(Garrad 1978b). Wintemberg’s field recordsremained(Wright1981:53),buttheyonlypartlycompensate for the fact that the survivingremnant of the collection is no longerrepresentativeofthesite(Garrad1978c).

The unprecedented attraction that the PetunCountryheldin1923fortheNationalMuseumwasasshort-livedasitwassudden.Ithadfadedentirelyby1926.WhileheworkedattheSidey-Mackaysite,Wintemberglivedinatent,abletoonlyvisitthecomparativeluxuryoftheSovereignHotel,wherehehadstayedin1923.Wintembergwas more than three months at Creemore in1926,notonlyexcavatingtheSidey-Mackaysite,but also visiting, testing, and photographingothernearby sites.Webster (1976) remembered40packingcasesofartifactsreadytobeshippedto Ottawa in July 1926, before the work washalfwaythrough.TheNationalMuseum’sreportonall thiswork, less thanapageandhalf long(Jenness1928:7-8),isanoticeablecontrasttothelengthy reports given toWintemberg’s previousexcavations.EvensomeofhisanalysishadtobedoneintheUnitedStates(Wintemberg1946:154fn1; United States National Museum 1877-1975).

Wintemberg was unable to fulfill hiscommitment that all the material he excavatedwouldbedepositedintheNationalMuseumandthat “a report of the culture of the site will beprepared and published” (Creemore Star 1926).AfterWintemberg’sdeath, in1941,thedraftofhis unfinished report was found among hiseffectsbyDr.DouglasLeechman,whoarrangedfor itspublicationinAmerican Antiquity twentyyears after the dig (Wintemberg 1946). Itsprincipaldeficiencyisthelackofmapsshowingwhereexcavationsoccurredonthesite.

Local Perspectives: Farmers and Townspeople Weigh In on the Evidence (1903–1949)

EarlyinterestinPetunCountrywasbynomeansunique to academics and professionalarchaeologists. Publications about the pre-

Europeanoccupationoftheareaquicklyarousedthe curiosity of residents of Nottawasaga andCollingwood, among them both farmers andtownspeople.Althoughtheydidnothaveformaltraining in archaeology or linguistics, thesepeopledidhaveanunderstandingof theregionthat could only be gained by living there year-round.Theyknewwheresiteswerefound,and,equally important, they knew where sites werenotlikelytobefound.Theypublished,andtheyorganized local exhibitions, a society, and fieldtrips.Localnewspapersranstoriesonexcavations,exhibits, andeven talkspresented locally. Jones’ideas about the locations of Ekarenniondi andEtharitamaybeconsideredasourceofinspiration.Foranumberofreasons,localpeoplefoundhisproposed locations so problematic that theysoughtalternativeandbettercandidatelocationsforthevillagesandtheStandingRock.

Fred Birch FredBirchwasafarmerwhopublishedonlyonearchaeological article in his life, but it atests tothevalueofafarmer’sperspectiveandfamiliaritywiththelandandthedictatesofagriculture.OnreadingFatherJones’proposalthatarockinthe Pretty River valley represented the rockEkarenniondi,andhisconsequentbeliefthatthevillageofEtharita(St.John)wouldbefoundinOsprey township (Jones 1903:114, 134-136),Birch reacted as a farmer. He rejected Jones’proposalonthegroundsthatthegrowingseasonintheareawastooshortfornativestaplessuchascorn,pumpkins,sunflowers,andtobacco(Birch1903-1912).Hehadlearned,25yearsearlier,ofavillagesiteneartoday’sScenicCaves.Associatedwithrocksandcaves,itlaymorethanfivemilesnorthof Jones’ rock.As an amateur scholar,hesoughttheopinionsofthepeopleofOspreyonthematterand, in1903,travelledtothevillagesite and nearby rocks to satisfy himself that hehadthebettercandidate(Birch1904a,1904b).

Correspondence, now at the ROM (Birch1903-1912), reveals Birch to have been afrustrated intellectual, uncertain aboutapproachingpeopleoutsidehissphere,hamperedsomewhatbyhiscircumstancesasafarmerwitha large family unsympathetic to his interest in


Indianremains.Althoughhemodestlydescribedhimselfas“anuneducatedfarmer,”hewasliterate,withagoodturnofphrase.Asamusicandvoiceteacher, he was socially active, and he was achoirmastertoseveralchurches.HehadreadandwantedtoobtaincopiesoftheJesuit Relations.Heenthused over the Provincial Museum. Bycoincidence,itwashousedintheNormalSchoolbuilding inToronto where his daughter Rhodatrainedasateacher.ItwaswhilevisitingherthatBirchgot toknowthemuseumandmetDavidBoyle.Fromthattime,BirchstartedreceivingtheAAROs. In return, on several occasions, hedonated Indian artifacts from theBeaverValleytothemuseum.

Birch(1903-1912)firstwrotetoBoyletosayhedisagreedwithJones’(1903)proposalsconcerningtherockEkarenniondi.Atthesametime,knowingofthePlater-MartinvillagesiteatCraigleith,Birchreasoned that “it must have been to that IndiantownatCraigleiththatthe ‘womenandchildrenand many aged men’ fled over the ice, from‘Ossossane’.”ThisreasoningshowsthatBirchwasfamiliar with an aspect of the dispersal of theHuron in 1649. He wrote again, in 1903, toinform Boyle that, on his advice, Birch hadcorrespondedwithJonesinJune.JonesrepliedinJuly,indicatingthathewouldbebackintheareainAugust, butmeanwhileBirch “was tobear inmindthatSt.JeanwasthemostsoutherlyofallthePetunvillagesandthattheStandingRockwasnotintheheartoftheTobaccocountry,butneartheeasternfrontier.”

Father Jones did return in August 1903 butavoided Birch. On October 14, 1903, BirchwroteagaintoBoylefollowinganexpeditiontothe caves and a village site on theHaney farm,enclosing drawings of a lizard effigy pipe heacquired there. He also agreed, evidently inresponse to an earlier suggestion by Boyle, towrite an article to refute Father Jones’ ideas.Boyleagreedtoreviseandcorrectit,andsoBirchgavehisimmediateattentiontothiscommitment.In December, Birch complained that in editinghis manuscript Boyle “had used the scissorsunmercifully”(Birch1903-1912).

Birch’s article was published in the AAROunderthetitle“TheStandingRock,”andagain

intheCollingwood Bulletinunderthetitle“SaysFather Jones Is Wrong” (Birch 1904a, 1904b).His new status as a published authorityencouragedhimtowrite toAndrewHunter. InhisfirstlettertoHunterin1904,Birchrevealedhis feelings about Father Jones: “I had thesupreme impudence to write to Father Jones,”andhewonderedifJones’avoidanceofhimwasbecause “he must have come to the conclusionthat I am right.” In another 1904 letter Birchcommented on the Hunter vs. Jones dispute asfollows:“IhadtolaughatthewayyousettledtheinfallibleFatherJones.”TheywerestillrehashingnegativeopinionsofFatherJonesin1912.Thatyear, after returning to the village site on theCook farm, Birch sent Hunter drawings ofartifacts in Jim Cook’s collection as well as ofartifactsfromthesite.

Wintemberg began a correspondence withBirchin1919.InareplytoWintemberg,datedFebruary12thatyear,Birchencloseddrawingsofsome the Birch collection artifacts by HannahBirch. By this time, Fred was blind, retired,widowed, and living in Meaford. Wintembergsaw the Birch and Cook collections when hevisited during his survey in 1923, just beforeBirch died.Wintemberg was the first to realizethat there were archaeological artifacts on boththe Haney farm and the adjoining Cook farm(Wintemberg1923).8

Birch’s identification of the EkarenniondiStanding Rock at the Scenic Caves was soobviouslyrightthatJones’notionthatitwasinthe Pretty River valley was soon forgotten.Birch’s (1904a, 1904b) article remains theultimate published authority on the subject.Blair (personal communication 1961-79),Bourrie (1944:4),Hunter (1912:80),Lawrence(1908a, 1908b, 1909, 1916), Wintemberg(1923), and I all agreed with him. AlthoughBirch identified the best candidate forEkarenniondi rockandvillage sites,hedidnotfindavillagenamedSt.Mathiasbecause,FatherJones’opiniontothecontrary,therewasnosuchvillage. St. Mathias was the name of a mission territory headquartered in the village of St.Matthew,oneoftwovillagesthathadmoved,byJesuittimes, fromBirch’s locationattheScenic


Caves, to the ridge above Craigleith (Garrad1997a,1999b).

Jones’ (1903) article in the AARO changedBirch’s life. It helped him realize his latentinterest,transformedhishearsayknowledgeintoscientific enquiry, and inspired him to writeletters and author contributions to the AARO.His work was long remembered in the BeaverValley(Alderdice1965).9

The Huron Institute, David Williams, George W. Bruce, John Lawrence, Maurice Gaviller, and James Morris The Collingwood Mechanics’ Institute andLibrary Association was founded in 1856. In1896, the library function was assumed by theTownofCollingwoodasaFreeLibrary.In1899,applicationwasmadetotheCarnegieCorporationforagranttobuildaCarnegieLibrarybuilding;agrantwas received in1903.ThebuildingwaserectedonlanddonatedbylocalcitizensThomasLongandJohnJ.Long,andthelibraryopenedin1904(Sandell1985).

Interest in their Petun predecessors was highamongtheearlysettlersinthePetunCountry.Bytheearly1900s,therewerefamilieswithsufficienttime, interest, and literacy to remember DavidBoyle’s 1885 circular, to collect information onlocal Indian sites and remains for the OntarioArchaeological Museum, and to receive theAAROs.LocalnewspapersreportedIndianfindsas public news and asked for reports of Indianremains (Creemore Star 1890a). The Flesherton Advance even boasted an archaeological editor(Creemore Star1890a,1890b,1893).Knowledgeof local archaeological remains was widespread,aswasawarenessthattheoriginalpioneerswerepassing away. After several years of talk aboutstarting a historical society, on April 14, 1904,the Collingwood Bulletin announced that “thetime is now ripe.” The Huron Institute wasfoundedthatmonth,aconstitutionwasadoptedthe month after, and by the third month theHuron Institute was fully active as “AnEducational Association Formed with a LargeMembership” and a programme that was toincludemonthlymeetings,exhibitions,andfieldresearch (Collingwood Bulletin 1904a, 1904b,

1904c; Enterprise-Messenger 1904a; Collingwood Saturday News1908).Althoughtheinstitutewasfounded in1904, its crest bears thedate1903,perhapsexplainedbythedesiretocounterJones’proposal, in 1903, that the Petun had lived inBruce County and Osprey Township (Jones1903:106-116,131-136). This idea createdinterest bordering on consternation in theCollingwoodarea.

David Williams, editor and owner of theCollingwood Bulletin,wasaprincipalinstigatorofthe Huron Institute’s founding. Although “thediscoveryofIndianrelics,thelocationofIndianvillages, battle-grounds and burial places” wasonlyoneoftheinstitute’sfivefoundingobjectives,itwasperhapstheprincipalinterestofWilliams.HehopedthegroupwouldcollectIndianartifactsand establish a museum. The Huron Institutefound a home in the new Collingwood librarybuilding, where, in November 1904, a “LoanExhibition” was held and 21 people exhibitedIndian artifacts. Not all the owners reclaimedtheir exhibits afterwards and so the HuronInstitutefounditselfinpossessionofartifactsandbeganamuseumbydefault(Enterprise-Messenger1904b).Seriousresearch,collecting,writing,andlectureprograms followed.Details ofdonationstotheHuronInstituteMuseumwerepublishedas news (e.g., Collingwood Bulletin 1908a;Enterprise-Messenger 1905; Morris 1908, 1909).The institute affiliated with the OntarioHistoricalSociety(OHS),andannualreportsoftheir activities were included in the OHS’sannual reportbeginning in1905.Williams, thesecretary,waselectedacouncilloroftheOHSfor1905–1906 and remained on council andcommittees for years to come, serving twice aspresident (1910–1912 and 1935–1936)(Enterprise-Bulletin 1944; Ontario HistoricalSociety1906:3,4,36,55-56,1911:20-21).

ThecontinuingresearchofFatherJonesinthearea remained of great interest to institutemembers. Sometime president of the instituteandwardenofSimcoeCountyMajor(laterLt.-Colonel) George W. Bruce responded with hisown opinions in a lecture in 1906 (Bruce1907:37-38;OntarioHistoricalSociety1906:56).The zeal of the Huron Institute in collecting


Indian artifacts was commended by the OHS(1907:20). Artifact donations and instituteactivitiesreceivedmuchlocalpublicity,notonlyinthenewspaperownedbyWilliamsbutalsoinits rivals. Articles and talks by Birch (1904b),Hugh Hammond (1905), and John Lawrence(1908a, 1908b) were reported as news. ThelingeringconcernoverJones’ interpretations ledtoformalexpeditionstositesinthePrettyRivervalleyandtoJones’StandingRockin1907.Thatyear, John Lawrence separately researched thePlater-Martin village site at Craigleith (OntarioHistoricalSociety1907:3).

WhenFrancisandAliceWebsterofWebsterville,west of Creemore, became members in January1906, the Institute gained access to the family’sunsurpassedknowledgeof the Indian remains inthe Creemore district (Hargrave 1983:20,1984:148).OnVictoriaDay1908,JohnLawrence,James Morris, and Maurice Gaviller of theInstitute’s exploration committee availedthemselves of the Webster family’s knowledge,hospitality,and“teamandconveyance” tovisitanumber of archaeological sites near the Websterhome.Their explorationswere recordedpubliclyandwidely(Collingwood Bulletin1908a;Creemore Star 1908a, 1908b; Lawrence et al. 1909;Collingwood Saturday News 1908). From thepublishedaccounts,thesitesvisitedin1908maybe recognized today as theMelville andLatimervillages,theDuff/Perrycamp,andtheRhodessite.TheSidey-Mackayvillagewasamongthenearbysitesrecordedbutnotvisitedatthetime(Creemore Star1908a,1908b;Hargrave1983:20-21;OntarioHistoricalSociety1907:20).

The institute’s first publication, Volume 1 ofHuron Institute Papers and Records in 1909,includedamapofarchaeologicalremainsinPetunCountry (Lawrence et al.1909). The same year,curator James Morris (1909) reported that theinstitute held 913 “Indian relics of this county.”Thiscarefulphrasingwasprobablybecausenotallitemsinthecollectionwereoflocalorigin;somecamefromChristianIsland.

The interest that livestock breeder JohnLawrence took in field research may have beenanother result of ongoing doubts about Jones’work. Lawrence, always interested in the Petun,

hadexhibitedIndianartifactsattheloanexhibitionof 1904. His first paper, reprinted several times,addressed the issue of Ekarenniondi (Lawrence1908a, 1908b,1909,1916).Aspresidentof theinstitutein1908,he,withfellowmembersoftheexploration committee Gaviller and Morris,curator of the institute collection, methodicallyexplored all known archaeological sites fromBanda north to Craigleith, locating villages andobtainingrelics.Oneof theserelicswasa“JesuitRing”fromtheKelly-CampbellsiteontheKellyfarmnearDuntroon(Collingwood Bulletin1908b).

This committee lapsed when both Lawrenceand Morris left Collingwood—Lawrence forCalifornia in 1911, dying there in 1931(Collingwood Bulletin1931;Daily Times-Advocate1931), and Morris for Toronto, where he wastransferred by the Bank of Montreal in 1912,dying there in 1939 (Enterprise-Bulletin 1939).The days of field research sponsored by theHuron Institutehad ended. In1911, theOHSlaudedthecontributionsandworkofLawrence,Gaviller, and Morris for the Huron Institute(Ontario Historical Society 1911:15-22, 29;1912:100-101). With time, Williams was leftincreasingly without support. Formal researchandregularpubliclecturesbytheHuronInstituteweresuspendedduringtheGreatWarandwerenever consistent thereafter. In 1914 and 1939,Williams produced publications in the HuronInstitute’s Papers and Records series. The finalvolumewasaageneralcatalogueofthemuseumholdings, which unfortunately did not includetheIndianartifacts.

The museum continued to receive donationsofartifacts.In1920,WilliamA.SmithdonatedhiscollectionofIndianartifactsfromtheGlebeand McLean sites on the Glebe and McLeanfarmsafterhiscousin,JayBlair,prevailedonhimto do so (Ontario Historical Society 1921:40).Theinstitute’scollectionprovedusefultoatleastone professional archaeologist: Wintembergstudied it during his 1923 survey (Collingwood Bulletin 1923; Wintemberg 1923). After this,interest diminished. According to Marsh(Collingwood & District Historical Society1996:6), therewas littlesecurityandtherewereno regular opening hours. And the basement


roomintheCarnegielibrarysometimesflooded.In1931,theHuronInstituteonceagainhostedthe annual meeting of the OHS, but on thisoccasion none of the papers presented werespecifictothePetun(OntarioHistoricalSociety1931). The last known donation of Indianartifacts to the institute at its Carnegie LibrarylocationwasbyMissA.R.WilliamsofClarksburgonJuly31,1957.

The Petun archaeological artifacts gathered bythe Huron Institute, which survived years ofneglectandacalamitousfire,arenowcuratedinthe Collingwood Museum. The name of theHuron Institute is no longer associatedwith thecollection, but it survives at many reputablelibraries in the three volumes of Huron Institute Papers and Recordspublishedin1909(Volume1),1914(Volume2),and1939(Volume3).Abriefhistory of the institute was compiled (Garrad1999c) before its centennial anniversary wascelebratedinCollingwoodin2004.Atsomepointthe Huron Institute became affiliated with TheRoyalSocietyofCanada.ThenamestillappearedontheSociety’sListofAffiliatedSocietiesin1932(RoyalSocietyofCanada1932:xvi).

The Webster Family AliceHollingworth(Figure3)hadcorrespondedwith David Boyle even before she met andmarried Francis (Frank) Ernest Webster andmovedtoWebsterville,nearCreemore,in1902.AsMrs.F.E.Webster,shecontinuedcorrespondingwith Boyle, received the AAROs, collectedartifacts, and researched and wrote about localhistoryandIndianremains(e.g.,Webster1907,1934).TheWebstersjoinedtheHuronInstituteinJanuary1906,andAliceWebsterattendedthejoint meeting that year of the Huron Instituteand OHS. On Victoria Day, 1908, theyentertained and assisted the Huron Institute’sExploration Committee on their tour of thesouthernPetunCountry.

The Institute benefitted greatly from theWebsterfamily’spresenceinthesouthpartofthePetun Country—as did our archaeologicalknowledgeofthePetun.LongbeforecomingtoCreemore in February 1902 to lecture for theWomen’s Institutes, Alice Hollingworth had

visited the ruins of Ste. Marie I and nearbyIndianvillages,learnedaboutIndianartifactsandarchaeology, and discovered Indian artifacts inMuskoka. According to her son, Herbert, Alicebrought toWebstervilleherexpertise inbotany,geology,othernaturalsciences,dairying,history,archaeology, writing, traveling. As president ofthe local Farmers’ Institute, Francis (Frank) E.Webster knew all the local farmers, and Alicesoon learned and recorded who was finding“Indian tools, pottery and ash while ploughingfields.”FrancisE.Websterbuilt ahouse forhisbride,anditissaidthatshenamedit“Etharita”fortheprominentPetunvillagedestroyedbytheIroquoisin1649.OneofthelocalarchaeologicalsitesthatFrankWebstermentionedtohisvisitingHuron Institute colleagues in 1908 was Sidey-Mackay.Followinghissurveyin1923,WilliamJ.Wintemberg from the National Museum ofCanadareturnedin1926toexcavatethesite,andhecreditedtheWebsterfamilywithassistingwithlogistics and providing information. TheWebsters’son,Herbert,participatedinthework

Figure 3. Alice Webster (née Hollingworth). Photo courtesy of her granddaughter, Helen Blackburn.


(Hargrave1983:6,21-23;Wintemberg1946:154,155,180).

Alice Webster transmitted her collection ofIndianartifactstohersonHerbert,hercompletecollectionofAAROstoherdaughterAlice,andher intellectual interests to them both. Herbertcatalogued the artifacts and added those hehimself collected and excavated from sites nearCreemore. He married the daughter from theDickinson farm, where the Clark brotherscollected in 1918 (see below). Alice Webster’sgranddaughter Helen assisted ConradHeidenreich in1973duringhis examinationoftheIndiancornhillssurvivingonapropertynearCreemore (see below; Heidenreich 1974) andcontinues towriteandpublishon localhistory.Helen and Herbert both participated in thearchaeologicalexcavationsontheKelly-Campbellsite in 1974, sponsored by the OntarioArchaeological Society (OAS) during mypresidency. Helen, her mother, Alice Emmett,andheruncleHerbertWebster,providedmuchinformationfortheBlair-Garradsurvey(Webster1976).

Arthur J. Clark and Walter Clark AlthoughnotresidentsofPetunCountry,ArthurJames Clark and Walter Clark shared interestswith such people as the Websters and withmembersoftheHuronInstitute.Theytravelledaround Ontario recording archaeological sitesand artifacts. Fergus Grose, former reeve ofCreemore, remembered the Clark brotherscampingonhisfather’sfarmin1912whiletheycollected, and perhaps excavated, on the Groseand Melville farms. In 1917 and 1918, theyreturned, collecting more material from thesepropertiesaswellasthenearbyDickinsonfarm.The brothers kept good notes, records, andillustrationsofselectedartifacts.10ItseemsthatitwasWalterClarkwhomadethecollectionsandArthurJ.Clarkwhokeptthecatalogueandmadetheexcellentdrawings.

Joseph N. Bourrie Collingwood Postmaster and resident JosephBourriewasfascinatedbytheJesuithistoryintheBlueMountainareaandbecameconvincedthat

everyoneshouldlearnthestory.AsChairoftheCollingwood Board of Trade, in 1944 hepublished a short history of the Petun withrecommendations for aproposed “HuroniaSkyLine Drive” to various archaeological sites. In1947,heundertookanexperimenttoprovethatavillagesiteneartheStandingRockattheScenicCaveswestofCollingwoodwas theoneknowntotheJesuitsasEkarenniondi.CitingasupposedJesuitstatementthatfiresatthePetunvillageofEkarenniondi could be seen at Sainte-Marie-Among-the-Hurons, Bourrie, acting inconjunction with the Huronia Historic SitesAssociationandobservedbyWilfridJuryoftheUniversityofWesternOntario,litafireneartheStandingRockandflasheda light.TheflashinglightwasvisibletowatchersatWasagaBeachandat a Huron village site Bourrie thought was St.Michel,butneitherthefirenorthelightcouldbeseenatSte.Marie.ATorontonewspaper reporttitled “Tests Fail to Solve Mystery of Site ofEkarenniondi, Enigma of Huron Indian” wascopied in Collingwood as “Historians Seek toDefineLocationofIndianVillageSite.”Bourriefollowedup in1948with “VillageofDepartedSoulsHasImportantRoleAmidstIndianLegendsof District,” and in 1949 with “The PetunCountry.” Much of the route of his proposedSkylineDrivewaswashedoutbyHurricaneHazelinOctober1954.Bourriedidnot livetoseethevillagesiteneartheScenicCavesdatedtothetimeofChamplain (that is,pre-Jesuit), and the Jesuitvillage of Ekarenniondi identified at Craigleith.Joe Bourrie popularized the name “The PetunCountry,”anddemonstratedthatwithinthePetunCountry are remains of considerable interest(Bourrie1944,1947a,1947b,1948,1949).

Petun Research: The Birth and Development of a Sustained Research Program (1932–Today)

While many individuals, both academic andavocational,showedaninterestinthehistoryandarchaeology of Petun Country, their interestsgenerallyprovedtobeshort-livedorspecifictoacertainsiteorregion.Theyaimed, forexample,to identify particular villages or mission sites.


BeginningwiththeworkofJ.Allan(Jay)Blair,continuingwithour collaborative investigationsandculminatingwithmyownstudies,thefocusof Petun studies shifted.We aimed to assembleand integrate the work of previous researchersandtoputforwardaplausiblehypothesisforthesequenceofvillagesinPetunCountry.

This collaboration began 1961, but Blair’sworkstartedmuchearlier.BlairinitiallyworkedwithinterestedindividualsfromtheCollingwoodarea, including theThomases, and with a teamfrom the University of Toronto. Theseinvestigations were relatively short compared toourlatercollaborativeprogramme.Tothis,Blaircontributedhisvastlocalknowledgeofthearea,itssites,anditsresidents,andhispreviouswork.Ihadaccesstothelibraries,theuniversities,thestudents, the Ontario Archaeological Society(OAS), and contacts in London and Toronto.Thiscombinationofscientificresearchandlocalandpracticalknowledgeprovedeffective.

J. Allan Blair: His Background and Early WorkJohn Allan Alexander Angus Blair (Figure 4),alwaysknownasJay,died in1979 just shortofhisninetiethbirthday.HewaswellknownintheDuntroonareaandisrememberedtodayforhiseclecticinterestsandhisextensivehistoricalandarchaeologicalwritings(Garrad1982a:103-106).JayBlair’s interests continueda family traditionestablished by two uncles, Donald Blair andAngus Buie. Uncle Donald wrote about localhistory(Collingwood Bulletin1908c,Blair1934).UncleAngus found Indianartifactsonhisownand neighbouring11 farms near Duntroon. HisnameappearedasadonorinthefirstCanadianInstitute museum catalogue. From Angus, JayBlairinheritedalibraryofAAROsandanartifactcollection,aswellasanintellectualinterestinthearchaeologyofPetunCountry.12

Jay’snaturalhonestyandintellectualcuriosityled him to read, research, write, collect, dig,study, publish, try to understand, and wherenecessary try “to set the record straight.” Itwashis study, interpretation, and publication of hisfindings that established Jay as a scholarlyarchaeologistandnotjustareliccollector.Inlatelife he said, “the archaeological work was the

mostsatisfying,becauseIwasalwaysanxioustofindoutwherethedifferentIndianvillageswere,andasmuchabout the Indians as I could.”Healsowaseditorof, andcontributor to, the localtownshiphistoriespublishedin1934and1967,anactivememberandsometimepresidentoftheCollingwood Writers’ Club, and chief historianandarchaeologistoftheBlueMountainHistoricalandArchaeologicalSociety(Garrad1982a).

Jay’s interest in the Indians began as a boywhenheandacompanioneachfoundacarvedstone effigy of a wolf ’s head on the Kelly farm(Kelly-Campbellsite).FromtheskillandartistryoftheworkJayknewitsmaker“wasnosavage.”This insight provoked a life-long interest inIndians in general, but particularly in thosepeople who formerly resided in his hometownship of Nottawasaga. He took to heartDavid Boyle’s dicta that “the whole of thisneighbourhoodshouldbeexaminedcarefully,as

Figure 4. Jay Blair in 1967. Photo by Fritz Schuller of Collingwood.


soon as possible” and “there is yet much to berecorded and considerable material to becollected”(Boyle1889a:10,15).Inthecourseofhis1923 survey,Wintemberg soughtout Jay asthelocalauthority.13Thetwomendidnotmeet,butrecognitionbyCanada’sseniorarchaeologist,followed by the death of Jay’s mentor, AngusBuie, ledJaytoconsiderhimselfresponsibleforpreserving the knowledge and artifacts he hadinherited.

His early investigations may be consideredsurveyandmonitoringof sites, inthecourseofwhich he discovered significant artifacts. Forexample,in1932,hefoundasmallcoppermedalon theCampbell farm (Kelly-Campbell site). ItwasembossedonoppositesideswiththefacesofIgnatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, the twofounders of the Society of Jesus. Jay concludedthatthemedalhadbeenthepersonalpropertyoftheJesuitFatherCharlesGarnier,whowaskilledduring the Iroquois attack on Etharita inDecember 1649. This confirmed for him theidentification of the site where it was found asEtharita.OnanothersitehefoundanironknifeuniqueinPetunCountryforthesloganengravedon it: “LeCraindreDeMeurirEst pire queLaMort” (“The Fear of Death is Worse thanDeath”).This was not a typical trade knife butprobably the personal property of one ofChamplain’s men who visited the area in 1616(Garrad1969a,2003b:8-11).

In1950,JayvisitedFatherThomasJ.LallyattheMartyrs’ Shrine,Midland, to showhim themedal and seek his opinion. Here, he wasintroduced toWilfrid Jury, who, with his wife,Elsie, operated the Summer School of IndianArchaeologynearby.In1951,Jay’sfriendEdwardH.Thomasandhiswife,MarySusan,attendedthe summer school. In July 1952, Jay did thesame.JaysharedwiththeJurysafarmbackground,andtheyremainedlifelongfriends.WilfridJuryendowed Jay with the nickname “Laird ofDuntroon.”

Until this time Jay had never excavated, butwhen graves were unexpectedly exposed in agravelpitnorthofDuntrooninSeptember1952,he applied his new skills, and his friend MaryThomasreportedonthefindsinthelocalpaper

(Enterprise-Bulletin 1952a). He recorded thebonesandreburiedthemelsewhere.Thisincidentdemonstratedthevalueofhavinglocalspecialistsavailablewhoareabletorespondquicklytosuchemergencies.Twosmallclaypotswerefound,onebadlydamaged,theothersubstantiallycomplete.JaymadedrawingsofthecompletepotandtookthemtoJozoWeideratBlueMountainPottery.Commercial copies of thepotweremade,withmatching cream and sugar jugs, and the newproduct line launched in 1953 (Enterprise-Bulletin 1953a). Sales were disappointing. In1964,theunsoldstockofpotswasplacedintheCollingwood Museum for sale. The entireremaining stock of the pot was purchased tobecome part of the furnishings of the restoredbuildings at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.There they proved popular as small andconvenient“souvenirs”andsoonalldisappeared.14

Accepting that archaeology is a multi-stageprocessthatendswithpublication,buthavingnootheroutlet,Jaysentareportonhis1952workto three local newspapers (Blair 1952), all ofwhichpublished iton the sameday,September18,1952.ToJay’ssurprise,hisreportwaspickedupbyothernewspapers.Reportersfromtheprintmedia and the Canadian BroadcastingCorporation called to interview him. Seniormembers of the Ontario archaeologicalcommunitycontactedhim.KennethE.Kiddofthe ROM called to ask for details of the Petunsites that Jay knew of, for the museum’s files.NormanD.ClarkecamefromBarrie,andFrankRidley, from Toronto. Later, Ridley included aphotographofthepotJayhadexcavatedinoneof his own articles (Ridley 1957). Jay foundhimself accepted internationally as the leadingauthorityonIndianremainsinPetunCountry.Aletter simply addressed to “The Archaeologist,Duntroon,Ontario”was efficientlydelivered tohim by the Campbell sisters, operators of theDuntroonPostOffice.

Beginning in 1952, Blair collaborated withEdwardH.Thomasonseveralprojects,includingexcavations at the MacMurchy site (Garrad2003a), described in further detail below. In1954 and 1955, Blair and Thomas combinedresourcestosearchforFatherGarnier’schapelon


the Kelly-Campbell site, which, they hoped,would conclusively identify the site as Etharita.Variouslocalintellectuals,doctors,andclergymenflocked to help. One of these was Dr. W.R.Franks, a scientist working with Canada’s spaceprogramme who was associated with the RoyalCanadian Air Force at Camp Borden. Hearranged for a photo-reconnaissance airplane tofly over and photograph the site. The dig didlocateevidenceofastructure.Thomasbelieveditto be Garnier’s chapel (Thomas 1954a, 1959a,1959b), while Jay thought it was a longhouse.Work by Scarborough College, University ofToronto, in 1974 and 1975, found anothersimilarstructure,whichiscertainlyalonghouse,thussupportingJay’sinterpretation.

In1957,BlairandThomasagainco-operatedto explore the Paddison-Bellwood site, nearStayner, locally supposed to be the site of theJesuit St. Thomas. They demonstrated that,beingaLalondeperiodsite,itwastooearlytobeoftheJesuitperiod(Thomas1957a).

Edward H. and Mary Susan Thomas EdwardHaroldThomasandMarySusanThomaswereteachers fromToronto, intellectuals,poets,and writers who spent their summers inCollingwood, especially after retirement. Theymet Jay Blair after he had published articles in1949 commemorating the anniversary of theIroquois attack on Etharita 300 years earlier(Blair 1949a, 1949b).TheThomases publishedtwo books of their poetry and researched andwrote prolifically for local newspapers on localsubjects,especiallyhistoryandarchaeology.15

In 1952, Mildred MacMurchy contactedEdwardThomasafterreadingoneofhisarticlesand invited him to see the Indian artifacts herfamily had found on their farm. This was thesamefarmfromwhichoneofCaptainMoberly’ssons had taken artifacts to Ottawa about acentury before.Thomas accepted the invitationand together with Jay Blair and Craigleithresident Gilbert C. Patterson, a professor ofhistoryattheUniversityofToronto,madeatestexcavation on the site on September 13, 1952.Finding the site rich and only minimallydisturbed, they ceased work and sought greater

resourcesfromDr.ThomasF.McIlwraith,chairof theDepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof Toronto. Thomas wrote an account for thelocalnewspaper,whichgaveitfrontpagecoverage(Enterprise-Bulletin1952b),possiblybecausetheeditor was Jack MacMurchy, a relative ofMildred’s. Another article followed in October,after a meeting on the site of a number ofOntario’s more eminent archaeologists, whomthe Thomases invited and entertained. Alladvocatedformalexcavations(Enterprise-Bulletin1952c; Garrad 2003a:13; Thomas 1952).Pattersontooktheproblembacktocolleaguesatthe University of Toronto. The university’sdepartment of anthropology agreed to excavateon the site the following year. The resultingreport(Bell1953a)mentionsthethreelocalmenwhomadetheexcavationpossible,butdoesnotacknowledge their responsible decision to turntheir explorations over to the university. Theirskilfully conducted test excavation wasdisappointingly dismissed as the work of“collectors.” In fact, the trio had given theartifacts they recovered to the site’s owners,Mildred and Murdoch MacMurchy, and theseartifactswerefreelyavailableforexamination,aswereEdwardH.Thomas’drawingsofthem.16

In1954 and1955,Thomas,Blair, andotherlocal supporters conducted archaeologicalresearch on the Kelly-Campbell site (Thomas1959a,1959b).In1957,theybothexploredthePaddison-Bellwood site, near Stayner (Thomas1957a). When the Cook farm segment of theHaney-Cook site was sold and the estateauctioned, Thomas persuaded Mrs. Robert(Cook) Adams to withdraw from the sale thefamily’sartifactcollection,whichhadbeenseenby Hunter, Birch, andWilliam J.Wintemberg,andtoinsteaddonateittotheROM.17In1952,Thomas explored a midden deposit on thePlater-MartinsiteatCraigleith.

Thomas kept detailed notes, maps, anddrawings of his activities, and he publishedlocally and in the archaeologicalpress (Thomas1952,1954a,1954b,1955,1956,1957a,1957b,1957c, 1957d, 1957e, 1958a, 1958b, 1958c,1958d,1959a,1959b).Hisuniqueandreasonedsuggestion that the rock Ekarenniondi was the


Hen Rock in Collingwood harbour gained nosupport.AswithFatherJones’candidaterock,itdidnotmeettheessentialidentificationcriteria.

In1950,EdwardandMaryThomasfoundedthe Collingwood Writers’ Club. In 1955, in aregular“MuseumCorner”seriesintheEnterprise-Bulletin newspaper, the club promoted theremoval of the Huron Institute’s museum fromitsunsatisfactorybasementroomintheCarnegieLibrarytoitsownbuilding.ThefirstmembertowriteintheserieswasJayBlair(1956).EdwardH.Thomas was the principal contributor.Theimpetusforanewmuseumwassustainedfor52issuesbutdiedwhenitbecameapparentthatthemunicipality had little interest in the museumandevenlessinterestincreatinganewbuildingfor it. Thomas also wrote other articles fornewspapers in Collingwood and Barrie (e.g.,Thomas 1954a, 1954b, 1955, 1956, 1957b,1957c, 1957d, 1957e, 1958a, 1958b, 1958c,1958d). Edward H.Thomas died in 1963, hiswifeMarySusanThomasdiedin1966,andtheCollingwood Writers’ Club closed in 1972(Garrad1982a:72-73).18

W. Douglas Bell and the MacMurchy Site Dr.

Researching the Petun · 2015. 7. 10. · Mulmurownship T to the south and Collingwood Township...

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