Rev. Peter Jones

    JONES, PETER (known in Ojibwa as Kahkewaquonaby, meaning “sacred feathers” or “sacred waving feathers”; also known as Desagondensta, in Mohawk, signifying “he stands people on their feet”), Mississauga Ojibwa chief, member of the eagle totem, farmer, Methodist minister, author, and translator; b. 1 Jan. 1802 at Burlington Heights (Hamilton), Upper Canada; m. 8 Sept. 1833 Elizabeth Field* in New York City, and they had five sons, four of whom survived infancy; d. 29 June 1856 near Brantford, Upper Canada.                           Peter Jones was born in a wigwam on Burlington Heights, the second son of Augustus Jones*, a retired surveyor, and Tuhbenahneequay (Sarah Henry), the 22-year-old daughter of Wahbanosay, a Mississauga chief. Shortly after his birth he was given the name Kahkewaquonaby by Wahbanosay. Since Augustus was legally married to Sarah Tekarihogen (Tekerehogen), the daughter of the leading Mohawk chief, Henry [Tekarihogen*], he left the upbringing of Peter and his elder brother John* to Tuhbenahneequay. She raised them, teaching them the religion and the customs of her people, and they remained with her until 1816. Among the Mississaugas, Kahkewaquonaby learned how to hunt, fish, and canoe, and gained the reputation of being an excellent hunter.  When the Reverend Alvin Torry came to preach at the Grand River in 1823, he formed a native congregation around Chief Thomas Davis [Tehowagherengaraghkwen*] and Peter Jones. The young Mississauga encouraged his people to settle near the chief’s home, which became known as Davisville or Davis’s Hamlet. Many of Jones’s relatives came: his mother Tuhbenahneequay; his uncle Joseph Sawyer [Nawahjegezhegwabe*] with family, including Peter’s cousin Kezhegowinninne*; his half-sister Wechikiwekapawiqua and her husband, Chief Wageezhegome [Ogimauh-binaessih*]. By the end of the year Jones had begun teaching Sunday school and in the spring of 1824 he helped build a regular chapel for the growing Christian community. That summer he vowed to devote his life to missionary work. By the end of the summer of 1825 he had converted over half of his band to Christianity. That fall Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland offered to build for the converts a village of 20 houses on the west bank of the Credit River, in what is now Mississauga. Jones moved there early in 1826 and the village, called the Credit Mission, was completed by the winter of 1826–27. He was received on trial for the Methodist itinerancy in 1827.

During the summer of 1826 Jones had persuaded almost all those band members who were not yet Christians to enter the Methodist church. The faith of many Mississaugas in their own culture and religion had been shaken, as the life of one of their chiefs, Kineubenae*, demonstrates. In one generation they had lost more than half of their population and almost all of their hunting and fishing grounds. In their anxious state they looked to Jones for direction, entrusting him entirely with the conduct and management of their affairs. The native Christians felt that only he and his brother John, both English speakers, could deal effectively with the white missionaries and the Indian Department. In January 1829 the Credit band elected Peter one of their three chiefs, and he thus acquired a position of great influence, both in the band’s council and as an official spokesman.

  /ECN/