Fife News : Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen gets Freedom of Dunfermline

Chief Teyoninhokarawen

John Norton, who was born the son of a Cherokee father and a Scottish mother, was brought up in or around Dunfermline. He joined the British army as a young man and in 1786 was posted to Quebec where he later became involved with the Six Nations of the Grand River. 

 He lived in the lower Great Lakes region and worked as a schoolteacher, trader, and interpreter.  Adopted into the Mohawk community, he acquired the status of chief and was given the native name of Teyoninhokarawen.

 Norton played an important part on the British side of the Anglo-American war of 1812, leading his warriors as they fought alongside the British regulars on the Canadian war front.   At the close of the war Norton returned to Scotland with his native wife and his son who were to be educated in Dunfermline.

On 4th June 1816, Dunfermline Town Council conferred the Freedom of the Burgh upon 'Major John Norton, aliasTeyoninhokarawen  Chief of the Indians of the Five Nations'.

In the same year he returned to Canada to farm his land.  In 1823 while protecting his wife's honour he fatally wounded a man in a duel and was fined £25 for manslaughter. 

• Do you have a famous person in your family? 
• Come along to the Fife Family History Fair at Rothes Halls on 3^rd October. Who knows what you may discover!
• The title of the Fair is Home & Away: Scots on the move and will look at the theme of Scottish emigration.  Scots have had an incredible impact on cultures across the world out of all proportion to the size of their native land.
• Six experts in this field have been lined up to speak about various aspects of the Scottish diaspora. 
•   There will also be an extensive range of Family and Local History Resources available in the popular exhibition area.

• Admission:

• £17.50 for a day ticket which allows admission to the lectures and the exhibition
• £ 3.00 for an exhibition only ticket.

www.fifefamilyhistoryfair.org.uk

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