NEWS BRANTFORD – Rumours have haunted Oxbow Road for decades... A prominent thread running through the narrative of the Grand River Saga centres on a documented story of land theft. In the notoriously turbulent mid-nineteenth century, this particular land theft might have gone unnoticed except for one woman's determination. That woman was the mother of Squire Tehawennihárhos. Her name was Margaret Riley (O'Reilly) Davis. For simplicity, Margaret. At the time of Margaret's hus

Photos below show the actual river and mansion referenced in the Grand River Saga novels. Continue scrolling to see the images of John Smoke Johnson and Barton Farr, antagonists. 1. Ruthven Hall on the Grand River Ontario. Like the canal system, David Thompson 1's Ruthven Hall was constructed with Six Nation's money, which just happened to turn up in Thompson's bank account. (See, Bruce E Hill, The Grand River Navigation Company.) 2. Marker of Tehawennihárhos Squire Davis and

The Grand River is situated in southwestern Ontario. From its source near Wareham it flows southeast through the Grand valley–Fergus, Elora, Waterloo, Kitchener, Galt/Cambridge, Paris, Brantford, Ohsweken, Caledonia, and Cayuga–before emptying into the north shore of Lake Erie south of Dunnville at Port Maitland. In 1784 the Grand River/Tinaatoua and lands adjacent to the river for six miles on either side, including timber and minerals, were the property and within the sover

"The Grand River project was unique in one particular way. It was the only major project in Canadian history financed by Indian funds. . . . Their total investment subscribed without their knowledge or consent, amounted to over £40 000. Over a hundred years of protest by the Six Nations Indians and the periodical efforts of lawyers have not reimbursed them.” B. E. Hill Bruce Hill brings to light a serious 19th-century financial and land-jobbing scandal. Unvested writers, his

From the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology – final note on the return of the wampum belts Pauline Johnson...

Squire Davis had several run-ins with the authorities. Was he a forerunner of #IdleNoMore, or a scofflaw, or both? Squire’s claim to property in the Township of Onondaga in the Six Nations territory was contentious. Squire stood accused of getting a man inebriated, encouraging said fellow to sign a quit claim, re: RR45, and, if all this wasn’t sketchy enough, a certain Hilton Hill (H. H.) suggests Squire turned the poor befuddled fellow, namely Joseph Miller, over to the Unio

In 1791 a few years after the end of the American rebellion – and to handle the ensuing flood of American-speaking displaced persons arriving in the upper country – Great Britain took it upon itself to divide Quebec into two provinces: Lower and Upper Canada. Lower Canada is currently Québec. Upper Canada is currently Ontario. In the eighteenth century, Upper Canada, which the British claimed but did not own and did not conquer, was the territories-depending-thereon part of Q