A family history connects this basket to an 1837 visit to Deerfield, Massachusetts, by a group of Abenaki and Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) people from St. Francis, Quebec. The basket was made by Marie Saraphine (Sophie) Watso Denis-Paul and was presented to one of her Deerfield relatives during their visit. Sophie was a descendent of Eunice (Kanenstenhawi) Williams, who was one of the many Deerfield residents taken captive during a raid on the town in 1704, by French and Native American soldiers from Canada. Eunice chose not to return to Deerfield and was adopted into an Indigenous family in Kahnawake, Quebec.
Denis-Paul, Marie Saraphine “Sophie” Watso; Abenaki. Basket with cover. 1837. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/ir-h-106/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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