page_title: Molly Brant
section_title: Consort of Sir William
hierarchical_section_title: Molly Brant / Consort of Sir William
caption_attribution_description: English: Sir William Johnson Presenting Medals to Chiefs of the Six Nations at Johnstown, N.Y., 1772, shows Sir William Johnson holding a Native American Conference at Johnson Hall
context_page_description: Molly Brant, also known as Mary Brant, Konwatsi'tsiaienni, and Degonwadonti, was influential in New York and Canada in the era of the American Revolution. Living in the Province of New York, she was the consort of Sir William Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, with whom she had eight children. Joseph Brant, who became a Mohawk leader and war chief, was her younger brother.
  After Johnson's death in 1774, Brant and her children left Johnson Hall in Johnstown, New York and returned to her native village of Canajoharie, further west on the Mohawk River. A Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War, she migrated to British Canada, where she served as an intermediary between British officials and the Iroquois. After the war, she settled in what is now Kingston, Ontario. In recognition of her service to the Crown, the British government gave Brant a pension and compensated her for her wartime losses, including a grant of land. When the British ceded their former colonial territory to the United States, most of the Iroquois nations were forced out of New York. A Six Nations Reserve was established in what is now Ontario.
context_section_description: When General Sir William Johnson, Superintendent for Northern Indian Affairs, visited Canajoharie, he always stayed at the house of his friend, Molly's stepfather Brant Kanagaradunkwa. Shortly after Johnson's first common-law wife, Catherine Weisenberg, died, Brant moved into Fort Johnson. Johnson and Molly Brant became intimate; in September 1759, she gave birth to his son, Peter Warren Johnson, named for Sir William's early patron and uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren. Brant lived with Johnson at Fort Johnson, and then his personal residence of Johnson Hall after 1763, when the British had defeated the French in the Seven Years' War. (It was known on the North American front as the French and Indian War. The Iroquois had mostly allied with the British during this war.)
  Brant was effectively Sir William's common-law wife or consort. Brant played a prominent role in the life of Fort Johnson, managing household purchases, from expensive china to sewing supplies. The couple had nine children together, eight of whom lived past infancy. They included the following:
  Peter Warren Johnson (named after William Johnson's uncle), served in the 26th Regiment of Foot during the American Revolutionary War and was killed in 1777;
  Six daughters, Elizabeth, Magdalene, Margaret, Mary, Susanna, and Ann (also known as Nancy). Elizabeth married Dr. Robert Kerr, a British physician and magistrate. Magdalene married John Ferguson, who was elected as a member of the Legislature of Upper Canada for Kingston. Ann (also known as Nancy) married a naval officer, Captain Hugh Early, for whom Earl Street in Kingston is named. Margaret married Captain George Farley of the 24th Regiment in Kingston.  Mary did not marry. She lived in Kingston with her sister, Magdalene, after the war. Susanna married Lieutenant Henry Lemoine of the 60th Regiment of Foot.
  George Johnson.
  In Johnson's will, Molly is referred to as his "housekeeper", which at the time meant that she ran the household, served as hostess, and supervised the female servants and slaves. According to the historian Barbara Graymont, "Molly Brant presided over Johnson's household with intelligence, ability, grace, and charm, and she effectively managed the estate during Johnson's many and prolonged absences." Johnson and Brant's relationship was public; she received gifts and thank-you notes from prominent visitors such as Lord Adam Gordon. Johnson used his connection with Brant to further his public and private dealings with the Mohawk and other Iroquois nations. Brant's role as Johnson's domestic and political partner was well known. "Before the age of forty," writes Feister and Pulis, "she was already a legendary figure...."
  William Johnson died in July 1774. In his will he left a total of 25,000 acres of land, in addition to money and slaves to Brant and their children; He left Johnson Hall to John Johnson, his eldest son by his first common-law wife, Catherine Weisenberg, a Palatine German immigrant. Molly returned to Canajoharie with her children, personal belongings, and slaves. There she lived a comfortable life in a large house, and prospered as a fur trader.
caption: Johnson Hall, Molly Brant's home from 1763 to 1774
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