“Her features are fine and beautiful; her complexion clear and olive-tinted... She was quiet in demeanor, on occasion, and possessed of a calm dignity that bespoke a native pride and consciousness of power. She seldom imposed herself into the picture, but no one was in her presence without being aware of her,” a woman acquaintance said of Molly Brant, quoted by Ian E. Wilson in Molly Brant: An Appreciation.
Molly Brant was born to prominent Mohawk parents in about 1736, given the Indian name of Konwatsi’Tsaienni and Degonwadonti, meaning “Someone lends her a flower”. It seems she and her brother Joseph Brant were well educated, both well-spoken in English and their native tongue. The family moved to Canajoharie in the Mohawk River Valley, in what is now central New York State.
Molly Brant Married Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for New York, married Molly in 1759 when she was 23 years old; he was approximately 35. Born in Ireland, Johnson trained as a lawyer and came to New York in about 1737 to manage the estate of his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren. Living in Mohawk/Iroquois territory, Johnson learned the native language and customs, and became an intermediary between the British and the natives. As Superintendent with power and great diplomacy between peoples, Johnson excelled in his work and received thousands of acres of land and other wealth. Sir Johnson was a widower with several children; Molly accepted the children into her home, caring for them as well as the eight more, two sons and six daughters, she and Sir Johnson had together.
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