Remembering Nahnebahwequay, and announcing “The Legend of Nahnee” from Heritage Mississauga
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Legend of Nahnee Cover
Nahnebahwequay (1824-1865), known to her friends and family as “Nahnee”, was born into the Eagle Clan of the Mississaugas of the Credit River in 1824. Having grown up surrounded by prominent Indigenous leaders such as her uncle Peter Jones, Nahnee, whose Christian name was Catherine, developed a strong sense of self, rooted in her connections with her Indigenous culture and Methodist faith. When she was 13, Nahnee travelled with her uncle Peter Jones and his wife Eliza to England, where she witnessed her uncle defend the Indigenous rights and land claims to Colonial administrators and to Queen Victoria.
In 1839, Nahnee married English-born shoemaker and Methodist lay preacher William Sutton (1811-1894). Together they took on leadership positions within their community, while raising their growing family with both Anishinaabe and Methodist Christian values. Nahnee and William, along with several of their children and Nahnee’s mother, moved to the Saugeen Peninsula (now called the Bruce Peninsula), near what is Owen Sound today, and established a farm on a land grant from the Nawash Ojibwa. After briefly spending time in Michigan and northern Ontario where they helped to establish Methodist missions, they returned to the Saugeen to find that their farm had been sold.
Nahnebahwequay, Catherine Sutton, from the Grey Roots Archives
Hardships continued as Nahnee learned that her marriage to William, a white man, resulted in the loss of her First Nations status in the eyes of the Government. With the loss of her land and identity, Nahnee petitioned the Colonial government in Canada for her land title and status, without success.
With the support of her community, Nahnee was eventually called on by the Rama First Nation band council to petition Queen Victoria in England and to advocate for the rights of First Nations peoples. After amassing a generous donation from the Quakers in Rochester, New York, Nahnee made her way to England to plead her case. Although laws related to First Nations status through marriage did not change, her meeting brought awareness to the struggles of Indigenous peoples, which demonstrated that they could not be ignored. Nahnee’s husband was eventually permitted to repurchase their land on the Saugeen. Nahnee passed away in September of 1865 at the age of 41. Born at the Credit River in historic Mississauga, and having travelled widely, including meeting with Queen Victoria in 1860, Nahnee was laid to rest in her beloved garden on the Sutton farm near Owen Sound.
Artist rendition of Catherine and William Sutton from the 1880 Historical Atlas of Grey County
Nahnebahwequay was designated as a national historic person in Canada in 2021: Nahnebahwequay was a voice in the fight for Indigenous land rights in the mid-19th century, a time when colonial policies sought to forcibly remove and dispossess Indigenous peoples of their lands. Her lifelong leadership and activism was all the more remarkable as she had to contend with the additional legal restrictions colonial governments placed on Indigenous women. Her experience is representative of the efforts of First Nations to gain support and present their grievances to the Crown during the mid-Victorian era.
There are many resources available to learn more about the remarkable life and times of Nahnebahwequay. Here are a few:
Visit the Grey Roots Museum & Archives:
https://greyroots.com/story/nahneebahweequay
Dictionary of Canadian Biography:
https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nahnebahwequay_9E.html
Canadian Encyclopaedia:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/catherine-sutton
In Hindsight Podcast with Prof. Donald B. Smith from the Ontario Historical Society:
https://ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/podcast/in-hindsight-episode-08/
We are also excited to announce that our newest comic book, The Grange Volume 14: The Legend of Nahnee, is now available for free through Heritage Mississauga. June is also National Indigenous History Month in Canada, and we will be exploring stories relating to Indigenous history in this series through the month.
